Glendale, AZ
Dec. 31, 2001
/ Jan. 13, 2002
Dear readers,
I procrastinated before writing this letter.
I wrote the general outline summary Dec. 31,
but then waited until Jan. 13 to finish it up.
(kinda shuffled and re-organized it too).
First, a summary of the main things that happened
during 2001, [to me, and my family and friends];
Terrible destruction was reported on the news,
on Sept. 11. It put things in perspective,
for some of us, even more than the
"take a step back, and look at things"
that most of us would usually do, on a New Year
(whether Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year,
or Jan. 01, or April 15, or any other).
Also more than a birthday, with the possible
exception of a major one -- like, one that ends
in zero, or 65, or maybe, 18, or 13.
(more details below about most of these):
--> our son Jeremy graduated from High Scchool
--> Jeffrey Schwartz turned 13 and they hhad
a big bar mitzvah celebration in Tampa FL
--> we sold our old house, the one we livved in
from 1979 to 1993
--> two new synagogues opened in our neigghborhood
--> Joe and Toni's 50th anniversary
--> Who's Who
my name, Michael Lee Schwartz, to be listed in
Who's Who in America, & Who's Who in the World.
--> Obituaries:
Toni Sterman died a few weeks after her
and Joe's Golden anniversary.
Betty Maas my wife's grandma, (97), died
Sept. 23, 2001.
Edith Rowan of Toronto, died in late Dec.
== == ==
Most of the rest, is just more details.
I was thinking of keeping it short, but you [may] know
how it is - I didn't want to leave out anything juicy.
So, you can stop here --
or perhaps, take a break, like for a jelly sandwich,
or a beverage -- and maybe read more later.
--> our son Jeremy graduated from High Scchool
May 2001 was a busy month for us. After we got back from
our trip to Tampa (details below),
Bonni's parents, Emi and Marvin Jacobs, flew in for a visit
in the middle of May. They attended Jeremy 's graduation
along with us. We were really glad it was in an indoor,
air-conditioned place, as it was the middle of
the afternoon, and the mercury was well into 3 digits.
His full name is
Jeremy Lawrence Schwartz.
Mountain Ridge High School,
class of 2001.
Although, he didn't want his middle name included on any
invitations, I am including it here just for the record
(and maybe for some 'classmates' look-ups,
genealogy search engines, etc.),
While we are on the subject, just for the record,
Melody's full name is: Melody Laura Schwartz.
It is always nice having their grandparents visit here.
We are planning to visit there (Texas) in May 2002.
(both the Jacobs' in San Antonio,
and the Schwartz family in Houston).
--> May 2001 -- Jeffrey Schwartz turnedd 13 and
they had a big bar mitzvah celebration in Tampa FL
Ordinarily, if we were traveling that distance, we would spend
more time in Florida. None of us (4) had ever been to Tampa
before. *Nor* Disney World. However, it was before final exams
for both Melody and Jeremy, so any "extra" time we took off,
would have meant missing school. So -- a quick, weekend trip.
We saw a lot of relatives, including many from Buffalo,
or who used to be from Buffalo (like, me).
There from Arizona: Einar and Nancy Seadler.
(see last year's letter).
Jeffrey's bar mitzvah celebration was a major family
event. It was a big family reunion, of the Neumans
(Lori's parents, Sam and Harriet, and their family)
as well as the Schwartz (/Sterman) family.
While in Tampa, in May 2001, Uncle Joe and Aunt Toni
gave me and my wife Bonni a heads-up advance notice,
about their 50th anniversary party
which was slated for (and did happen) over the weekend
of Labor Day weekend 2001. I raised my hand, so to
speak, to express interest in attending. Bonni said
she was not interested. Free Country.
Uncle Avy's daughter Lisa was there with her son Kyle.
They live in Florida.
Irving and Gail (also there) live in Florida too now.
--> we sold our old house, the one we livved in
from 1979 to 1993
Looking back now, I am glad we did this. Bonni recommended
selling it. The rent had always covered the house payments,
especially since 1998 when we sorta "re-structured" the debt
for that house, to get to a better interest rate.
So in retrospect, it could be said, that perhaps someone up
there did us a favor, by means of sending us one family of
tenants, [the last ones], who were impossible to get along with.
That thereby sent us a message, telling us to sell that house.
Most of the other people who had ever rented from us,
since we moved out in Dec. 1993, got
along with us OK, at least most of the time. In fact,
one family, David and Shannon Freund, live in Flagstaff
now. I even phoned them before our trip there
(for the wedding, to Norm Lewis, of Joan Miller,
Mom of Jacob and Michelle Miller),
circa June 2001. It turns out, they were going out of town
that weekend. But they seemed happy to hear from us.
After we [4] went to Joan Miller's wedding in Flagstaff, AZ,
Bonni thought she had left her camera there, at the wedding.
Eventually it turned up, (in our other car).
But by that time, Bonni had already bought another
"AdvanTix" camera. So now we have 2 of them.
At one point, during the summer, I got a speeding
ticket, and had to attend a class offered by NTSI
(something like, 'National Traffic Safety Institute').
The day I was at that school, (a Sunday), Bonni accidentally
left the water running in a tub upstairs, and flooded part
of our house. I think she was hand-washing some clothes for
Melody, who was about to leave for 4 weeks at Camp Ramah in CA.
Fortunately, we knew the flood-damage repair expert, since we
had just needed him for our rent house, a few months before.
He came over right away. All we had to do was write a check.
(Plus, for a few days, we had to not use the track
lighting in the guest room / office. It is down
stairs, right below the bathroom that got flooded.
I guess some
water got in to the tracks or something. The ins.
adjuster came to see it, later. I don't know
what he did, if anything, but everything was fine
eventually. The bill was so small, it was less
than our [house insurance] deductible. Good.)
Right around the time when that [flooding] happened,
we got a message on our answering machine, saying
that we got what amounted to basically a full-price
offer on our old house. We had lived in it for over
14 years. (During both the 1980 and 1990 censi).
(Isn't that the plural of census?)
So, it sold so fast it made our head spin. Good.
We didn't buy any stock on Wall St., with the money
from that house. We put it in the bank.
Some of it, of course, will go to the IRS on April 15 --
for income taxes on the capital gains.
The rest, we have plans for, as we have Jeremy in
college now, and if all goes well, we will have
both him and Melody in college by Fall, 2003.
One nice thing, is, we paid off the loans for
2 rent houses in Austin TX. Those are now free
of debt. They were almost down to 0.00 anyway.
One of them, was so close to zero, that the
escrow account had more money in it, than the
principal balance, that we still owed.
--> two new synagogues opened in our neigghborhood
Actually, both of them 'sorta' already existed, but
they moved / went through some other changes.
The details:
-> Chabad West Valley
This was already pretty close by, way closer than
Beth El, which we have been a member of for over
20 years.
But Chabad West Valley used to conduct Sabbath services
at Benley Manor, an "assisted living" care home, at
53rd Ave. and Union Hills. That place went out of
business, abruptly, during when Rabbi Lew was out
of town.
Rabbi Lew and his wife moved to 7227 W Bluefield.
That is 1.25 miles from our house. An extra building
in the back, is used for Sabbath services.
They sometimes need me [and/or Jeremy] for a minyan.
(quorum). This is partly because, according to the
'orthodox' Jewish way, they do not count women for
purposes of a minyan. But they do accept any Jewish
male over 13 --
they do not need to know whether he is "orthodox".
And they do not ask about how frum he is.
Now, I attend there [vs. somewhere else]
for 2 reasons. Partly because they [might] need me
for a minyan -- and partly because, now, it is so
close, it is literally walking distance.
More than once, Jeremy has been called upon to do
some baby-sitting for the Rabbi's two pre-school age
children. In fact, tonight (Jan 13 2002) too, they
needed a sitter, but fortunately they were able to
find someone else, because tonight Jeremy has to
work at BlockBuster Video.
-> Temple Gan Elohim
This sorta corresponds (by overlap of members)
to the Northwest Valley Jewish Family Alliance.
Initially, that [Alliance] was going to serve as an
umbrella organization, for this part of town, and
any synagogues would be affiliated with it.
But, now that this reform temple was started,
it does not seem to be affiliated with the NVJFA.
Although, the NVJFA is still listed, in some lists,
such as in the local weekly paper, the
Jewish News of Greater Phoenix
(http://www.jewishaz.com/).
But the NVJFA had a lot of people, and some of them
are now members of this reform temple.
Not much is happening lately with the NVJFA.
I have not gotten any snail mail from them,
or even e-mail, in about 6 months or so.
So I do not know what is up with that.
I am not a member of this reform temple, but
I have visited there, as a guest, a few times,
before they moved to their present [temporary]
location.
Many of the people were familiar, since I knew them
from the NVJFA. I don't think they have a rabbi yet.
I met the president. Her parents seemed friendly.
Now, they meet at the same place where I vote
(so as you can see, it is not far.) It is called Dove
of the Desert Methodist Church. I think I remember
that, before that church built their current
(beautiful) building, they used to meet temporarily
in the building of Arrowhead Elementary School.
That was back when Melody attended that school.
In fact, it was probably even when Jeremy attended
that school.
--> Joe and Toni's 50th anniversary
This was a big event. My Aunt and Uncle had a reputation,
in my opinion at least, for throwing parties, and family
reunion type events, both for holidays and for major
simcha events, etc.,
that shone brightly as the standard for all such parties.
When I was little, I often used to stay at their
house when I was visiting Buffalo. Their oldest
son, Jim, is the closest in age to me, of any of
my first cousins. In fact, he invited me to stay
at his house this year too, and I did.
I spent a lot of time with my parents, and other
relatives. But Jim Sterman was very understanding.
And I am sure he was going through a difficult time,
since as just about everyone knew,
Aunt Toni was close to dying of cancer.
She was in a wheelchair at the time. She could talk
but I am not sure how well she could eat. She lived
until about Sept. 20.
Uncle Avy and Aunt Viola did not go to the party.
But, they got to see many of the out of town guests,
(such as me), at other times, before and after.
Their house was a busy place. I did not even
go over to Joe and Toni's house, even though I was in
town for almost a week. I figured I would see them
at the parties (Friday night at Cookie and Larry Levin's
house, then Sat. night at the big party,
and Sunday morning at Ellen and Craig's house).
--> Who's Who
They said they were / are going to, include me
in Who's Who in America, and Who's Who in the
World. I hope I don't get a swelled head.
I am not sure exactly when I can go visit our
public library's copy of the book, and see my
name in lights. Don't hold your breath.
--> Obituaries:
(same 3 as above, but more detail:)
Toni Sterman died a few weeks after her
and Joe's Golden anniversary.
I did not attend the funeral. My parents did.
We had just been in town about 3 weeks before
for the 50th anniversary party.
I could have rushed back to Buffalo for
the funeral, but I did not.
Also, when my Grandmother Pearl Sterman died,
Feb. 4, 1990, I stayed home. I had just been
to Buffalo a few months before, for her 90th
birthday.
I was really glad I had gone to that [birthday].
Betty Maas -- Bonni's grandma, (97), died
Sept. 23, 2001.
Bonni went to the funeral in San Antonio
but I did not go. Richard Neuman attended.
I remember when her husband died. Summer 1978.
It was during when Bonni and I were engaged
to be married. I was a pall bearer in that
1978 funeral. Bonni's brother was probably
in high school then.
Edith Rowan of Toronto, died in late Dec. 2001
I did not find out about it until later.
(from my parents).
Her son Dovid had sent me a charming, upbeat
e-mail when our [Arizona] baseball team
won the World Series !! (circa Nov 04, 2001.)
Here are some excerpts from the actual
internet e-mail headers of that message:
> Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 20:43:19 -0500
> From: dovidrowan@sympatico.ca ("Dovid Rowan")
> Subject: D-Backs World Series Champions
> To: azmls@aztec.asu.edu ("Michael L. Schwartz")
I was last in Toronto in 1998, for the bat
mitzvah celebration for Andrea Rowan. The
only other time I was in her house was in
1995, when I made a side trip to Toronto, with
Donna and Kenny, and their kids and ours, from
Buffalo. That year we were all in Buffalo
around the 4th of July, for Irving & Gail's
wedding.
A few other things I left out :
--> in late June, Paul Hlavinka and Robinn Walker
visited us here (en route to San Diego).
We invited them to stay here at our house, and
they invited us out to dinner at Durant's.
My wife ended up skipping the dinner,
(probably tired after cleaning up our messy house).
But Jeremy and Melody and I enjoyed it.
Robin had his 1974 (?? approx.) convertible,
with the top down. He was moving from Wash DC
to San Diego. Now he teaches at some college
there. He and his wife have two pre-schoolers.
I think they are adopted.
--> circa July 2001 : the scheduled deal for
General Electric [GE],
to buy [all of] Honeywell, did not happen.
I work for Honeywell.
I don't know whether this buy-out would
have been good or bad, if it had occurred.
[for the stockholders, or for me].
--> during Aug. 2001, we visited Melody aat Camp Ramah
in California. While in LA, we saw Paula Sonkin,
and Mike Renov + Cathy, and Milt & Lois Treiser.
I continued on to Seattle for a HFH Blitz build,
which was sorta sponsored by Honeywell.
While in WA state, I saw Jerry Bauck, PhD.;
his brother Bill is an expert house builder and is always
one of the "house lead" people, for the Honeywell
HFH Blitz Build events.
Bill works for Honeywell in (I think:) Wichita KS.
Jerry is an inventor and I told him about Arthur Karpati,
and about possibly entering in to some kind of deal,
for Arthur to maybe be involved
in the marketing of one of Dr. Jerry Bauck's inventions.
small world.
--> during Nov 2001 I visited Texas.
It was the weekend of the Rice Univ. Homecoming.
Paul Hlavinka, a friend of mine from Rice,
and also from Austin (when he was in law school),
is a big fan of the Rice Football team --
and in fact, is the proprietor of a web site called
http://www.ricefootball.net/
Paul went with me on a side trip to Austin.
It was partly a business trip,
to see 2 houses there. They are managed by
Howard Chaikin, who bought Richard Neuman's
erstwhile Real-Estate Management co.
But I wanted to (and did) see Richard Neuman's house
He and his wife Jackie had invited us to their house
for lunch. Paul and I met Bonni's brother,
Mike Jacobs, who also joined us for lunch, and he
knows the way, since he has been there before.
We followed Mike J.
Richard and Jackie's house is very beautiful.
It is right on Lake Travis.
It is also very close to [about 1 block from]
where Richard's parents live.
We went for a walk near the lake and fed the ducks.
Jackie had her camera, and took some photos.
Bonni had sent "World Series Champions" T-shirts
for both her brother and her father.
I gave them to Mike Jacobs.
He was to be in San Antonio the next day anyway
for his mothers' birthday.
On the way back to Houston, Paul and I stopped
by "Towers", where Andy Baum, UT freshman,
lives, to get a certain cell phone from him.
It is one that my sister Susan, needed us to bring
to Houston, from her son Scott Hertz, UT Senior.
When I got back to Houston, I made it to a Hillel
Fri. night service and dinner, and then the
next day went to a reception from the Admissions
Office, which I do volunteer work for. Went with
my parents to Beth Yeshurun, then to the Rice
Football game with Paul Hlavinka (who has a pass
to the R Room, as well as a Press pass, to get
in to the press box) (I went in to both!).
At the game we saw Ramsay Elder.
Afterwards, we went out to eat with several
friends, including David Speed Elder.
The next day, Donna had a brunch at her house,
and later Susan had a big luncheon for all of us.
On the way back, I made sure to remove the
"nail clipper" scissors from my carry-on luggage,
and pack them in my "checked" baggage instead.
This was my first plane trip since Labor Day
weekend -- (i.e., since Sept. 11).
--> during Dec 2001 we hosted a Chanukah party
at our house, and invited several friends
including all families of our Chavurah.
Cleaning up for this party was invigorating.
Also, I made some egg salad, and Bonni made some tuna-fish
salad. We got latke's from a deli (Chompie's).
Also, this summer, we spent a weekend
in Show Low, AZ, with 5 other couples of our Havurah
(some brought their children, but most did not).
It was right after we signed the papers
to sell our old house.
In fact, the title company office was on the E. side
of town, so we just swung by there on our way to
Show Low, AZ.
I also interviewed several High-school seniors (older
than Melody but younger than Jeremy) who were applying
for admission to a college [Rice Univ.] that I attended.
Several of them were from Tucson.
In fact, the majority of the ones I met this year!
And one of those, was Kaylan E. Lasky, whose family had
moved (about 5 years ago I think) from Chattanooga!
(So they know Rabbi Rick Sherwin).
(who now lives in Florida).
I still may have left out some juicy stuff --
but this is getting too long.
I have even removed some stuff!
I tried organize this so that anyone who prefers less,
can just stop after about the first page or so.
Bill Starnes (my roommate, Wash DC, summer 1972)
used to refer to my linguistic style as the
"RVG" (Random Vocabulary Generator).
He may have meant my speaking style, but I
probably write like I talk, so
you may be experiencing the RVG right now.
So, with my apologies to everyone (and, for every item)
that was left out, All the best to everyone,
much love,
- Mike Schwartz