Women of Valor - Chai Quilt

Long-arm quilter

Linda Gorman

Embroider

Scottie Blumke

Honorees

Quilters

Lilly Abramowitz

Carol Smucker & Dot Vaughan

Barbara Miller Asher

Dorna Riley

Ruth Ferst Byck

Sue Royal

Betty Goldstein Cantor

Ruth McKinley

Helen Fine Cavalier

Arlene Poretsky

Rae Alice Cohen

Mary Ann Foster

Roz Penso Cohen

Michelle Harrison

Vida Goldgar

Diane Banakas

Betty Goodfriend

Louise MacDonald

Lola Borkowska Lansky

Ivah Kukler

Annie Stein Lazarus

Pat Pugrant

Rose Esserman Levin

Audrey Hiers

Lieselotte Kohn Meyer

Carleen Brock

Rose Herzog Nachman

Frances Brooks

Mary Tenenbaum Neff

Pat Pugrant

Laura FriedlanderRosenberg

Loraine O’Donnell

Beverly Shmerling

Alice Russell

Presented by

Sadell Zimmern Sloan

Beth Berghoff

The Ida Pearle and Joseph Cuba Archives For Southern Jewish History at The William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum

© 2012 The William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum, Atlanta, Georgia

Women of Valor

Chai Quilt September 30, 2012

Women of Valor

Chai Quilt This beautiful quilt honors eighteen women whose contributions to the Arts, Social Service, Politics and Social Justice in Georgia are remembered through the art of quilting.

Each woman depicted on the quilt worked for the betterment of their communities and positively impacted the course of history.

The Breman Museum would like to recognize Pat Pugrant, the Volunteer Project Coordinator, for her tireless work sharing and honoring the lives of these valiant women.

Sadell Zimmern Sloan

Lilly Abramowitz

1947-2003

1925-2004

Sadell came from Boston, Massachusetts and embraced the Beth Jacob community in Atlanta and they embraced all she had to offer, Observing and respecting the customs and traditions of Judaism, she was a dedicated, selfless, and tireless volunteer. From the Atlanta Board of Jewish Education and Atlanta Jewish Federation to being one of the founders of Torah Day School of Atlanta and Temima High School, she was an integral part of the community in which she lived. She worked to provide whatever the schools needed, what members of her family or of the orthodox community needed. Her life was enriched by giving to others. There was always enough food and place for anyone at her Sabbath table in case one of her children met friends at synagogue and invited them to join the family Sadell was always striving and never rested on her laurels, but was always looking to the next steps to make things happen.

Relocating to Atlanta from Toronto with the telephone company brought Lilly into a world of working, care-giving and volunteering. As night shift supervisor, she was able to spend the days with her husband and still do her volunteer work at her synagogue Congregation B’nai Torah and in the Jewish community. Lilly was a dedicated employee who worked also as a switchboard operator as well and was always willing to work shifts for other and fill in whenever needed.

Lilly learned to sew at the age of five and used her stitchery to help herself while in the concentration camp by sewing for the commandant. In her later years she was always willing to teach anyone to knit, crochet or embroider. Her exquisite embroidery now adorns many quilts at The Breman and in the Atlanta Jewish community. Lilly was voted Atlanta Jewish Times Volunteer of the Years in 2002.

Barbara Miller Asher

Beverly Shmerling

1938-1995

1927-2004

Barbara was a native of Wisconsin and moved to Atlanta, Georgia following her marriage to Norman Elsas in 1963. Dedicated to the betterment of the community in which she lived, Barbara helped to open the Grady Child Care Center and was actively involved in the Atlanta Women’s Network. In 1974, Mayor Maynard Jackson appointed her to the city’s Zoning Review Board and in 1977 she was elected to Atlanta City Council where she served for three terms. Due to Barbara Asher diligence, the zoning of the Fairlie-Poplar area of downtown Atlanta was changed renovating the look of the Five Points area. In addition, she was able to get the zoning changed for the building of the new Ebenezer Baptist Church. In her honor a statue exists of Barbara Asher on the greenway of Marietta Street.

Beverly devoted her life to her two loves: family and theater. When she directed, she gave 100% to every theatrical production. A Brooklyn native, Beverly moved to Atlanta in the late 1970s to care for her ailing mother and began to direct community theater as she had done in Brooklyn. In 1981, when Beverly realized that observant Jewish youth could not participate in existing theater groups that met on Saturdays, Beverly began a community theater group that met on an alternate day. She had four theater troupes that met at the Atlanta Jewish Community Center. She created children’s theater, teen theater, summer theater and the co-founded the Midtown Experience in the Arts.

She was a insightful and imaginative director who could identify and nurture people weaving them into a working team. She could identify talent, bring out the best of people, and inspire them to perform better than they knew they could. Her carriage told of the confidence of a true theatrical director. She premiered many shows for Atlanta playwrights and had a deep appreciation for a playwright's intentions. Her strength was to see and develop the beauty and talent in actors. She directed at the Stage Door Players in Dunwoody for many years, bringing the level way beyond amateur theater, and always stayed connected with her actors, remembering birthdays, and touching peoples’ lives in her own unique way. She was often described as an inspiration and always remembered for her red glasses.

Laura Friedlander Rosenberg

Ruth Ferst Byck

1868-1950

1905-1992

Laura was born in Germany and came to Georgia as a young child.

She married Max Rosenberg of Columbus, had six children, and also raised a cousin's child as one of her own. Laura was a very compassionate person, and when in 1925, during the heart of the depression, she learned about the needs of children at her friend's elementary school, she sprang into action. Laura arrived with milk and crackers for the hungry children and the program quickly spread to eight other needy schools. Laura's milk program was considered the forerunner of public school lunch program in Muskogee County, did all the fund raising for the milk fund until her death, and was known as "The Milk Lady."

A Savannah native, Ruth was a very caring person who became interested in helping seniors because her grandmother lived with her family from the time she was quite young.

She is considered quite a visionary in providing services that fit the needs of the senior community. Sensitive to their needs for socialization and mobility, she was instrumental in organizing the Golden Age Clubs, Senior Citizens, Inc., adult day care centers, and the Jewish Retirement Home. For those who were unable to leave their homes, she started Meals on Wheels and the Friendly Visitors services. Ruth received the 19691970 Mental Health Bell Award which honored the person who has shown “dedication and compassion in presenting mental illness and assisting the mentally disturbed." Today, Senior Citizens Inc. is housed in a building bearing her name and is providing services to seniors in five counties in the Savannah area.

Betty Goldstein Cantor

Mary Tenenbaum Neff

1921-2005

1895-1970

Betty was an Atlanta native was an associate director of the AntiDefamation League's Southeastern regional office, As Southeast educator for ADL, she was a wonderful ambassador for the ADL and Jewish people. A tireless activist against injustice and racism, Betty led its education program and worked for peaceful integration of public schools in the South. Travelling through 11 Southern states, she taught about the Holocaust in colleges, universities as well as rural areas, trained teachers and set the groundwork for understanding and tolerance and Holocaust education and civil rights. She fought vigorously against bigotry and racism against any ethnic and religious group. She received the Humanitarian Award from the Holocaust Commission of Georgia in 1995.

Mary grew up in a family with seven siblings. Her family’s business established in 1909 gave everyone an opportunity to work in the business and understand the “wholesale sundry” business. It served the grocery, and hardware trades within a 100 mile radius of Atlanta. Mary attended Atlanta Law School at a time when women were not known for passing the bar, but Mary did in 1926. She became the first Jewish woman to begin the practice of law in Atlanta, Georgia. She was also a founding member of the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers and worked for the biggest law firm in Atlanta at that time.

Rose Herzog Nachman

Helen Fine Cavalier

1871-1955

1908-1996

Rose, a native of Washington D.C. moved to Augusta, Georgia with her new husband David in 1899. She immediately immersed herself in community service in her adopted city.

She held the chairmanship of the International Relations Committee of the Georgia Federation of Women’s Clubs, a member of the League of Nations Association and served as president of the Augusta Women’s Club. Rose is best remembered for the service she rendered the city of Augusta during the flood of 1929. According to reports, “she was placed in charge of the responsible tasks confronting the city during that emergency and her help was one of the factors that brought order out of the chaos of those troublous days.”

The centerpiece of Helen’s life was community service. She began volunteering with the American Red Cross during World War II. When she had breast cancer in the 1950’s, when chemotherapy, radiation and reconstruction were not options, she prayed that if she did survive, that she would devote the rest of her life to volunteering. As a survivor, she reached out to those who had breast cancer. Over the ensuing decades, she was active in The March of Dimes, the Jewish Home, Ahavath Achim Congregation, the American Cancer Society, the Hunger Walk and Lauren’s Run. She always ‘hoped to make someone else’s day better than the day before, “and most of all wanted to eradicate hunger in our community....She often quoted her mother saying “one should be blessed with two loaves of bread, the second loaf should always be shared with those less fortunate.” Although she had wanted to dance on Broadway in the 1920s, she danced her way through her life.

Rae Alice Cohen

Lieselotte Kohn Meyer

1918-1997

1904-1966

A Chicago native, Rae Alice moved to Atlanta when she married Bernard Cohen in 1941. Coming from a classical reform background, Rae Alice immersed herself into adapting her life to Kashrut, establishing a kosher home, and raising her children in a traditional way. Rae Alice started a Jewish Girl Scout troop at Congregation Ahavath Achim and went on to be a trainer at the council level, teaching courses to train Girl Scout leaders. Rae Alice’s volunteerism led her finally in the direction of the Ahavath Achim Sisterhood, where she volunteered to do jobs others did not want. She used her organizational skills to set up Hebrew literacy programs and parent-child education programs (PEP). Rae Alice became active in the Jewish Welfare Federation and became president of the Southern Branch of Conservative Judaism.

When Ahavath Achim became egalitarian, Rae Alice served as the first woman officer there. Her involvement with the Cuba Family Archives was perfect for Rae Alice. For thirteen years and countless hours, Rae Alice poured over the cherished items of members of the Jewish communities throughout Georgia and helped to preserve them and categorize them for posterity. She loved volunteering and her dedication and tireless efforts helped to make The Cuba Family Archives of The Breman a respected and often visited resource for countless numbers of researchers.

Lilo was born in Aachen, Germany. Lilo was able to arrange for her husband Henry to escape to England in 1939. Her two daughters, Gia and Erica, followed their father travelling on one of the many Kindertransports that enabled children to immigrate to Great Britain. Lilo arrived soon after, and the reunited family moved to the United States, settling in Atlanta in 1940. The Joint Distribution Committee assisted Henry in finding employment. Arriving in Atlanta, Lilo began to volunteer for the Atlanta Section, National Council of Jewish Women, an organization that had assisted in her family’s resettlement. Lilo immediately got involved in helping teenagers to assimilate by starting the New World Club in the playroom of her basement in August of 1946. This gave her daughters and other refugee children opportunities to meet with other teens and become part of the American teenage scene. Although caring for her family was a priority Lilo found time to provide for the needs of other refugees. In addition to helping them translate family correspondence from German to English, Lilo also filed restitution claims again the Nazi regimes in the years following the war. She worked full-time at the Morris Candy Plant. Lilo was well-respected in the community as a, caring, efficient lady who could multi-task and get things done in a friendly, and welcoming way.

Rose Esserman Levin

Roz Penso Cohen

1914-2002

1944-1984

A native of Rome, Georgia, Rose and her husband Jule were committed to social justice and civic involvement.

She took stands, publically and privately, in favor of integration refusing to enroll her daughters in a new private all-white school as many of her friends and neighbors were doing. Rose was a founding member of the Rome Chapter of the Georgia Council of Human Relations and supported the student sit-ins opposing segregation in places of public accommodation. She was described as someone who believed “that all people have the right and are entitled to being treated with dignity.”

Roz was a native Atlantan, Vanderbilt graduate in art history and the ultimate "bridge builder," crossing many religious and racial boundaries. Besides serving as President of the National Council of Jewish Women. she was also very involved in the entire Atlanta community. She was a progressive political person who helped to get Wyche Fowler elected in 1973 and elicited grass roots support from the AfricanAmerican and white communities. She was a committed volunteer and championed many causes for the betterment of children, women, senior citizens, the environment, and all people in need. Her boundless energy and dedication she brought to every task added dimension to the term "volunteerism." In 1980 Roz was named as one of the 'Ten Outstanding Women in Atlanta." She was instrumental in establishing the Louis Kahn Group Home, was a member of Leadership Atlanta. Roz always had "the courage to care, the will to work, and the wisdom of knowing that change will come from each."

Vida Goldgar

Annie Stein Lazarus

1930-2004

1895-1970

Vida was an important contributor to the Southern Israelite, the Jewish newspaper of the Southeast, headquartered in Atlanta. headquartered in Atlanta.

Joining the staff in 1964, she began working as a part-time columnist and over the next 40 years filled numerous positions. She eventually became a fulltime columnist and finally the managing editor. In 1979, she purchased the Southern Israelite and the paper’s success reflected the professionalism that she brought to reporting the news. She reported from Beirut, walked alongside many Israeli prime ministers and with more than one American president. In 1988, she was elected the first woman president of the American Jewish Press Association, and was also the first woman president of the Society for Professional Journalists. Within the community, she was recognized for her volunteerism and named by Atlanta Magazine as one of the 50 individuals who make Atlanta special.

Annie was born in Fort White, Florida, and was very well educated. She was fluent in Hebrew, Yiddish and English. She attended Broward College in Lake City and attended a family gathering in Valdosta, where she met Sam Lazarus. They were married in 1914 and lived in Valdosta as part of the immigrant Russian Jewish community. During this time of suffragettes, Annie was educated, outspoken and a type A personality who cared greatly about bringing together the Jewish people located in the small towns of south Georgia. Quite the visionary, she made sure that every Sunday all the family and Jewish friends would come together at her house and she fed everyone, definitely cementing the feeling of community. By bringing people together to share customs and traditions, she was a driving force in establishing and maintaining a synagogue in Valdosta that still serves everyone in South Georgia today.

Lola Borkowska Lansky

Betty Goodfriend

1926-1999

1927-2008

Lola was a Polish Jew who survived the concentration camps of Aushwitz/Birkenau, Ravensbruk, Buchenwald, and Bergen-Belsen. Lola dedicated the rest of her life to speaking and teaching about the Holocaust, beginning at in the 1960s when people were not always receptive to hearing about what had taken place. In 1964, she co-founded Eternal LifeHemshech, a membership organization for survivors living in Atlanta, and in 1965 led the campaign to have a Holocaust monument erected in Atlanta which resulted in the Memorial to the Six Million at Greenwood Cemetery. Lola’s mission was to speak for all those who did not survive. She totally exemplified that great things come in small packages.

Betty was a Holocaust survivor from Lithuania who refused to forget her past, and made sure to pass along the traditions of Eastern European shtetls and the wonderful memories she had of life before the war.

Through her storytelling, her synagogue, her cooking and her nurturing way, her Yiddish culture permeated her life and lived on through her. A lifelong supporter of Jewish causes, she strove to make the world a better place, and make everyone she met feel comfortable. A "balabuste" in the kitchen, she cooked without recipes. According to Betty, "tzimmes" a hearty beef stew would bring sweetness to the lives of those who ate it. And in every spoonful of her borscht, there was another story of her bubbe (Yiddish for grandmother) or her zayde (grandfather). The stories she wove brought richness to the fabric of her life and richness to the lives of those she touched.