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SPECIAL PRE-HIGH HOLIDAY FOOD ISSUE Vol. LXXVI
15 EluL 5759
No. 49 Omaha, NE
Yale Richards to receive national award Prominent Omaha attorney and dedicated community leader Yale I Richards will receive. the Trustee of the Year award on Oct. 25 at the 38th Annual Meeting of the American As-1 sociation of I Homes and Ser-1 vices for the I Aging (AAHSA). This 6,000-1 member associ-1 ation consists of I all the non-prof-1 it entities and I services t h a t ' Yale Richards serve seniors throughout the nation. This year's four-day annual meeting will take place in Chicago. Jewish Senior Services nominated Mr. Richards for this prestigious national award, because of all the time he has given and projects he has undertaken on behalf of the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home and its community outreach services. He is currently serving as Vice-president of the Board of Directors of Jewish Senior Services and cochairperson of the Assisted Living Task Force. He serves on the Home's Budget and Finance Committee and is a past board member of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. He currently serves on the Federation Council, is Executive Director, of the Livingston Foundation and a trustee of the Herbert Goldston Trust. In 1998, Richards was the recipient of the first Spirit of Federation Award presented by the Jewish Federation of Omaha. A specialized estate tax and charitable gift planning strategies conference will be presented by the Jewish Federation Foundation this year in his honor. Richards has a long history of service to the Jewish community. Accompanying his nomination were letters of Bupport from the following organizations: Livingston Foundation, Beth El Synagogue, Herbert Goldston Trust, Jewish Federation of Omaha, Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Senior Services and Marks, Clare & Richards. Silvia G. Roffinan, JSS President, notified Mr. Richards of his honor. True to his character, he modestly exclaimed, "I don't know what I did that so many of my peers have not done for our community." Barbara Gottlieb, Executive Director, was ecstatic about bis much deserved award, stating, "One of the marvelous functions of my job is to work with such a kind and knowledgeable leader as Yale Richards. Even if he does not agree with your point of view, he is always gracious and a gentleman to the end! I am so happy for him and Ida." Ms. Gottlieb* and Mrs. Cash, Director of Nursing, will attend the conference in October.
Dr. Guinter Kahn to speak on actions of German doctors by Morris Maline
When Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of Dr. Kahn said these thoughts of Nazi tyranny the Anti-Defamation League, had lunch with Dr. plus the years he spent in Germany after his Guinter Kahn recently, the conversation ended like internship and his ability to speak German, prothis: Mr. Foxman: "I wish we could clone you." pelled him to pursue the role of German physicians The comment was made in high praise to Dr. during the Holocaust. Kahn for his one-man cruBade in disclosing the role "I read everything I could get my hands on, spoke of German doctors in the Holocaust. to thousands of Germans and accumulated a great deal of factuDr. Kahn will describe his three-year al information on the subject." effort this Rosh Hashanah when he speaks at B'nai Israel in Council Bluffs. He recently was invited to A former Omahan, Dr. Kahn is Germany to address five medical Director of dermatological medical faculties on the history and impliresidency training at Mount Sinai cations of the inhumane behavior Hospital in Miami. He is known of German doctors during the worldwide for his discovery of Third Reich. Rogaine, the only topical agent "Out of the thousands of approved by the Food and Drug Gtrmans I have met, I can count Administration to grow hair. on my finger tips the few who admit to having been a Nazi." In a telephone interview, Dr. Kahn explained the dedication of his time The truth of the matter, he said, and finances to educating German is that German doctors were the physicians to the role of their profeslargest percentage of any profession in the Holocaust by going back to sional group to join the Nazis. his family's early years under Hitler. Dr. Guinter Kahn He explained this in part by pointing to the early 1930's as a "It was 1934, my mother was pregnant when the Nazis surrounded our house and depression period in Germany and that perhaps 70 took my father to prison. We survived this experi- percent or more of the doctors there were (Continued on Page 12) ence and came to Omaha in 1938."
Epsteins' lives tied to Jewish community for 35 years by Claudia Sherman, Foundation Public Relations Coordinator
"There's no way we'll ever catch up giving back what we have received," agreed Helen and Tuffy (Arnold) Epstein as they reminisced one warm July morning in their home tucked into a northwest Omaha neighborhood. They have been giving to the Jewish Federation's annual campaign since 1964. Even as a teenager, Helen remembers contributing to the annual campaign in Denver, CO, where.she was born and raised. "Oh yes," sometimes it was difficult to make their annual contribution, "but that's part of the way we live," added Tuffy. As contributors for more than 30 years, the Epsteins are among 300 members of the Omaha community who are Silver Circle donors to the Federation campaign. "Ifs a nice feeling" to be a Silver Circle donor, they admitted, "But that's not why we did it. It's just something we have to do," Tuffy said. The Epsteins met as students at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Tufrys career began with a jazz group in high school. In college, playing with his musical group paid for his college education. After completing college, he played while serving in the U.S. Air Force. Helen and Tuffy were married 42 years ago in Denver. After his discharge from the Air Force, Tuffy took a job in Carson, Iowa, for two years. This was the start of his 32-year career as a public school instrumental music teacher, mostly at Nathan Hale Junior High School in Omaha. He also played bass clarinet and solo alto saxophone in the Omaha Symphony from 1965 to 1976. In 1968, he began playing in the orchestra that backed all the celebrity shows at Aksarben, meeting performers Sammy Davis, Jr., Bill Cosby, Wayne Newton, Mel Tonne, Rita Moreno, Red Skelton, Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, Dionne Warwick Co-chairing "Funday Sundae with Bubbe and and Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gonne. Zayde" are Lenora Lancaster, left,; Patty Nogg Retiring in 1995, Tuffy now teaches private and Laura Wine. The salute to grandparents is' woodwind lessons part-time at Dietze Music. He this Sunday, Aug. 29,1-5 pan., at the JCC.
Grandparents Day
August 27,1999
Helen and Tuffy Epstein has 20 to 30 students, both children and adults. He is a familiar performer in the Omaha community with his jazz band, 'Tuffy's Group.' He still plays the saxophone, clarinet and flute at weddings, B'nai Mitzvah, brit milah, holidays and special performances at Beth El Synagogue and Temple Israel, the Jewish Community Center (JCC) and the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. Also a teacher, Helen started teaching Sunday School classes at Beth El Synagogue after she and Tuffy arrived in Omaha. She stayed home raising her children until the youngest, Danielle, was in preschool at Beth El. "I subbed at preschool," she said, and then started as an assistant teacher when the JCC moved to its present location on 132nd S t She returned to college, completed her degree in elementary education, and worked a few more years at the JCC preschool. Eventually, she taught second (Continued on Page 11)