Bess Beatrice Specter

"Bea" was a force of nature. She was vivacious, funny, interesting and always in motion. When we were kids I remember her arriving with her RV at the time with her third husband Phil Smolker. The freezer of the RV was packed with home made blintzes. She was hard working and had lived through hard times, so I remember fondly her drawers packed with small ketchup, salt and pepper packets that she would collect and save. She never wasted a thing. A habit which was passed along to my mom and my sister, who are both very thrifty and do not like to see things go to waste. She loved to do ballroom dancing which she did with Meyer Hill-her second husband. According to Marvin Specter, Bea grew up in Welsch, West Virginia. (Coalfield Jews) It was a small town with a small Jewish community. She would have gone to school with coal miners children. She was the valedictorian. Arthur Specter was a traveling shoe salesman that came from Northern Kentucky. Which at that time driving a model T at 30 miles an hour, would have taken a long time. He called at her door and then later asked to marry her. He was Jewish so her parents would have been quite happy according to Marvin.