Jacob Nathan Schiff

    Grandpa Jacob Nathan Schiff & Grandma Mary Gurevitz knew each other in Russia. They met again after their immigration to the United States, & married, in New York. They lived in the Bronx over their deli.   

    With family members in Youngstown, Columbus & Akron, Ohio, they moved the family to Akron in the 1940's. Grandpa spent the rest of his working years on the night shift at Morris Fine's (Yetta Cohen's husband) 'open air' fruit & vegetable market & attached enclosed grocery store. (On the long bus ride home, he often carried fresh produce, most memorably juicy watermelon in the summertime!) I remember vividly a night he was robbed. He was hit on the forehead by the robber, & carried a round raised bump there the rest of his years.

     At their two story home on Grace Avenue, Grandpa kept a lovely yard & garden. As a child, I ate fresh strawberries & tomatoes straight off the vines! Ahvah Zedak synagogue was two blocks from the house. The corner grocery was right on the corner. The elementary school was across the street. The bus stop was 2 blocks away. The zoo was a 20 minute walk. Grandpa once placed a rubber snake & a wooden owl on the roof of the house to keep the pigeons scared away! It worked! 

     After retirement, he became much more active at the nearby Anshe Sfard Orthodox Synagogue, attending minyans daily. Often, he could be found at a neighborhood service station, smoking Camel cigarettes & shooting the breeze with other retirees! He loved to play lively games of Pinocle with several friends (Aaron Gurin, Sam Freidman...) sharing a bit of Schnaps in the process! Kids were not to be heard during pinocle card games!! His pals also lay in Sherbondy Cemetery not far from him.)

     As his granddaughter, my most vivid memories are of Grandpa looking so dashing in his suit & tie, hat in place; him sitting in his big, mustard yellow leather chair, reading; giving me silver dollars at Passover for finding the hidden matzoh; and of his big Hershey bars & Tab sodas in the fridge!

     He kept a newspaper announcement of his marriage to my Grandma Mary, plus his citizenship paper, in his wallet through all of his life.

     I was at the hospital with him on the night he so peacefully passed away. It was Shabbos night. Later, when I was given his horned rimmed eyeglasses, his wallet, & his wedding ring, I made an amazing discovery. The plain yellow gold wedding band he wore all those years was actually the band of my Dad, Isidore! It was inscribed, "Florence to Isidore with love, 11-11-45." Now my husband wears that same wedding ring. 

     When I finally physically reconnected with Daddy, Steve & I offered him the ring. He held it in his hands, turning it over & over. Then, he handed it back to Steve, with a long sigh, and the comment that he wasn't yet ready. 'Ready' would never happen, as sadly, Daddy died too young in 1973.