Morris R. Fine

When I was a little, little girl, I was actually somewhat frightened by Uncle Morris! Mom would often take us to his home to visit, but as he was at work at his open air fruit & vegetable market with enclosed grocery store, he was rarely home - just Aunt Yetta & sometimes her son, Marvin. The few times I saw him at home, he rarely smiled & was sitting at the dining room table, stern faced, counting money from the store - thick wads of dollar & higher bills!! The times we visited the store, I would very tentatively approach him & he would give me a lollipop from a jar beside the cash register. He would usually drive us home from our visits to his house in his huge 1950's Buick! What a major thrill those luxurious rides were to me! As I became a young adult, I came to know Uncle Morris better & better. When he retired, Steve & I, then married, often visited. We would take Aunt Yetta & him grocery shopping. He had a sweet tooth & shared ice cold Pepsi, & the occasional delectable Babka (baked by his neighbor) with us! He became ill & weakened, so only Aunt Yetta would go shopping. One day we brought her home & there was a blonde's head framed in the front window! We thought Uncle Morris had made good on his plan to 'trade' Aunt Yetta in on 2 blonde 35 year olds! Turned out, the blonde was my own mother, Florence, who had inexplicably had her hair dyed blonde for the first & only time!! Uncle Morris turned out to be quite a joker - a very astute business man & informed reader! Uncle Morris was married twice. His first wife died in her 30's. He then married Yetta, my father's sister, who raised his 2 sons, Milton & Leonard, and gave birth to his youngest, Marvin. Leonard broke his heart by disappearing under 'cloudy' circumstances - never to be seen or heard from again. Milton worked for years at the market with his dad, my grandfather Jacob Schiff & Alvin Salzman but then went out on his own. He & Helen raised two children. Marvin adopted one daughter with his wife. Yet Leonard was always his 'heart'. Uncle Morris passed away when we were on assignment overseas. I remember rending my shirt as I later did again when my dad suddenly passed away. Uncle Morris is buried in the Workman Circle Cemetery in Akron, Ohio. Aunt Yetta was laid to rest beside him many years later. I miss them both to this very moment.