Rose Pollock

GEDCOM Note

Rose had a lot of money from her family - they owned a brothel in Hungary and were therefore well-to-do. She grew up in a non-religious home that was very assimilated (i.e. ate pork, etc). Although she did not grow-up kosher, she kept kosher when she married her husband, Frank. Rose complained about Frank as she felt that she was often being told how to do things (particularly regarding religious matters). Although she kept a kosher house despite her upbringing, she made it very public that she was forced to do so and did not like it.

She learned to cook (from her earliest memory) while she was growing up. She couldn't write out her recipes because "add flour until the dough feels right" is hard to quantify - but few could beat the end product. Her parents shaved her head when she was a child and she was totally bald for most of her childhood, because they believed that it would cause her hair to be thick and beautiful when they finally did let it grow out. She believed that that's what happened.

Rose came to the US when her cousin-in-law, Elsie (Arthur Farkas's mother), returned from Europe after a visit home. The family took a train to France and left from that port on (we believe) the USS Acquatania. She talked about how shocked she was at the conditions they had to live in when they first came to New York. She said she knew she'd have to make some sacrifices, but she never anticipated that she and her children would go from a beautiful home with servants to living with bedbugs. Nevertheless, she made the best of it - and always made a beautiful home - no matter how many of them were jammed into an apartment

Rose wanted to get an abortion when she was pregnant with Paul (Pali) because she hated being pregnant; however, he was born. She worked like a horse and even volunteered quite a bit in the Bronx. She'd wake up early, strip the beds, air the mattresses/dust/clean, etc, do her daily cooking (which included pastry and soup along with the appetizers and entree's), do some food shopping (all separate shops for meat, fish, eggs, etc), go back home to make and eat lunch. Then, during her leisure time, she'd knit and crochet. She used to volunteer at a nursing home (as did Frank). Both supported the Zionist movement, and did everything they could to help. They were active in their temple, and she made sure every day that one of her neighbors/friends who was blind was ok.

Rose was very independent taking trips by herself to visit family in Europe and spending summers at a hotel in the Catskill Mountains as a chef without training. It is believed that she only became a cook in an upstate hotel so that Paul could attend college and Optometry school.

She used to come and baby sit for her grandchildren whenever Leslie and Louise needed her. And, when she needed cornea surgery (which was a very big deal then, and meant she was pretty much out for the count for a couple of weeks), of all her children, Sandi remembers that she wanted to stay at Leslie and Louise's house to recuperate.

They moved from Yorkville to Hunts Point in the Bronx where it is believed 3 couples and Paul lived during/after WWII, and then to another apartment in the Bronx when 2 of the couples moved out to their own apartments).