The Golding Women
I correspond with my Golding cousins and I love that for many reasons; for one thing they show me all this respect for being the one in the family who knows all the stories! I do remember a lot. It was more than just being curious. My young brain was like a sponge and I sat quietly and listened to the adults talking, mostly the women. I heard all kinds of juicy pieces of information, not meant for a young girl.
So we agree that all of the Golding women were remarkable. Given the times they lived in, it is especially obvious. They didn’t let gender problems keep them down; they just stepped over anything in their way.
There were four children in the Golding family of that generation; three sisters plus my grandfather. The sisters were Gertrude, Cecil, and Hannah.
I can’t tell all these stories in one blog. However, I would like to mention first my grandmother who was not born a Golding but was married to one. It really blows my mind, the fact that my grandmother held a job while being married to my grandfather. Life with him was not a quiet one, and it was not a peaceful household. Of course, it was a strictly kosher home which took extra work and a different kind of grocery shopping. Fortunately my grandmother had some help in the house with cleaning.
On a block on Murray Avenue, across from where the old Weinstein’s used to be, there was a travel agency and that’s where my grandmother worked. Of course there were no computers, internet, etc. So if you wanted to plan a trip you went to a travel agent who knew how to get the best deals, best hotels, etc. Monday through Thursday my grandmother worked there, helping people plan vacations. You had to be intelligent and organized to do this. The owner of the travel agency, Mr. Borkin, was like part of our family. He let my grandmother leave at noon to prepare for Shabbos. It was either that or she didn’t work on Fridays at all–I can’t remember. My guess is that she didn’t work on Fridays when I consider all the work to do before sundown on Fridays.
lgmwriting 