To my grandchildren on my 102d birthday — and a happy New Year 2015:
Since I have nurtured and educated your progenitor I think it is time for you to know your origins more thoroughly.
I was born on January 31st 1912 in Canarsie Brooklyn to Markus Scherer – who had come to New York to continue his printing business from Rumania - and Betsy - who was exceptionally beautiful and brought 6 children into the world (Henry, Frank, Will, Rachel, Nachman Chaim, and Joe). Our ancestors came from the Black Forest region in Austria. Growing up in an orthodox house I was to be trained as a Cantor, but alas Markus had a falling out with the synagogue. I was the first in my family to attend college, and graduated from CCNY (City College of New York) with a degree in Economics – but after having my own falling out with Markus when I married Sonia Jacobs on May 4th 1933 after a six week courtship. We remained together through the great depression and World War II (and the antics of an unruly child Paul Michael) till Sonia died of congestive heart failure at the age of 87 on August 7th 1994. During the war I worked at Picatinny Arsenal in Teaneck New Jersey because of my 4F draft classification due to the discovery of 3 incomplete vertebrae. We moved to Trenton where I got a job in Training at the New Jersey Division of Employment Security (Department of Labor); and settled in Ewing Township where Paul could be educated by an excellent public school system.
As Paul grew up Sonia and I supported his joining the school choir with a wonderful music teacher, Peg Smith; joining the cub scouts (where we became den parents); and studying for Bar Mitzvah. When he joined the Boy Scouts at 11 we sent him to Camp Pahaquarrah near the Delaware Water Gap with his scout leader Herbert Young; and to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico when he was 13. He stayed in scouts till he was 17 and science overtook his interests.
When Janet Hunt read him “Dickon Among the Indians” in the 4th grade Paul developed an extended interest in the Lenape Indians of New Jersey; we supported his joining the New Jersey Archaeological Society as the youngest member; Sonia typed Paul’s prize winning report on the History of the Lenape in high school; and I introduced Paul to Dr. Dorothy Cross, New Jersey Archaeologist, with whom he worked cataloging artifacts she had dug up in 20 some New Jersey sites.
I continued supporting development of Paul’s science interests: introducing him to the State Geologist to classify a trilobite fossil Paul found while rock and shell collecting; Taking him to public lectures at Princeton University on diverse topics such as computing components for artificial intelligence and advances in education by Jacques Barzun; supporting Paul’s science fair entry on the brain chemistry of human memory which won in Trenton and was sent on to the National.
I agreed to send Paul to Tufts; supported his courtship of Sherry with a car for the summer he worked for Professor Rai Weiss at Tufts on a student experiment to measure the speed of light; and I became Paul’s best man when Paul married Sherry on June 15th 1965.
I continued to provide invaluable aid as Paul and Sherry’s family grew with Jonathan (1974), Ethan (1979), and Susannah (1983) – building shelves, painting rooms, assembling doll houses and tending gardens. I outfitted an entire woodworking shop and replaced a boiler in the basement; provided a tractor for lawn mowing and a piano for music lessons; replacing the roof and siding on the house when it was needed; and three times outfitted Paul’s family with cars – an Oldsmobile when Paul got married, a Toyota Corolla when Sherry needed transportation to shows, and a Honda Civic when Paul needed to travel for work.
When I retired from New Jersey work, Sonia and I traveled with Elder Hostel to Mexico, then to see Machu Picchu, Hawaii and Israel. After the War I joined the American Jewish Congress to provide support for Israel. The battle to establish the country as a home for Jews displaced in Europe in 1947 and three subsequent Arab-Israeli wars convinced me of the necessity for establishing Holocaust courses in the public schools so that the war experience would not be publically forgotten by growing generations. I was fortunate to enlist the help of Bill DiGeorge, Paul’s favorite Social Studies Teacher in establishing such a course at Ewing High.
I lived out my retirement years at Martin’s Run where I could enjoy my grand-children, and even attend Suzy’s Bas Mitzvah. I died of old age at 94, on February 15th 2006.