Lois Joffee, who lived in Hancock for 62 years is still involved now with her synagogue in Arizona. At Temple Jacob she was active in the sisterhood which was known for its teas.
Bobbie Sue Joffee Locke left Hancock at age 18. She remembers that when she first met Richard, her husband to be, a student at MTU, her mother told her to "go out with him, you don't have to marry him." They celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. Margie Kahn, Howard Seligmann and herself were all in Hancock schools together. She remembers braiding her Dad's tallis fringes during services and her first fast at age 11. The kids spent a lot of time outside during High Holy Day services and someone was always coming out to ask them to be quiet. Emil Seligmann blew the shofar back then. Mr. Klatzky taught Herman for his Bar Mitzvah.
Herman's daughter Jennifer left Hancock at age 13. She says she has never found another Jewish community as "haimish." Betty Tepfer always brought her a doll when she came to visit, she remembers. She is working on a PHD in Asian Art History and will soon travel to Bombay to do research. Neal Joffee is also completing a PhD.
Burton Seligmann spent the summer at the family property on Portage Lake, escaping the heat & drought of Texas. He enjoyed reconnecting with many old friends, fishing and going to the woods with Richard Kahn. Both he and Howard are retired. Burt was born and raised in Hancock and graduated from Hancock High School in 64. He remembers preparing for his Bar Mitzvah with Arnold Klatzky and he still has the ax Mr Klatzky gave him for his Bar Mitzvah. He also remembers missing crucial football games because of the High Holy Days. Like Bill Cohodas, Phil Joffee, and Roberta Klatzky, he remembers where each family sat in the synagogue. Back then, the synagogue was open only for the High Holy Days.
In the last newsletter, we requested information about Mawrence family. We received responses from Silvert Mawrence and William Shoer. Silvert sent 5 typed pages of family history excerpted here:
"My grandfather, Sam came from Bialystock, Poland, circa 1889. He married Sarah Oshinsky from Suwalki, Poland and they brought Isaac, Harry (my father, age 2), Lewis, and Bessie. Sam ferried horses to Calumet from Duluth. I suspect he came because his wife had relatives.
"Sam’s business was livestock - cattle, horses & other critters. He was known in the 50 mile area as “Russian Sam” - the Finnish people called him Russiansimi and I was referred to by my Dad’s employees as Roossan Sami boyka - Russian Sam’s boy, whenever I was introduced to Finnish farmers on a cattle-buying trip to Pelkie, Ewen, or other locales by our Finnish drivers.
"Sam was very successful - he had a lot of real estate in the Calumet area - a large farm holding near the Tamarack Waterworks where he had a tallow rendering plant - the farm was stocked with all manner of ducks, cattle and horses.
"Harry, my father, dealt cattle, and fowl (turkeys & chickens) and whatever he could to make a buck during the Depression - everything was barter in those days - for example, I went to Dad’s barber and the barber got a chicken. My mother was raised in a genteel kosher home in Chicago by her devoted parents and tried to leave him early on by going on a trip back to Chicago where she wrote Dad she wasn’t coming back to Laurium - Dad was on the next train with a gun - told her she was coming back with him and would have his name until the day she died.
"There were 3 of us boys - Bernard, the eldest, graduated from Michigan Tech about 1933. He was a musician and played all over the area with his band. I remember going to the Scott Hotel in Hancock to hear the band. I graduated from Calumet High School where my last semester I was in command of the ROTC battalion. (Silvert’s career in the military included a short stint at the Keweenaw Radar Station in 1950.)
"There were enough Jewish people when my brothers were growing up to have a full-time rabbi. They were both bar mitzvah. My only recollection of Temple Jacob in my youth was how much I hated going there - I had no knowledge of Judaism - no Jewish friends in Laurium - the services were all in Hebrew - not 1 word of English - my dad would rap me up side the head if I said anything - I spent (or tried to spend) as much time out of Temple during services as I could - we had a rabbi for High Holidays . . . it was only when I was in service that I learned anything. I never knew there was such a thing as reform Judaism and when I did I embraced it."
(Silvert writes that he will be here in July for the Calumet High School Reunion. We look forward to welcoming him back to Temple Jacob - now a reform synagogue!)
William Shoer writes: “Going back into the teens I do, vividly, remember Lewis Mawrence and his sister Bessie who was a most gorgeous looking girl. We knew Louie very well because he was in the hide business and my father Mandel was the kosher butcher in Hancock. Whenever my father accumulated a load of hides Louie would pick them up from our barn. The odor from the hides in the days before refrigeration and the flies and maggots in the fat and flesh were controlled by spreading coarse salt on them. In the winter, everything froze solid and you had to break the hides apart with a sledgehammer.
"My job was to spread salt on the hides. If you had a cut or a scratch on your hands you knew it right away because the salt would burn in the wound. I was only six then. Now I’m getting close to 90 and my hands still hurt.
"Louis was a good man and a fair buyer and every so often I got a nickel ice cream cone from him at Mount Joys store on Quincy Street across from Suomi College where I used to play with Eddie Leiblein from the wholesale grocery on Hancock Street..
"I still remember when Harriet Markus was married in the synagogue in the early 20’s. My father performed the ceremony. Mr Markus was in the junk business. They lived in West Hancock in a very large house and had 3 daughters.
"I can still smell the bread from Sakari’s Finnish bakery where a bag of cinnamon toast was 10 cents. Also, Levine’s tobacco store, across from Gartner’s, sold all kinds of penny candy, and if you were a good boy, Mr Levine gave you a piece.
"I remember stealing sour gooseberries from the priests yard near the church on Quincy Street not far from where we lived at 512, next to Cuffes electric supply store. His son Tommy was my pal and we used to steal apples from Mr Williams yard. He was the dry cleaner next to the firkin factory where they made firkins for the butter and cheese people. In west Hancock there used to be a brewery.
"On Saturday there was always a draft horse auction sale. The horse dealer was Jake Tolkin who came up from Milwaukee with several loads of draft horses. You could buy a good horse for under $100."
Also . . . Ruth & Justin Seligmann were married in 1949 and lived in Hancock until January 1957 when they moved to San Diego with their two young children. There were services for the High Holidays “but some of us mothers provided a Sunday school for our kids in the basement of the temple. We celebrated some other holidays there and did what we could with the resources we had."
And from Armand Cohodes of Michigan City, IN ". . .I grew up in Iron Mountain & Norway back in the 20s and 30s. My late Uncle Mike and Aunt Bluma Narot lived in Hancock."
