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Jordan Earle
Due: Sept. 10
Audience: Those interested in history/world events
Personal Interest Genre
"Enjoy each day of your wonderful youth." These words of wisdom were
given to me by a woman whose own youth was cut short by one of our nation's
most widely known tragedies: The Holocaust. Standing just barely over five
feet tall, with a contagious energy and warm smile that over the years
has become a permanently fixated feature, Lisa Earle, prancing around the
kitchen as though she is partaking in the day's most important task, prepares
a traditional Jewish treat for me: Lox on a perfectly spread, sour cream
smothered bagel.
"So, darling, tell me about your studies," she glowingly presses,
as if any response I could muster would possibly be more interesting than
the multitude of stories she has tucked away in a lifetime's supply of
memories.
Sitting in her living room is an adventure in itself, and as I glance
around at my surroundings, I notice we are joined by eclectic pieces of
artwork, sculptures, and books that have been accumulated from around the
world. With no choice but to inquire about each one, she modestly informs
me that the colorfully ornate vase nearest me was added to the collection
when traveling in Bolivia. Pictures of Lisa with famous opera singers,
one of whom happened to be the great Pavarotti, line the walls of the nearest
hallway.
Born an only child to Selma and Arnold Neumann, Lisa entered this
world in the charming, little town of Vienna, Austria. Eighteen years later,
wide-eyed and full of curiosity, she was stepping foot onto American soil.
Her first stop: New York City.
"After the Nazis entered Austria in 1938, on the very day of my 18th birthday,
I lived with my family under Nazi control for a year," Lisa recounts, sitting
across from me at the dining room table. "With Hitler and his gang present,
living under his regime was difficult at best," she continues, telling
me how Nazi soldiers often vandalized Jewish businesses and burned down
the city's synagogues.
"In hopes of providing an escape and a better future for their only daughter,
my parents sent me to America with the idea that they would eventually
meet me there." Sadly, that reunion never took place.
Accompanied by uncertainty and just $10.00 in her purse, Lisa soon
fell in love with the beauty and sense of opportunity that the city of
New York possessed. It was here that Lisa picked up her love for theater
and the arts, which she would later pass on to her children.
"I truly have an appreciation for classical music and stories that
have survived time," her adopted daughter, Julie boasts, gazing at the
picture of Lisa with Pavarotti.
After several months in The Big Apple, Lisa transitioned to Silver
Springs, Florida, after being accepted into a camp designed for refugee
students. Lisa humbly recalls learning a variety of subjects including
English, typing, and "beauty culture".
A young woman clearly intelligent beyond her age, Lisa then changed
scenery yet again, as she was sent to Miami Beach, Florida after passing
a State Board examination. It was here that Lisa worked as a junior operator
in a beauty salon.
"I earned $5 per week while working there," Lisa remembers. "Oh, how times have changed."
Midway through her twenties, Lisa met a person who would forever change
her life: a man named Simon Ruden. Feeling the effects of the Depression,
Simon had made his way to Miami in search of work. After 10 months, he
and Lisa were married.
"Simon was the best thing that has ever happened to me," Lisa utters
with adoration in her voice. With Lisa in the process of being fitted for
wedding dresses, her parents were still in Vienna awaiting the end of the
war, which would, in their minds, signify the reunion of their family.
Oceans apart, yet very much present in spirit, they were able to see pictures
of the wedding and Lisa found comfort in knowing that, though the distance
between them was extreme, they knew of her happiness.
"That thought is one that has consoled me countless times throughout
my life," Lisa recounts, slowly smoothing the wrinkles in the placemat
before her.
Simon and Lisa enjoyed the newlywed life for two years until he was
called to serve in the Air Corps -- what the Air Force was called at that
time. Before being shipped away to Europe, D-Day arrived, symbolizing the
end of World War II. Lisa, however, received news that made it all bitter
sweet: her parents had been taken from their home in Vienna and the Red
Cross "had no knowledge" about their fate.
This uncertainty stuck with her until years later when the horrific
truth came to light.
"I later learned that my parents were murdered in 1942, after being
taken to an extermination camp in Russia," Lisa states, a far away look
in her eyes. "Shot to death and dumped into those so well known ditches."
On American soil and far from the turmoil in Europe, Lisa and Simon
spent their days enjoying one another's company and the idea of their future
together. It was also around this time that Lisa joined the Miami Opera
Guild Chorus. She referred to this period in her life as "my seven years
in the exciting, magical world of opera!" and had the opportunity to appear
on stage with well-known opera singers of the era, including Jan Peerce,
Pavarotti, and many others.
The only thing that could top such an experience was the arrival
of their first child. After attempting to have children of their own proved
to be unsuccessful, Simon and Lisa decided to adopt. They named their 3-month-old
Lenny.
Following the arrival of their son, other changes began to present
themselves. Simon had gone to law school and become a respectable lawyer,
and the couple built a home in Fort Lauderdale, next to the infamous Holiday
Park Tennis Court. It was here that Chrissie Evert grew up and where Lisa
would also learn the game that brings her joy to this day.
Upon adjusting to their new home, the couple joined their Temple
and adopted another child-this time, a little girl named Susie.
"She was surely the most beautiful thing I have ever laid eyes on,"
she recalls, gazing out of the red-draped living room window, almost as
if looking hard enough might make Susie would appear.
When she was 5, however, Susie was diagnosed with Leukemia and passed
away six weeks later. As if this wasn't heartbreaking enough, Simon soon
contracted a similar cancer known as Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Four years
later, he too left his existence in this world, as well as the love of
his life, behind.
Two years before Simon's death, he and Lisa had adopted two more
lovely additions to their family, David and Julie. They were only 2 years
old when their father died.
"David and Julie are the greatest blessings life has ever handed
me," Lisa quietly reflects with a look of contentment in her eyes.
Now a widow with three children, Lisa was faced with the daunting
task of raising them alone -- a task she accomplished while at the same
time pursuing an academic career.
"My strength outweighed my heartache," Lisa remembers aloud. She
was motivated by a desire to make a living for her and her family, and
to Lisa, going back to college saved her. When most people would have been
crippled by grief and spent their days consumed with self-pity, Lisa spent
hers reading and taking care of her family.
"Education, I believe, saved her," her daughter Julie convincingly
adds. "She immersed herself in it to avoid the pain."
A great multi-tasker, Lisa recalls times that she'd study in the
checkout line at the grocery store. With 10 years of being a single mom
under her belt, Lisa met a man by the name of Jim Earle -- my grandfather.
"He was the best friend anyone could ask for," Lisa nostalgically
claims.
In the military and a widower as well, Jim had five grown children.
He joined Lisa's family as a strict, yet well meaning father figure and
was understandably met with rebellion from her children, especially Lenny,
who at the time was 24.
"Bringing Jim into our family was a difficult transition for us all,"
Lenny had stated when prompted about the subject. "And yet, in spite of
it all, it was probably the most important transitive event for me." According
to Lenny, it was Jim who encouraged him to start thinking of what desires
he had for his life.
Lisa, adjusting to her own life as a married woman yet again, had
received her Doctorate in Education and began to teach as a professor in
the language department of a local university. Having a husband who was
a retired marine officer, the couple was able to travel the world, visiting
places such as the Philippines, Hawaii, and Taiwan, as well as her hometown
of Vienna.
Things were looking up, and while it would appear to those in Lisa's proximity
that she was invincible, she too has been faced with health issues in her
life, including open heart surgery and endometrical cancer, which Lisa
researched and was later able to use in her doctoral thesis.
"Medicine is an art, as well as a science and requires imagination and
creative thinking in the process of research," Lisa contends, summarizing
the main point of her thesis.
Since the remission of her cancer, Lisa has suffered several other
ailments, such as a broken neck and arm, and is still walking around at
the age of 92 with an energetic aura that her friends swear is impossible
not to rub off within seconds of being in her presence. Deemed "unsinkable
Lisa" by one of her cousins, she survived all of this while grieving the
loss of yet another loved one, her late husband, Jim.
When asked what point in her life she would return to if possible,
Lisa thought for a moment, that indestructible smile working its way up
the corners of Lisa's lips.
"Each portion of our life story has different things to offer --
good stuff and bad -- and as we learn to accept those happenings, we grow
in understanding and feel stronger every time in our ups and downs."
Every story deserves to be told. And Lisa's, although equipped with
its fair share of "downs", is one that is continuing to be written. The
survival of the Holocaust was simply a chapter.
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