To my family:
Since I began working with older people I have been fascinated by their life stories. The questions I never asked Bubby or my parents, Belle and Irving, started springing forth. As my Lerner cousins and our children trickled north to the San Francisco Bay Area to live, to visit, and to attend college, we have gathered for holidays and had the opportunity to share memories of earlier pesachs, schule, our cousins, aunts and uncles, and Bubby and Zadeh.
When Cousins Marvin and Evelyn Lerner came to visit in the fall of 1982, I realized that Marv had experiences with a Bubby and Zadeh I never knew, and uncles much younger in their lives.
During August 1984, coinciding with the Olympics in Los Angeles, I interviewed the Lerner Uncles and Aunts and Cousin Iris. Adding to that was an exceptional taped interview of Cousin Sol Schecter and Uncle Joe, which was done by Cousins Michael and Harvey Lerner in January 1978. During her visit to Los Angeles in December 1984, I had a short interview with Rose Birnbaum, Bubby's niece, cousin of the Lerner Boys, and Aunt Laura's sister. The catalyst of it all, Cousin Marvin, sent a great letter capturing the essence of his recollections. And finally, Harvey Lerner, who definitely got his talent for art from the non-Lerner side, has done the wonderful layout of the family tree and all the artwork and graphics.
So - it has been ""a little here, a little there" in the getting the memories down on paper, even with the gaps, so that we can have an anecdotal history to share and enjoy with each other, to stimulate us to remember other stories, and most of all, to pass these on to our children and theirs, the legacy of our family's struggle with life circumstances.
We Lerners are a funny breed - just ask those who have married us. We share the family traits of being strong-minded, industrious, tenacious, stubborn and, also, a little clumsy. We come from common folk, we're "down to earth", and there is a strong bond. (Just live away from L.A. and you feel the pull!)
I want to thank you all for both the pleasant and painful memories you shared with me. They have enriched my understanding of our family, of my parents, and of myself - my heritage. I thank you all for that gift which I pass on.
Love to you all,
Nessa Fay Lerner Wilk
June 1985