It was an icy cold Saturday morning.  Hermie (Ben’s son, Herman) called his father and said “Pa, I went for bagels this morning and the sidewalk is very icy  Don’t go out”  His father replied,  “I was already out and it wasn’t bad.”  Hermie said, “What are you talking about, its terrible!” Ben replied,  “When you go for bagels its icy. When you go to Shul its dry!”  Now THAT’S wisdom.

Coming or going, Ben’s greeting was always “Hello.” Don’t know if this was his variation of ‘Shalom,’ or another reason, but he never said ‘Good-bye.’ He said ‘Hello’ when he left, or when others were leaving.

I also have fond memories as a child of going upstairs by myself to visit grandma, we lived on the first floor, and she would let me have coffee . . . poured into the saucer. It was bold and heavily sugared and milked. Quite a treat. . . . and, she would often pick-up a rye bread and carve a slice off and put on a heavy layer of cream cheese topped with a thick layer of concord grape preserves. To this day I relish having this whenever I can find true concord grape preserves. Ron Miller.

Ron Miller