FINDING THE FAMILY OF HY FRIEDMAN, ART TEACHER (NO RELATION), AND MORE…

In my August 3, 2021, blog post-More Lincoln School Memories, I wrote about my elementary school art teacher at Lincoln School in Roselle, New Jersey, who sketched my portrait. It was a going-away gift when my family, with a sizable Lincoln School alum, was moving. I was in the middle of sixth grade.

Rewardingly, in the summer of 2021, I connected with Mr. Friedman's two daughters and shared the blog post and portrait he drew of me in 1964, with their father’s signature. They said he drew lots of sketches of them and was particularly good at that art technique.

When a former Lincoln School classmate told me the art teacher, Mr. Hy Friedman, passed away, the researcher that I am, I immediately searched for his obituary. It was easy to find with his date of death in 2009 and listed his two daughters, among other family members. One daughter, like me, is named Sharon.

Searching by the names of the art teacher’s two daughters revealed two email addresses for each. Most of the addresses listed were obsolete, while others received no reply. A continued search led to the spouse of one daughter on Facebook, so I sent him a message. Soon after, I received a call from his wife, Mr. Friedman’s younger daughter. It was like “old home week.”

When his elder daughter called next, she confirmed that although her maiden name and that of my mother was Friedman, there was no relation…she said that Friedman was probably not even their original family name. I could hardly believe my ears when she told me, however, that she and her sister grew up in South Orange. It’s the town I’ve lived in for 40 years, located in the adjoining county to where Lincoln School in Roselle is situated.

With one daughter of the teacher only one year my junior, living in Florida, and the other, an RVer, in Vermont as she says, “at least part of the year,” I invited them to stop by if they come to town. If that happens, I hope that we can include other members of the Roselle Lincoln School alum.

That list would include Jimmy Finkel, referred to in More Lincoln School Memories. Jimmy sent my husband an email in which he wrote, “My recent conversations with Sharon and you have brought home to me once again how frequently I tend to reflect not only our days at School 14 [Lincoln Elementary School in Elizabeth, New Jersey] but on Roselle’s Lincoln school, …

“There are things about the Lincoln School in Roselle that I can sometimes remember like it was yesterday. In particular, there were two pictures in the corridor leading from the kindergarten rooms down to the auditorium. On the left side of the corridor outside the auditorium was a portrait of Lincoln…On the right side of the corridor was a copy of the famous picture of Washington crossing the Delaware.

“I remember staring as a youngster at both pictures while we would be lined up to enter the auditorium, but I know it was the picture of Washington crossing the Delaware which enthralled me and captured my imagination. I can remember just getting lost in my thoughts when I looked at that painting.

“In a strange way, I think at least some of what I’ve absorbed about politics over all these years actually began as we were lined up as kindergarteners in that corridor leading to the auditorium.”

While Jimmy remembers pictures, I remember the small ramp leading from the kindergarten classroom to the art room. I went online and looked at the webpage for Lincoln School in Roselle and caught a quick glimpse of the ramp, just as I remember it. That was exciting to see.

I can picture my father, who was known as a mailman back then, a letter carrier now, invited as a working parent to show the class how the mail is sorted and delivered. After that, he handed me his mail sack, and I proudly walked down the ramp with the heavy leather mail satchel hanging from my shoulder.

In the online video of today’s Dr. Polk school, formerly Lincoln School in Roselle, I did not, however, spot the pictures that Jimmy spoke of, but I sure did look for them. Possibly they’re still hanging on the wall of another corridor in the school. I plan to ask my three older brothers if any of them remember the pictures Jimmy recalled.

It’s unreal how the story grows. In Folg Mir A Gang dated 10/26/2021, I told of the periodontist’s son teaching art at the elementary school in Roselle. He’s been educating a new generation of children there for 11 years. I was able to relay the history of the school’s name, changed from when I attended Lincoln School to the Dr. Charles C. Polk School. Dr. Polk was a black doctor in my hometown of Roselle.

My mother’s memories of the revered doctor were, “He was a doctor you could really talk to, and he would listen.” My mother lived in Roselle from about 1918, when she moved from New York City at about age three, until we moved to nearby Elizabeth on January 1, 1965.

My brother met someone at a local gas station who attended school with our mother, and he gave us a copy of their third-grade class photograph, taken in the early 1920s. I’ve been saving it for my collection of memorabilia placed throughout Kitchen Talk.

Since joining three Roselle Facebook groups, I may post the picture there but plan to someday donate it to the Roselle Historical Society, along with my mother’s books, which I talked about in “8th Grader Signatures—and more, from 1931,” dated April 7, 2020.

While perusing old files in a cabinet in our home, I found the perfect piece of memorabilia to use as a picture for the title page of this blog post. The one report card in the file, which I unexpectedly put my finger on, was my 6th-grade report card from Lincoln School in the 1964-65 school year when I moved mid-year to Elizabeth.

Peaked with excitement, I quickly opened it to see the grade from my art teacher, Mr. Friedman. That turned out to be disappointing. The music and art teachers did not fill in the grade boxes. Still, the report card is another piece of memorabilia to donate to the Roselle Historical Society.

It’s a wonder how many alums have their report cards. It could be more than we think. For example, in the same folder was my husband’s first-grade report card. That was another indicator that we come from the same background. Another perk was to see the signatures of our parents back in the 1950s and 60s.

December 1964—Sharon sketched by art teacher Hy Friedman

Quote from Hy Friedman obituary:
He was a notable artist and teacher for the Roselle Board of Education for 36 years, retiring in 1999.