IT'S IMPORTANT TO SHARE — Sharon Mark Cohen

On October 16, 2022, we traveled to Brooklyn to meet up with our friends Meryl and Michael and celebrate their uncle Lou’s 101st birthday, which he marked on the 11th of October.

Louie is one of the few people outside my immediate family that knew me, as the saying goes, “before I was born.” My parents met Louie and his wife at the Catskills bungalow colony owned and operated by cousins from my mother’s family in upstate New York.

Returning home from Brooklyn, I sent the pictures my husband and I took that recent October morning at Louie’s two-family Sheepshead Bay Section of Brooklyn house, to his niece in Maryland. Then I thought, why not send it to our mutual connections from the bungalows of my youth, including my cousin Irv?

Irv’s parents and grandparents owned Mountain View Bungalow Colony in Livingston Manor. That was where our cousins, over many consecutive summers, rented a room to Louie and his much-adored wife Sarah who parted this world way too soon.

My cousin Irv, 78, responded, “Wow I remember him he made me a p a system from an old record player.” That was Louie. He was a high school shop teacher and in his spare time, he tinkered with all types of electrical and electronic doodads.

Irv’s reply made it super rewarding to have shared the picture. Jogging his memory about the homespun entertainment and cleverness shared by Louie and all of us bungalow dwellers of the Catskill Mountains was rewarding.

When I think about it, Louie, who spent countless hours toying with gadgets with my father in our basement over a good 40 years of regular visits, has been part of our family’s life for around 80 years. My husband joined that friendship circle as my boyfriend 53 years ago.

We had the best of times. I’m so happy that I thought to share the picture and kick up some of the special memories of the times Lou shared with us.