Tell Me What You’re Reading No. 32: Evelyn Lerman - Ev's tribute to her Mom, and my tribute to Ev
In July 2018, I sat down with our dear friend Evelyn Lerman, in her cabin on the grounds of her beloved Camp Caribou in Winslow Maine, to discuss the biography she wrote about her mother, “A Dressmaker's Threads: The Life and The Legacy of My Russian Immigrant Mother", which was published in 2013. As you can hear in our podcast discussion, I use the excuse of talking to Evelyn about her book to talk with Evelyn about her own life as well.
Evelyn describes her mother - Celia Gorfinkel - as a remarkable woman, who in 1920, with a sick husband and an infant, escaped from the Czar's Army in Russia, walked across Europe from the Ukraine, and sailed to Ellis Island. Celia was a dressmaker who worked 12-18 hour days at her sewing machine and whose love for education motivated her to put Evelyn and her two sisters through college.
Our warm, loving and dear friend, Evelyn passed away on March 17, 2021. Ev, as remarkable as her mother, was 95 years old; married to Albert for almost 74 years. Evelyn was vibrant to the end. We are all very sad, but have been reflecting on what a wonderful, fulfilling and productive life Ev had; a journalism degree from Simmons College, graduate degrees in education and human development from Harvard, a teacher and later an administrator in the Brookline, Massachusetts Public Schools for 27 years, author of four books, traveling (including cross country with Albert in their RV in their late 80s), teaching writing to adults and directing a reading program for third graders while in her 90s, the blessings of her children, her grands and her great grands, Camp Caribou, and, most of all Albert. Our entire family is so blessed to have been a part of Ev and Al’s life.
Carol was 19 years old when she first met Evelyn as a student teacher in Ev's elementary school classroom, and Carol and Ev then taught together as colleagues. Carol adopted Evelyn as her “chosen mother“ and Evelyn and Albert also adopted us.. We visited Ev and Al at Camp Caribou in Maine almost every summer beginning in about 1972 for over 40 years. Melanie, Dave and Ben also had wonderful relationships with Evelyn (and with Albert too). Evelyn was a role model and a friend for us all, but most especially for Carol, whose loving relationship with Evelyn was very special. The Altarescus all feel the pain, Carol most deeply among us, but it was Carol who so wisely referred to this loss as a part of the circle of life. We love the entire Lerman family and know that there are so many wonderful memories to sustain them all.
I’m glad to have had this discussion with Evelyn a few years ago, sorry to have not published it sooner but so glad to be doing so now as a tribute to our friend.
Books published by Evelyn
Teen Moms: The Pain and the Promise (Sep.1997)
Safer Sex: The New Morality (Sep. 2000)
A Dressmaker's Threads: The Life and The Legacy of My Russian Immigrant Mother (Apr. 2013)
My Love Affair With Life (Dec. 2020)
Camp Caribou
50 Years With the Lerman Family at Camp Caribou: “If you want the story, you ask Evelyn, if you want the facts, you ask Albert.”
