Inspiring Women Magazine November 2023

A Dutch treat - boating on the canal with husband, Ernst (above left)
Christmastime with Georgia Regnault (above right)
Greeting President Clinton (above left)
Celebrating Fourth of July during COVID-19 (above right)
talk about the Black Belt, the southside of
Chicago, and the use of the N word. I absolutely
hated it. I knew how wrong it was.
I also remember how hurtful people could be
when they learned I was Jewish. I remember
being called a Jew and being pushed down on
the sidewalk. I remember teachers giving tests
on the high holidays, the days Jewish kids had
to stay home from school. I remember thinking
that I wished I could be like other kids.
My childhood ended five days before my 16 th
birthday when my mother died. I didn’t know
how I would go on, but I did. There were no
school counselors to talk to back then. I just had
to figure it out myself. I was Jewish but not
religious at all. Instead, I made up stories about
the stars in the sky and how she was one of
them, looking after me. I used to stare through
the window in our front room and try to make
sense of it all.
I went to the University of Illinois, transferred to
Northwestern and graduated from the School of
Speech (now the School of Communication) with
a major in Theater. I stayed in Chicago for one
year working with one of the first Improvisational
Theatre Groups in the United States. Then I went
to New York City (NYC) with $50. I managed all
kinds of jobs and continued studying acting for
seven years, including incredible classes with
Uta Hagen at the Berghof Studio.
I never thought of myself as someone who
would leave America to live in another country.
I returned to Chicago for a break from New York,
managed to get a part in the Threepenny Opera
and got a part-time job at International House at
the University of Chicago. I also audited a couple
of courses. One evening, I was sitting and
reading a book. A fellow came over to me and
said, “Hello, my name is Ernst, I come from
Holland.” He then walked away to continue
playing chess with his Estonian friend. That was
September. The following June we were married
in the Chicago City Hall. In July, when he finished
law school, we drove Route 66 from Chicago to
Los Angeles. In August, we went to NYC,
boarded the Maasdam from the Holland-
America line and, after ten days at sea, docked
in Rotterdam.
Our son was born in The Hague 2 ½ years
later. He now lives in Washington, DC, where
he practices law. I have two grown-up
grandchildren and one 8-year-old (going on
25)! She has an opinion about everything. My
husband is retired from his law practice, but
does all kinds of volunteer legal work for many
organizations here including the AWC and other
American and Dutch organizations. He is also
very active in the Leiden University alumni, plans
programs for his bridge club and plays a lot of
bridge with Georgia Regnault, a former FAWCO
President and very good friend. Our kids grew
up together. My current life is pretty full. I would
have it no other way.
Tell us about your arrival. For example: What
was your initial reaction? What was the first
thing you did? How do you recall feeling that
first week? Was there anything you immediately
noticed that was different from your
home country?
We docked in Rotterdam. My husband’s sister
and her future husband picked us up in their
tiny little Citroën. I used to call them “can opener
cars"! I’d never seen anything quite like it. We
drove from Rotterdam to Amsterdam, where
we would temporarily be staying with in-laws I
hadn’t yet met. I remember thinking how small
everything was – the highway (two lanes) and
the buildings. Then there were the tiny shops
they called “supermarkets” with no cereals for
breakfast, only two kinds of ice cream - vanilla
and coffee - and very little of each in the deep
freeze. Furthermore, the coffee cups were so
small - two sips and done! I missed my mugs.
The evening of our arrival, my husband took me
to a hotel in the center of Amsterdam. It was an
old hangout of his. We met one of his Leiden
University friends, who greeted me by saying,
“You better learn Dutch or no one will talk to
you!” Welcome to Holland! I found out later that
this fellow was not known for his social graces.
On the third day I was in Holland, my father-inlaw
took me to the site of the ancient
Portuguese Synagogue, near the neighborhood
where he was born and lived. There is a statue
there called the Dockworker. When the Nazis
started to deport the Jews, the dockworkers
went on strike. We stood there and he told me
about his Jewish friends. He named some of the
ones who did not survive.
After that, I really wasn’t interested in anything
but walking the streets and asking myself: What
would NYC be like if they took away all the Jews?
To this day, every time I go to Amsterdam, I think
about it. Living here, I am always aware of my
Jewish heritage and want to say, “I am Jewish”
for the thousands who did not live to say it.
What was something about your new country
that you were not expecting? What surprised
you the most?
For one thing, the size of the coffee cups and
cutting chicken with a knife and eating with a
fork in my left hand - that required some
manipulation. The other thing that surprised
and dismayed me was the August weather – rain
and clouds and cold at a time I would always
have been heading for the beach.
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