The Autobiography of Leslie Duke Goldberg
My name is Leslie Duke Goldberg, the granddaughter of Louis Freilicher and Lena Kahn Freilicher. I was lucky enough to have been raised by my maternal grandparents. It all started on September 15, 1943, when I was born to Lewis Duke (my father) and Helen Freilicher Duke (my mom), in Brooklyn, New York at Brooklyn Jewish Hospital. My father always called me his lucky charm, because the day I was born, the Draft Board changed his status. Remember, this was WWII. I have no memories of my early childhood in Brooklyn or Belle Harbour, but in 1947 my parents moved to Los Angeles, California, and by then I guess my brain computed the vast changes in our lives. We drove cross-country in a brand new forest green DeSoto, making stops in New Orleans, Texas, and Las Vegas, the new and up-coming gambling capital. I'm not sure I remember or am just repeating stories my mom told, but it seems as if my brother Robert and I were experiencing a real road trip at an early age.
Little did I know, but the reason for this huge move was the seriousness of my father's illness. In 1950 my father died, and a new and scary journey began. My mother thought it best for us (Robert, me and herself) to move back east to be closer to her immediate family. By this time Grandpa Louis and Grandma Lena had sold their house in Brighton Beach and had moved to Miami Beach, Florida. My mom moved us into an apartment first, and then into a house. I know for sure that my Uncle Norman and Aunt Mildred lent her some money, but I also recall her saying that her cousins Jack and Francis also lent her money for the down payment. My mom felt so close to her siblings and all her cousins that she instilled in Robert and myself a feeling of attachment for our family. Also, living with my grandparents gave me an opportunity to hear about different sides of the previous generations.
Sometime in the 1950’s Great Uncle Abe and Aunt Minnie Freilicher moved to Miami Beach, and from then on until their deaths they were significant relatives in my life. As a 7-year-old girl, I remember them taking me out to dinner and on adventures to a huge pool somewhere in Miami. Remember, they were childless. Today, whenever I set the table for a holiday, I use Great Aunt Minnie’s flatware.
My grandparents were a tremendous influence on my life. The baby grand piano in my mother's living room (we HAD to take lessons), my brother's trumpet playing -- all of these things so important to my grandfather. He was the ultimate musician. Stories of how he played with John Phillip Sousa, (“The Birth of a Nation”), and playing the viola at the Statler Hotel in New York City, and how he was one of the founding members of local 802 of the New York musicians union -- what a man! Self-educated in English, he would read the Encyclopedia for fun, and if he didn't know a word, he looked it up in a dictionary. He was a true example of excellence.
Grandpa Louis passed away when I was 15 and my beloved grandma Lena the following year. By that time, Becky Fisher, my grandfather's cousin and Aunt Minnie's sister, came to live with us. She stayed until 1969 when my mother sold our house and bought a brand new condominium on the water. In 1961, I graduated from Miami Beach High School and then went on to the University of Florida in Gainesville. Remember the 60's -- I was truly a Rah! Rah! college girl and after two and a half years I was asked to leave. But my mother, who wouldn't allow failure, enrolled me in summer classes to make up all the courses I had flunked, and then it was on to Florida Atlantic University where I graduated with a BA in 1966, with a dual major in journalism and education. ("A teacher can always get a job." -- Helen Duke.)
In the summer of 1966, I moved north and got a job as an editor with TV Guide and began my love affair with New York. In 1968 I met Sidney Goldberg and we got engaged and married within 4 months. Because my mom lived in Florida, Hannah Lapidus, my mother's cousin, came into my life. She took me to register for china and silver, and she and Joe became extremely important in my life.
Sidney and I have 2 wonderful children, Lewis (31) who is engaged to Melissa Katz and works in PR in New York City, and Carie (26) who lives in L.A. and is a soccer sports agent. My husband is a playwright and author (his latest book is entitled Eli's Coming), and I am for the last 18 years a real estate broker in Bergen County, New Jersey. I have been fairly successful as a realtor and in 1989 was named Realtor of the Year for the State of New Jersey. We live in Tenafly, New Jersey, and have been married for 33 years. Yes, I left out the ‘70's, ‘80's, and part of the ‘90's, but just picture those years filled with rock ‘n roll, children, Central Park -- the hippies era at the Boat Basin -- and then, finally, reality.
Looking forward to reading all about other members of our family. Seems we all have some of the artistic Freilicher blood.
