May 19, 1947 was a night Dottie will always remember. Along with her husband Arthur, their young son, and her parents, Dottie was seated around the table in her Syracuse, NY kitchen.
The group listened intently to the live radio broadcast from the United Nations as countries cast their votes to determine whether to approve a partition in Palestine. This was a major step towards the formation of the Jewish state of Israel.
When the resolution passed, the family erupted with joy.
Dottie grew up in a family who were ardent activists in the movement to create a homeland for the Jewish people.
“My parents were Zionists before it was fashionable. They were involved long before an actual proposal had been drawn up.”
From an early age, Dottie accompanied them to an endless number of animated meetings as the movement grew.
“We didn’t have babysitters back then, so they took me along.”
Dottie recalls hearing Golda Meir speak at one meeting. David Ben-Gurion spoke at another.
The meetings were conducted in Yiddish. Dottie, having attended Yiddish school for years, had no trouble following along.
Dottie’s mother was a proud union member. She would retell Dottie about the time she and other seamstresses staged a strike. While the police hauled them to jail, the strikers loudly sang union songs. No charges were pressed.
Dottie’s mother’s commitment to fairness was evident in her child rearing.
“My mother would say, ‘if it’s good enough for my son, it’s good enough for my daughter.’”
That forward-thinking approach enabled Dottie to be among the first of her friends to get a “her” bike, own a car, and pursue a college education.
Following high school, many of Dottie’s friends followed a more traditional path and trained to become stenographers. Dottie, however, enrolled in Syracuse University. The school was only seven blocks from her family’s home, and Dottie attended as a day student.
“I’ve always thought that I had missed out on a lot by not living on campus. But I was very lucky to go at all. It was the Depression.”
Dottie left Syracuse well prepared for the next steps. She studied home economics and, after graduation, she went on to teach at the high school level. She also had the good fortune to get to know her future husband.
“Arthur and I had met at a Zionist camp years before, when we were still in high school. At the end of that summer, he went back to New York City to finish high school and I went home to Syracuse. We didn’t think we’d see each other again.”
But, at the start of World War II, Arthur was drafted to the elite Army Specialized Training Program for training in engineering. The stars must have been aligned because he was assigned to study at Syracuse University.
“He called me as soon as he arrived at the train station. I guess he had kept my phone number all those years.”
The training program turned out to be a wonderful opportunity. Arthur attended so many classes that he earned three college credits. Even better, he completed the program just as the war was ending. He was never called into combat.
In 1946, Dottie and Arthur began their 68-year marriage.
The Steinbergs worked together, owning and managing two local department stores that had been started by her parents. They did so while raising three children. Fortunately, her parents stepped in to provide childcare, so that Dottie and Arthur could put in the many hours that were required. Together, they put each child through college and graduate school.
Years later, when the stores had closed and the couple had retired, they moved to Florida. They enjoyed 28 Floridian years together. However, in 2014 Arthur died
Dottie remained in their apartment, but gradually, her friends were also “beginning to disappear.”
“Not only was I living alone, but I had no one to go out with. I had outlived my contemporaries.”
Two years ago, while visiting family in Boston, Dottie announced that she had no intention of returning to Florida. When an apartment in an assisted living complex near her children became available, she moved in.
Dottie is very content with her life. She sees her locally based children regularly. With the aid of an iPad and mobile phone, she can also connect with her grandsons and great-grandsons who live in other parts of the country.
Dottie spends her days doing just what she prefers. She participates in some activities offered in her building and she enjoys watching TV.
At 96, Dottie is very comfortable telling it like it is.
“There’s really no need to make friends at this point. Besides, it’s not easy [to build relationships] when people either can’t hear or can’t remember.”
Dottie smiles as she offers a Yiddish phrase that captures her reality. She translates for me:
“Either you laugh at it or you cry over it.”
Dottie has decided to do the former. There are some programs that she won’t miss, including a current events discussion led by knowledgeable news professional. She also savors several “must-see” television shows in the comfort of her living room. Dottie is an avid fan of Patriot games, Jeopardy, and Wheel of Fortune.
Dottie also watches a lot of news. She’s a lifelong Democrat and tunes in to CNN. She describes what news gathering looks like these days:
“I find out what’s going and I do a lot of screaming!”
