Local News
Mystery of why $725,000 donation to the Simkin Centre was made is likely solved
By BERNIE BELLAN
Readers of this website may recall our story posted a couple weeks ago in which we told about a $725,000 donation that was given to the Simkin Centre by something called the Myer and Corrine Geller Trust.
The donation – which was actually made out to the Sharon Home, was in the form of a $575,000 US cheque. It arrived in August of this year. The only information that the Simkin Centre had about the source of the cheque was that Myer Geller had graduated from St. John’s Tech in 1943, that he went to MIT, became a physicist, and that he was granted several patents.
With that scant information – and with the help of several other individuals, including several readers of this paper, especially Ed Feuer, and someone by the name of Christian Cassidy who read my story about the Gellers on our website and who went to extraordinary lengths to piece together the Geller family history on a blog known as “West End Dumplings”, we were able to amass quite a few details about Myer Geller and his family. Eventually we were led to the conclusion that Myer Geller’s mother, Sarah, must have been a resident of the Sharon Home until her death in 1984.
Based on information available on a variety of websites, including the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada’s archives, Ancestry.ca, Truthfinder.com, Newspaper-archive.ca, and in the Winnipeg Henderson Directory of 1965, along with the St. John’s yearbook of 1943 (that was loaned to us by a reader who had it in his possession, but asked us not to reveal his name), along with information provided by Christian Cassidy, here is what we found:
Myer Geller was born in 1926 (which we reported in the Oct. 28 issue). His parents were Max and Sarah. Max Geller was born in 1887 and died in 1966. Sarah Geller (whose maiden name was Feldman) was born in 1893 and died in 1984. The Gellers were married in 1916 in Winnipeg.
The following is taken from Christian Cassidy’s blog, the “Western Dumpling”: “The earliest mention I can find of the Geller family comes in the 1921 Census of Canada. It shows Max Geller, 30, wife Sarah, 24, and eldest child, Rose, 3, renting a room at 689 Selkirk Avenue, the home of the Peck family.
“The census taker noted that the parents were Jewish and had emigrated from Russia, Sarah in 1912 and Max in 1913. Rose was born in Manitoba ca. 1918.
“Max’s profession is listed as a merchant of produce and eggs.”
The blog also noted that Frances Geller was born in 1922.
At the time that Myer Geller would have gone to St. John’s Tech the Geller family lived at 284 Bannerman Avenue.
Again, according to Christian Cassidy, “Max Geller’s entry in the 1942 Henderson Directory lists him as a travelling salesman. From 1943 to 1945, he is a produce manager. No place of work is ever given.
“In 1946, Max gets into the fur industry as an employee of Elias Reich and Co. fur manufactures located on the 6th floor of the Jacob Crowley Building. He worked there and for its successor, J. H. Hecht, until 1948.
“In 1949 and 1950, Max’s occupation is listed as a “tracker” – no explanation of the job title or a place of work was given.”
Both Rose and Frances Geller married and lived in Toronto. Rose married someone named Louis Lieberman, while Frances married someone named Edward Jordan. We were not able to find any further references to either of the sisters once they left Winnipeg, although we did confirm that Louis Lieberman has died.
We did learn though that Myer Geller did have an illustrious career. Following his graduation from St. John’s Tech, he went to the University of Manitoba, then the University of Minnesota, where he obtained a master’s degree in physics. Evidently he returned to Manitoba for at least a short while because we were able to learn that he crossed into the United States in 1949, became an American citizen in 1950, then went to MIT from 1951-55, from where he obtained his PhD in physics.
Myer Geller married Corrine Taper in 1954 in New York. The Gellers lived at various times in New York, Pennsylvania, and finally California. As we also noted in our Oct. 28 story, Myer Geller’s name was associated with 15 different patents.
We learned that for at least a period of his life Myer Geller worked for a branch of the US Navy known as NOSC (Naval Operations Support Centre). With the help of a genealogist friend of former Winnipeggers Carol and Chuck Faiman we also learned this about Myer Geller: “in 1960 or 1961 he moved from a job at Hughes Products to be a senior scientist at the Solid State Division of Electro-Optical Systems in Pasadena, CA.”
In 1966 the Gellers moved to San Diego, which is where they lived until they both died, Myer in 2016, and Corrine in 2019. They did not have any children.
Here is the final information we were able to learn about Myer Geller’s parents:
Max and Sarah Geller eventually moved to a small apartment at 206 Perth Avenue, although whether they lived somewhere else after Bannerman is not clear. The 1965 Henderson Directory lists his occupation as a parking lot attendant. Max died in 1966 in St. Boniface Hospital.
Now, at this point what I’m writing is pure speculation: Sarah Geller likely remained in Winnipeg. When she died in 1984 she was buried in Rosh Pina Cemetery alongside her husband. Her children all lived in different cities – a situation which is quite familiar to so many of us. We cannot absolutely confirm that Mrs. Geller remained in Winnipeg, but here is what we speculate: A woman who would have been 73 when her husband died, and with no visible means of support, living in a very modest apartment, would likely have been dependent upon her children for support.
And where did individuals in that position usually end up? The evidence would seem to point to the Sharon Home, at 146 Magnus Avenue. Here we have an elderly widow with at least one of her children earning what must have been a very good income. (The Myer and Corrine Geller Trust eventually donated over $7 million Cdn, altogether, of which the donation to the Sharon Home/Simkin Centre was only 11% of the total amount donated.)
The likelihood is that Sarah Geller ended her days at the Sharon Home; hence the huge donation made to the Sharon Home.
Although we are told that the Simkin Centre did do a search in order to try to determine the basis for the donation they received from the Geller Trust, until now there would have been very scant information upon which an investigation could have proceeded.
We are not certain whether it will be possible to find records that would prove Sarah Geller was a resident there, but according to Shelly Faintuch, daughter of the late Dr. Henry Faintuch, who was executive director of the Sharon Home for many years, her father kept meticulous records of all residents in the home. If those records still exist, they should answer the question whether Sarah Geller did indeed live in the Sharon Home. In the meantime though, we are told the Simkin Centre is preoccupied with other matters, i.e., dealing with the COVID pandemic, and so it is quite understandable that any search for records that might show that Sarah Geller lived at the Sharon Home will have to be put off until the emergency situation has abated.
By no means do we want to indicate that the mystery is conclusively solved; we merely want to show that the trail of evidence which has emerged has led in a direction that could reasonably lead one to conclude why Myer Geller would have wanted to make such a large donation to the Sharon Home.
Local News
Shalom Residences Foundation to host third annual donor appreciation evening
By MYRON LOVE On Tuesday, June 16, Shalom Residences Foundation Inc (SRFI) will be hosting its third annual Donor Appreciation evening. Donors and other Shalom Residences supporters can look forward to chilling to the music of local singer/songwriter David Grenon (aka Soul Bear), who will be performing songs by Billy Joel, Elton John and other well-known artists.
For readers who are not yet familiar with Shalom Residences, the organization was originally created to care for intellectually challenged Jewish young adults. The vision was to provide them with a Jewish environment – strictly kosher group homes where all the Jewish holidays are observed and celebrated.
One of Shalom Residences’ objectives has always been to develop a community in which individuals with intellectual disabilities are fully included, self-actualized, and valued in all aspects of life.
The concept has been a remarkable success.
Shalom Residences was founded in 1980 by six far-sighted couples, including Thelma and Ernie Bronstein, Dolly and Zivey Chudnow, Min and Joe Fromkin, Roberta and Larry Hurtig, Elaine and Bobby Paul,
and Sybil and Frank Steele. The original Shalom Home was a converted house on Cathedral Avenue.
“Thelma Bronstein’s determination and dynamism contributed to making it happen,” says Elaine Paul, currently Shalom Residences’ treasurer (and for the past 20 years, the organization’s leading fundraiser).
I remember the home’s official opening. This was shortly after I started writing for the Jewish Post. Rabbi Charles Grysman affixed the mezzuzah to the door frame.
Today, the organization operates six group homes housing 19 residents as well as 12 residents in supported independent living arrangements.
While the operations today are largely funded by the provincial government – which means that the residences have to be open to accepting non-Jewish clients as well (just over half of the residents are Jewish) – the Shalom Residences Foundation funding supplements the government contribution – providing financial support for increasing staffing levels when needed, as well as extraordinary expenditures and contingencies. The Foundation has also provided the down payment for the purchase of new housing when necessary. .
The necessity of fundraising was evident right from the beginning. Elaine Paul recalls that the first Manitoba Marathon – in which all the founding parents were involved – provided the funding for the mortgage at 175 Cathedral Ave.
“We worked with Helen Steinkopf and John Robertson to develop the marathon,” Paul remembers. ”For several years, Hy Kravetsky and I worked handing out water to the runners.”
Paul relates that it was Zivey Chudnow who was instrumental in starting up Shalom Residences’ annual fundraising. “Three of Zivey’s friends,:Norman Tatleman, Sam Ostrove, and Gary Levinson, asked how they could help,” she recalls. “Their idea was to have a fundraising dinner. We combined the dinner with a lottery. We sold 60 tickets at $1,000 a piece and paid out $15,000 to the winning ticket and lesser amounts to other lucky winners.”
The organization also held annual well attended fundraising teas.
Paul reports that, for years, Chudnow was Shalom Residences’ best fundraiser – with honourable mention to Avrum Katz, Frank Steele, and the late Joe Elfenbaum. Paul took over the role 10 years ago – again with honourable mention to SRFI board members, Dr. Allen Kraut, Peter Leipsic, Donna Chudnow, Jon Feldman, and Mickey Rosenberg.
In addition, the goal was, and remains empowering adults with intellectual disabilities to live meaningful, dignified lives in community-based homes in Winnipeg, enriched by Jewish values.
Charles Tax, the SRFI’s long time president, notes that in 2017, the organization created an endowment fund with the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba. “At the time, we transferred more than half of our assets to the JFM,” he says. “We continue to make contributions to our fund.”
He notes that the annual dinners came to an end with the 20230 Covid lockdowns. The donor appreciation evenings were started in 2023.
“One of our goals is to acquire one or two more houses in the south end,” Tax adds.
Readers who may be interested in attending the donor appreciation evening or otherwise supporting SRFI can contact the office at 204 582-7064 or via email (admin@shalomresidences.com).
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Local News
Debbie Maslowsky playing lead role in upcoming Dry Cold Productions musical
By MYRON LOVE For the past 40 years Debbie Maslowsky has been entertaining Winnipeg audiences – both Jewish and non-Jewish, with her acting and singing. Arguably Winnipeg’s queen of musical theatre is returning to the stage on May 13 in a lead role in Dry Cold Productions’ upcoming “Kimberly Akimbo”.
Maslowsky is enthusiastic about the Tony-winning production, which debuted on Broadway in November 2022. “It’s a gem of a musical,” she says of the production crafted by the musical team of composer Jeanine Tesori and lyricist David Lindsay-Abaire.
The subject itself is not – on the surface – uplifting. As Maslowsky describes it, “Kimberly Akimbo” is the story of a teenager suffering from a very rare condition – progeria – also known as the aging disease. The genetic condition causes children to age at an accelerated rate causing them to die of old age while still in their teens. For those readers who may recall Rabbi Harold Kushner’s book, “Why Bad Things Happen to Good People” – written years ago, Kushner was responding to the death of his own son from progeria.
In the hands of Tesori and Lindsay-Abaire though, Maslowsky notes, the show is about mindfulness and living day by day. In the production, Maslowsky explains, “Kimberly is trying to live as normal a life as she can despite her illness. Her life is further complicated by a dysfunctional family. Her parents are dealing with their own issues. Then there is the madcap aunt who develops a complicated and hilarious plan to make money for a family road trip, raise funds for choir costumes – with some left over for herself.
“The play is very funny,” Maslowsky comments, “but also poignant. Kimberly knows that she most likely won’t live much beyond 16. Therefore, she wants to live every day to the fullest. She wants to live every day in the now. At the same time, she doesn’t want to hide from reality. She doesn’t want special treatment. She also doesn’t want people – such as her parents – trying to pretend that everything will be okay.”
Maslowsky last appeared on stage in Winnipeg Jewish Theatre’s one-woman production of “A Pickle” in the spring of 2023. That was the true story of a Jewish pickle maker living in Minnesota who had to fight to get her pickles included in the state fair pickle competition, which tried to disqualify her because her pickles were made the Jewish way through a brining process that the non-Jewish judges refused to accept.
In the interim, Maslowsky has been focusing on her longstanding business as a trade show, conference and event manage,r as well as picking up some singing gigs. She reports that she began winding down her business last fall.
She speaks highly of her younger cast mates. “They are an amazing group of young people,” she says. “For some of them, this is their first show. I myself am still learning new things after all these years.”
Maslowsky will next be appearing in the joint Winnipeg Jewish Theatre-Rainbow Stage production of “Fiddler on the Roof” in September. “I played one of the daughters years ago in an earlier Fiddler production,” she recalls. “I feel like I am coming full circle.”
Dry Cold Productions was founded by Donna Fletcher and Reid Harrison (now retired) more than 25 years ago. The company stages a yearly musical theatre production – sometimes edgy – which has played on Broadway and is new to Winnipeg audiences.
The Dry Cold website cautions that “Kimberly Akimbo” contains “strong language (with frequent profanity), mature humour, and references to sexual activity”.
“Kimberly Akimbo” is scheduled to run May 13–17, 2026 at the Prairie Theatre Exchange. Tickets can be purchased by contacting Dry Cold productions online.
Local News
The second Bar Mitzvah: Better than the first
By GERRY POSNER As we pass down the corridor of life, there are certainly times we can identify as moments we will never forget. I had such a moment on April 11 at my second Bar Mitzvah, at the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue, shared with Dr. Ted Lyons, or E. A. as I called him over the years. We were celebrating this life cycle event at the very same synagogue as the first one, that is – the Shaarey Zede. For me, it was some 70 years ago or 25,557 days – from April 21, 1956 to April 11, 2026. The notion of returning to the original place of Bar Mitzvah 1.0 was too powerful a force, causing me to abandon my plan to do this in Toronto where my wife, Sherna and I have lived for the last 13 plus years.
It was quite the weekend. We started just before Erev Shabbat with photos of our two families on the bimah. Ted had his whole family there, including his daughter Mara, her husband Sheldon, and their two daughters, as well as his son Sami, his wife Rose, and their three kids, all of whom live In Calgary, not to forget his sister Ellen and her husband Howard Goldstein, from Toronto. Our three kids: Ari, Rami and Amira, all of whom live in Toronto, along with two of my grandchildren, as well as my brother Michael from Toronto were also present.
After the Shabbat service, we stayed on in the building for our Shabbat dinner. There were 23 of us, including Michael’s partner, Ruth Grubert, (formerly Mozersky), also a former Winnipegger, as well as Rabbi Mass,his son Ranan, Rabbi Carnie Rose and his wife Pauline. It was a warm group and the dinner was gobbled up and appreciated by all of us. We were all surprised when independently, the respective grandchildren of the Bar Mitzvah “bochers” presented both of us with a kind of tribute – funny and sincere in their affection for their Zaidas.
Then came the big day. It lived up to and even exceeded my expectations. It was a sell-out crowd. I was overwhelmed just at that fact. The only thing missing from the building was the electronic ark. The respective families all participated with aliyahs and indeed Torah readings by Sami Lyons and the 83-year-old Bar Mitzvah boy Ted Lyons. Now, “leyning” from the Torah was not something Ted had done at the first go-round 70 years ago. (In fact, almost all of us were deficient in that area).
One particular moment during the service was especially meaningful for Sherna and me. In the first part of the service, there is a prayer called “Mi Chamocha.” My son Ari had written music for that prayer several years ago and now he was at Shaarey Zedek, where he had his Bar Mitzvah long ago. This time though the clergy had arranged to use his music and to sing his melody. (It had been used many times previously, but without Ari. ) Not only that, he was invited to play his composition at the service as Cantor Leslie Emery sang it. Those few moments – as we watched and listened, at this – my second Bar Mitzvah, at a place where my parents had been members for years and whose names are on the memorial plaque in the chapel, well, that was powerful, to put it mildly.
Ted and his family had various honours as did my family. I was given the Haftorah to chant. Now, I have few talents, but I can chant a Haftroah (not the most marketable skill), so that was not that much of an obstacle for me. In fact, I rather enjoyed doing this part of the service. Rabbi Rose had also given me permission to deliver a D’var Torah on the portion of the week, “Shemini”, and to discuss the meaning of this, my second Bar Mitzvah. Once I had the mic and the stage, I was ready to go in spite of my wife’s protestations that it was too long. And, in fact, as I rolled along into my Haftorah, after about 10 minutes, my parter in the double Bar, Ted, came up from behind me where he was sitting, and nudged me gently, or to put it more accurately, gave me the hook, announcing that it was time to wrap up. It was kind of comical, in fact. I got a large charge from that sudden intervention. To top it off, as I had been speaking, I noticed a congregant on my left near the front who had apparently passed out. It was alarming to me at first, but the medics came and were able to revive this person. I was told later that other first words out of the mouth were “Has he finally finished?”
We concluded the day with a rather large kiddish luncheon highlighted at least for me by traditional party sandwiches, which were a staple of the kiddishes of my youth. I met with so many people of my past, which was a treat and a half for me. I was so into the moment that It was hard to get me out of the building.
As I reflect on the day and the service, I recognized that for all of us, we have times in our lives, whether it be an hour, a day or a week, that we will never forget. This day was for me one such moment. It is etched in my memory to be relived through the Youtube video now in my possession. The gift that keeps on giving, I say.
My first Bar Mitzvah was good, for sure. This one was far better. I knew what I was doing.
Post script (After Gerry had sent us his story, he sent us something else that he said should have been included in the story): True, Ted and I had the Bar Mitzvah no 2. But we only had it because there was one person who did the real work and yet received no credit. She made all the arrangements with the synagogue for both the Friday night Shabbat dinner and the kiddish lunch after the service. She dealt with various people in the synagogue and basically took charge of our simcha. I speak, of course, of Harriet Lyons. That I failed to mention her was due to my excess focus on the eating of the party sandwiches and not enough on the reason we had them in the first place. Harriet teaches the weaving of tallits, but she stands tall in the arranging of Bar Mitzvahs.