I often say that if you’re from Denver and your family has been here since the 19th century, we’re probably related. That’s what happens when two brothers emigrate to the same city and each of them has a large family.
Well, recently I met a whole bunch of people I’m not actually related to but it was nevertheless a very fun moment of Colorado Jewish geography.
Warning: This is very hard to follow!
At Wash Park last Sunday for the Run For Their Lives celebration, my husband was approached and asked if he was a music teacher. He is and one of his newest pupils, a kindergartner, was at the celebration and recognized him.
As we were talking with the girl’s mother and grandmother, Sydney and Lori Snyder, two other women walked up. One of them was the kindergartner’s other grandmother, better known as Linda Loewenstein. By then they all knew I was a Goldberg and we were chuckling at the connectedness.
Then the woman with Linda told me she was kind of related to me — turned out she’s the aunt of my second cousin, Marshall Zelinger. Her name: Rae Negreann, née Zelinger, sister to Mike, who is husband to Michelle, a niece of my grandmother Miriam. Phew!
But it didn’t stop there. Turns out Rae became friendly with Loewenstein because Rae’s son is engaged to Linda’s niece — they met in Boston without knowing about the Colorado connection!
To circle all the way back, Lori, the woman who had originally approached my husband, later told me that a close relative of hers (possibly even her mother — my apologies but between thinking about the freed hostages and these dominoes of connections I was discombobulated by this point!) lives in the same assisted living facility in California as my father’s first cousin Dolores Simmons, daughter of my great-aunt Rose, sister to my grandfather Max.
Just a Sunday in the park connecting to family on both the maternal and paternal sides of the Goldberg clan.
As much as Colorado has changed in the past decade, we’re still all mishpacha.
Shana Goldberg may be reached at shana@ijn.com
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