Page 269 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

Reminiscences

Edna (Fannie Rothstein’s cousin)

I probably met Abe Rothstein when I was a very young child in
New York, but mostly I have impressions of him I got from my
parents. I remember my father [Harry Shankman, brother of AR’s
mother-in-law, Esther Cohen—ed.], who was so much older than
Fannie, was envious of her when she and Abe went out to California.
As a young man, he had wanted to go to California, and had even
bought a trunk—and then he met my mother and got married, so
that idea went by the wayside. So he saw Abe and Fannie as pioneers
in some idyllic place, and admired their courage. He also said that
Abe was quiet and scholarly.
I didn’t see Abe again until I came to California at the end of
1944. It was then that Fannie invited me to come to the house on a
Sunday afternoon, that the whole family would be there. I got myself
all dressed up and took the bus and the streetcar to South Figueroa,
and met the whole family. My first impression of Abe was of a
person who was interested in other people without partaking in the
group. He seemed to sit back and absorb what was going on. I think
he studied human beings and human nature, and was himself more of
an outsider. It was a very nice afternoon, and I felt very much part of
the family.
After that I was invited to the Rothsteins quite often. I was
working downtown and Fannie would say, “come and have dinner.”
I felt very welcome, but again, Abe would not say much; he would
just drink in what the other people were saying. And there was a very
gentle quality about him, underneath what may have seemed a little
bit stern; he may have hated to express it, but it was there! Whenever
I was there in the evening, he didn’t hesitate to walk me all the way to
my bus stop—I think it was at Florence and Figueroa.
When my sister married and came out to California, Abe and
Fannie had them over for dinner. Fannie asked Abe to set the table,
and he did. He put out china, but she said, “That’s not the china I
want you to use. We have better than that.” She was very disturbed
because he hadn’t put out the better china. It seems funny now, but
that reminds me of something Abe told us after she died. She had
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