Squirrel Hill's own Lee Kikel discusses PERSEVERANCE, her father's story

5825 Forbes Avenue,Pittsburgh PA 15217

17 November, 2021

Description

Lee Kikel will discuss her book on based on the audiocassettes her father, holocaust survivor Melvin Goldman, left behind. Order Perseverance now In her moving tribute to her father, Lee Kikel has transcribed and edited the audiocassettes he recorded to preserve his story of surviving the holocaust. Melvin Goldman seemed to be a typical successful American, living with his family in Squirrel Hill, a multicultural Pittsburgh neighborhood with a large Jewish population. There, he turned his craftsmanship as a jewelry designer into a profitable business, and maintained a rosy outlook on life and a generous view of his fellow man. It may seem like a common story, but it is far from it. In the decade before his arrival in the United States in 1950, Mieczyslaw Goldman saw his home destroyed, his family torn apart, his health ruined, and nearly everyone he had ever known murdered in the death camps of the Third Reich. His survival of the years in the ghetto and Auschwitz, his long and slow recovery, and his attainment of a somewhat normal life are miraculous. Perhaps even more miraculous is his refusal to let his experience destroy his faith in God or his love for humanity. Told in his own words from audio recording he made decades later, and supplemented with his daughter’s memories of their happy life in Pittsburgh, this is a story which no reader will ever forget. Lee Goldman Kikel grew up in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, where her early years revolved around school— Wightman School and Taylor Allderdice High School—and the family jewelry business. She recalls her time in the store with great fondness, and she can measure her life’s prog­ress through those happy mem­ories. As a little girl she played jacks on the floor while her father crafted jewelry and waited on customers, and her mother han­dled the books, sold merchandise, and helped with day-to-day business operations. Soon she matured from play­ing to helping, then to a more regular job, continuing through her college years at the University of Pittsburgh. She remembers earning her father’s hard-won approval to wait on customers as an exciting milestone in her life. Even as an adult, she would help out after her day job or on weekends during the busiest times. Pittsburgh's premier independent bookstore, Riverstone Books features a well-curated selection of literary and popular fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books.  In addition, we offer a variety of gift items, greeting cards, and children’s puzzles, educational games, and literary stuffed animals. Our experienced booksellers are voracious readers who love to match people to books they will love.