Joe and Sadie and their daughters

Photographs can capture so much—a moment in time, a relationship, the style of an era, a mood, an emotion.  Even family snapshots can reveal a lot.  These pictures of Joe and Sadie and their daughters capture a family.  Thank you to the next generation for sharing these pictures of their mothers and grandparents.

These pictures from the early 1940s  of Irene, in her early 20s, and Mildred, a teenager, are so touching.  They show two beautiful sisters who seem close to each other and to their parents.  They both look like they have so much ahead of them.

Ariela described her mother Irene as very outgoing and social like her father Joe, someone who would strike up conversations with total strangers.    Ariela said that Irene loved to dance and ski and sail as a young woman and that she loved jewelry and clothes and other beautiful objects.  She loved dressing up and attending parties, and you can see that love of life and people in her face in these pictures of her as a young woman.

Irene 1941 Rockaway Pkwy

Irene, Joe and Mildred 1941

Tragically, Mildred’s life was cut short when she died in 1951 at only 25 years old, leaving behind her young husband and fifteen-month old child.  I am hoping to learn more about her, but from these pictures it looks like she was also a young woman who loved life and people and was adored by her sister and her parents.

Mildred

Sadie and Mildred 1942

Mildred 1941

Mildred and friend 1943

Mildred Rosenzweig and Seymour Sundick 1947

Ron and his mother MIldred Sundick at his first birthday, a few months before she died

This is one of my favorite pictures in this group of photos.  It shows both Mildred and Irene surrounding a baby carriage.  Although we cannot see the baby, the descendants of Mildred and Irene and I thought that it is likely that the baby is Ariela, based on the hairstyles dating it in the 1940s and the adoring look on Irene’s face, looking down at what must be her baby.

Mildred and Irene looking at Ariela 1947

You can also see that same adoring look on Irene’s face many years later as she looks lovingly at her daughter Ariela.

Irene and Ariela

And here is one of Irene with her grandson Aron.  Same loving look—on both of their faces.

Aron and his grandmother Irene

Here are some photos of Joe and Sadie in the 1940s:

Here are some from the 1950s and after of Joe, Sadie and Irene:

This photo  is of Irene and her husband Leo Kohl with her parents Joe and Sadie.

Leo Joe Sadie and Irene

Ariela told me that her mother was madly in love with Leo and missed him dearly until the day she died.  Irene died less than a year and a half ago at age 91.

As I said, photographs capture so much.  These capture a family over time, a family where children adored their parents and vice versa, a family that endured a terrible tragedy, but that survived and thrived and found love and joy in their lives again