Stories We Tell: Al Lurie

Al Lurie was part of our first group of interviewees. Al was born in April 16^th, 1923 in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in the 1930s on the Upper West Side of Manhattan amidst some of the legendary NYC Rabbis of the time including Mordechai Kaplan, Stephen S.Wise and Desola Poole.

Al moved to Larchmont with his family in 1956, and he remains a Larchmont resident and an active Larchmont Temple member. Al finds Saturday morning Chevra Torah study at the temple to be an irresistible addiction.

Here are some excerpts from Al's oral history:

Al Lurie

Al remembers the first time he met his wife:

She was a writer, she was on the Cornell Sun, it was called. So was I. In fact the first time I ever saw her was when she brought the women’s page down to the publishing facility that the Cornell Sun used downtown. She walked in, beautiful girl, almond eyes, white skin. I was the night edit. She walked in with the woman’s page and I asked my assistant,  “Who was that?” And he told me Marion Weinberg. “How come I’ve never seen her?” So it all started right there.

Actually, I must say she was very popular among the independent groups. Telluride they had up there at school.  She was going with several people, one of whom was already in his military uniform. It wasn’t love at first sight, I had to win her. She was already involved, not heavily, but she wasn’t waiting for me to come along. One of the guys was wearing a uniform at that time on campus. I remember there was a New Yorker cartoon that shows this nerdy guy going up to the Abercrombie and Fitch salesman that said, “I need something to compete with the uniform.” That cartoon is my life at this point.

Girls then, had to be back in their dorms at 10 o’clock at night.  It was a whole different world.  There weren’t co-ed dorms. But she had a pass, so we had a hamburger at the diner on the way up at three in the morning.  We drove up the hill and I brought her up to her dorm.

We had a great marriage that lasted 62 years.

       When Karen first decided to interview Al Lurie, I was eager to share my connection. “Al is my neighbor, “ I said. “He lives just a few houses down from us, and when I think of Al, I picture him walking with his wife.” Al’s wife passed away several years ago. I didn’t know her well, except to say hello when we passed each other in the neighborhood. Al and Marion lived on our street when we moved in—almost twenty years ago. I remember how they walked side-by-side, sometimes holding hands, always close together. I imagined their conversations—talk about work, home, children, the changing leaves of autumn. I noticed the way they looked at each other—with adoring eyes. As the years passed, their pace slowed, but it seemed that they almost never missed a day of walking.

            One night, Karen brought excerpts from her first interview. She read Al’s story about meeting Marion for the first time, and once again, I could see them walking. Al’s oral history offers details of a story that was already somewhat familiar to me—the story of strong union, already visible through their daily walks. It was the day-after-day routine that communicated the importance of this time together. Listening to Karen read this excerpt and returning to it now, I am struck with this glimpse of the soft side of Al and his love for Marion.

          ~ Karen Zimmerman (interviewer) and Ellen Brooks (reflections)