My maternal grandparents, Harry and Bessie Kall, worked in several corner grocery stores in Philadelphia. They were poor Russian immigrants who came to the United States separately and ended up in Philadelphia. When my grandmother first arrived as a teenager, she worked in a sweatshop along with one of her sisters, and my grandfather worked in a wholesale produce distribution center. They eventually married, and somehow saved enough money to go into business as shop keepers, which was viewed as a way out of poverty at that time.
They had number of stores in different locations in the city but the one I remember the best was on Euclid Avenue in the Wynnefield section of Philadelphia because my sister, mother and I lived with them for about six months during the time they worked in that shop. They lived in an apartment over the store and you could walk up steps in the back of the store and find yourself in the kitchen of their home!
The grocery business was hard work – on your feet most of the day for seven days a week. Until now, I never gave it a second thought that my grandmother and grandfather worked side by side in the store and were equal partners. They spoke broken English and their handwriting was not great, but somehow they managed to make a life for themselves and raise three children as well. Family was very important to them, and even though they worked long hours, there always was time for family dinners and holiday celebrations with the extended family (and with my grandmother’s excellent food, always made from scratch, and without a recipe of, course)! My grandparents were hard working, caring, generous people who were very steeped in their Jewish heritage. They are long deceased, but I still think of them often. They instilled in me the importance of hard, honest work, and the value of education and family. Happy Labor and Grandparent’s Day, Harry and Bessie!
Carol Rosenblatt is the Executive Director of the Coalition of Labor Union Women
Photo: Carol Rosenblatt’s maternal grandparents, Harry and Bessie Kall, pictured in front of one of their corner grocery stores in Philadelphia
