Peretz Family

     Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Evey was the 7th of nine children born to Lazar and Fannie Peretz. Together with her siblings, Irving, Jules, Etta, Lou, Molly, Joe, Blanche and Mickey, it was a family rich in love, dedicated to Jewish traditions and celebrations (although not Orthodox), and committed to giving their children the very best they could. If you were to look at Evey’s birth certificate, you would see that her birth name was Esther. She came to be known as Evelyn (or Evey) when down the street from the Peretz family lived another girl named Esther who everyone thought was a very mean child. Our Esther didn’t want any association with that other girl and so she insisted that from then on, she would be known as Evelyn or simply Evey.

     Evey was a mother to more than just her three biological children. Many knew her as Mom. Evey relished the role: she chided and scolded, counseled, kvelled in accomplishments, worried about us, gave us food, knitted us booties, and adopted us into her life in very meaningful ways. And this status of Mom wasn’t only for those who were younger than she. Her caring and compassion, her role as Mom extended even to those who were older like Elsie who was more than 17 years older. 

     Growing up in Minnesota was a series of cold winters, listening to Kate Smith on the radio, and basically doing what kids did in the 20s. She moved to Brooklyn, NY, in 1928 when she was ten and attended school through high school graduating from New Utrecht High School in June 1935.

     Evey met the love of her life in the summer of 1938 at Rockland Lakes. As anyone coming from the New York area in those days knows, it was a real summer treat to rent a bungalow in the mountains to get away from the city. Evey was working for her father at the time and was finally going to get a week vacation, along with sister Etta. On the last day of the week she went down to the lake and spotted a group of guys playing catch and being quite athletic herself, she asked if she could join them. Of course, Lou was one of those boys. Later that afternoon, Lou took Evey’s name and phone number and wrote them on the inside of a matchbook.  That was the beginning.

     Jump ahead to the summer of 1941 and Lou was in the service. He and Evey wanted to be married and so on August 6, 1941 they went to a Justice of the Peace and were married. But since both of them had strong Jewish upbringing, it just didn’t feel right until they had a religious ceremony with a rabbi. That wouldn’t happen until December 21, the date they always celebrated as their anniversary. After they were married, Lou was stationed in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Evey went down there with him. Lou was sent overseas to Iceland and then later to England and France.

     After Lou came home (along with the other four boys from the family who went to war) and since the government had built Quonset hut homes in Canarsie, Brooklyn for the soldiers, he and Evey took up residence there. They lived there several years and started their family there as well. Deana, was born nine months after Lou returned from the war and they were there even after Norman was born. Leslie was born after they moved to Astoria, Queens. 

     Evey was a stay-at-home mother until Les was about 5 and in kindergarten. Prior to her getting a full-time job, Evey took in work typing addresses on envelopes. Then finally Evey got a job working for brother Irving as a bookkeeper for the Tishman Realty Company in New York.

     The most important value in Evey’s life was family, and there were many outlets for this concern. She was the author of the Peretz family song and she was an integral part of the Peretz family circle. She also had a loving relationship with Joel, Judy and Christine; she absolutely adored her grandchildren: Sara and her husband Robert, Max, Jamie and her husband Ryan, and Lori. She was an involved grandmother. And nothing brought the glow of happiness to Evey’s face like her great-granddaughter Lydia. Evey was also very close to several nephews and nieces. Evey insisted on knowing the foot-size of everyone in the family. We would all have to make a tracing of our feet because Evey wanted to know how large to knit the booties from adult size to the tiniest baby.

     Although she was inconsolable when Lou died (and even more so when Norman died shortly after), Evey found new meaning in life, as she became Elsie’s constant companion for years.

     When the family was together in her little apartment on Sonoma Avenue, she never sat down to eat; she had too much to do, and she was just too happy to be surrounded by family or friends. That’s what made her the happiest.