H eadlines
torch,” Goren wrote in her book
“A Time to Keep.” “New York
appeared in the background.

People around us were crying
openly, so were my parents.

I could not quite understand
why, but I knew that this was
the most auspicious moment
in our life.”
There they were met by her
aunt, Rachel Domont, who
enlisted the Pepsi-Cola Co.

in dealing with the red tape
associated with immigration.

The Domonts owned a bottling
company in Indianapolis and
bottled Pepsi for all of Indiana.

The story of Goren’s family’s
departure from Lithuania
is chronicled in the 2018
documentary “Leaving Memel
- Refugees from the Reich,”
directed and produced by
nephew Fred L. Finkelstein.

The family spent the next few
years in Indianapolis, eventually
moving to New York, although
Goren stayed behind to finish
high school. She enjoyed the
freedom of basically being on
her own and recalled seeing an
unknown “skinny young kid
standing by himself” backstage
at a Tommy Dorsey concert
and asking for his autograph.

The singer was happy to do so,
signing, “To Cherie, Sincerely
Yours, Frank Sinatra.”
“I didn’t graduate with my
class because I cut too many
classes,” she said. “I had to go
to summer school.”
It was in Indianapolis that
Goren met Rabbi Elias Charry,
who many Philadelphians
might remember for his
lengthy tenure leading the
Germantown Jewish Centre.

Because of Charry, Goren was
active at the center for decades.

“He was my mentor. I miss
him a lot,” she said. “He was a
big influence.”
At a wartime USO show, Goren
met an Army Air Corpsmen from
Philadelphia named Joe Goren
who specialized in “making false
teeth for all the generals,” she said.

They married and moved to the
area a few years later, settling in
Lafayette Hill.

From there, they lived the
FREE DEMENTIA VIRTUAL SEMINAR
American dream, raising two
children in the suburbs and
staying involved with the
Jewish community.

Goren doesn’t think too
often these days of her wartime
experiences – she refers to her
book as a coming to America
tale, not a Holocaust story —
but did make a return trip to
Memel about 30 years ago.

She found little recognizable,
although her grandfather’s
tombstone was just one of six
saved from a cemetery there.

At the age of 50, Goren
entered the work force, taking
a part-time job at a National
Beauty Stores location. Although
she didn’t have retail experi-
ence, she eventually became
merchandise manager for the
eight-location chain and created
a store-brand cosmetics line
called Cherie Cosmetics.

Around the time she moved
to the Merion Station condo-
minium she still calls home,
she bought the insurance
policy now in dispute.

“Forty years and never
missed a payment and they
just pulled it,” she said.

Goren might want some
help, but doesn’t want anyone
to believe she’s helpless.

“All of a sudden, you become
a charity case,” she said. “The
first time they sent me Meals
on Wheels, I sent it back. ... The
longer I live, the less I know.”
Still, Ellen Goren isn’t
letting the insurance denial go
easily, noting that her mother
uses a walker and has been
hospitalized on three occasions
because of falls.

“I said, ‘You’re just waiting
for her to die, so you don’t have
to pay the claim,’” she said. “It’s
just a very draconian way to do
business.” Ellen Goren said she’s still
making quarterly payments
of about $500 to keep her
mother’s policy active.

“She’s gotten very dependent
on her provider,” Ellen Goren
said. “She’s sitting alone.” l
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