Reunions
Continued from Page 15
said Taub, 64, who turned up Hollywood music producers, a
Metropolitan Opera singer, a blues fiddler and numerous pianists.

In June 2017, 85 members of Taub’s paternal Weisberg clan gath-
ered for Shabbat dinner at the Pearlstone Center, a Jewish retreat in
the countryside outside Baltimore. They were greeted by a print-
ed-out family tree that stretched 36 feet long, “like a Torah,” Taub
laughed. “People had fun pointing out where they were on the tree.”
Over the weekend that followed, the Weisbergs held an oral
history workshop, played three-generation softball, bonded over
yoga and art, and celebrated Havdalah on the lawn. On Saturday
evening, 20 musical relatives took turns entertaining each other in
a family musicale.

“It was a magical weekend,” recalled Taub, an entomologist
who led an insect workshop for the kids. To her relief, every-
one loved the itinerary. “It was just like camp, you know? Just
wholesome fun.”
By foregoing pool costs and a venue with alcohol, the clan kept
weekend costs under $300 per person. More importantly, Taub
noted, a stand-alone reunion allowed the kind of flexibility impos-
sible at more formal occasions. “When you do a Bar Mitzvah or
a wedding, you have to cut the guest list off somewhere, and it’s
painful,” she explained. “You do all the first cousins, or no first
cousins, and then once they all have children, it gets too big.”
In contrast, anyone could join the pay-your-way reunion.

“It didn’t matter if you were six months old or 90. A reunion is
everybody,” Taub said. “That’s the beauty of it.” ❤
Hilary Danailova is a freelancer writer.

16 OCTOBER 25, 2018
The Weisberg family makes music at the reunion.

SIMCHAS JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



Longtime Couples
Refl ect on Married Life
MARISSA STERN | JE STAFF
A Bernard and Ruth Spekter (center) with their children, Barbara (far left) and Michael (far right)
lot can happen in 70 years.

Seventy years ago, Israel declared independence, the World
Health Organization was formed by the United Nations, Mahatma
Gandhi was murdered and, closer to home, the Philadelphia
Eagles won their fi rst-ever NFL championship.

But also 70 years ago, some Philadelphia couples were begin-
ning their lives together.

And now — all these years later — they refl ect on the secrets
to a long, healthy marriage and the lives they’ve built since then.

Mildred “Micky” and Marshall Kline celebrated their 70th an-
niversary in June.

Th ey met when they were 19 and 25, respectively, on a double
date — each paired with other people.

“One of my girlfriends made it a double date for me,” Micky
Kline, 89, recalled. “She was with Marshall and I was with a friend
of his, and that next Monday night aft er we went out that Sunday,
he called me. Th at’s how we met.”
Th ey started dating aft er that, and “that was it,” she laughed.

Th ey married in 1948 and are now proud parents, grandparents
and great-grandparents.

Aft er their kids were off to college, Micky Kline worked
for Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel for 18 years as well as the
Philadelphia offi ce of Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.

Marshall Kline, 95, who served as a technical sergeant in the
Army attached to the Marines and earned three bronze stars,
worked in business. He noted they’ve had their ups and downs as
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM PHOTOS PROVIDED
any married couple does, but they’ve come out smiling.

“We traveled to many parts of the U.S. and the world,” he wrote
in a letter. “Our children are married over 40 years and we are
blessed with four grandchildren, married and with six great-grand-
children. Intelligent and beautiful, all are intelligent and beautiful
children. We are so lucky to have children we can praise.”
“You just have to give and take,” Micky Kline echoed. “We’re
very proud of the way our children turned out and grandchildren,
they’re just wonderful. We did something right.”
She off ered some key advice to those who hope to reach their
own 70 years of wedded bliss: Never go to sleep angry.

“You have to work at a marriage,” she added. “You have to keep
being close with each other. Th at’s the story, honey.”
Nowadays, many couples meet via dating apps on their phones,
which allow the users to send messages to each other before they even
meet. But long before there were apps, Paul and Evelyn Becker struck
up conversation the classic way: handwritten letters.

Evelyn’s brother was married to Paul’s sister, which was how the
pair, who just celebrated their 72nd anniversary, fi rst met.

It didn’t quite work out.

“We just went out a couple times, once or twice, and we didn’t
hit it off ,” Paul Becker, 97, recalled, noting they still saw each other
at family events but “we stopped seeing each other as a couple.”
SIMCHAS See Longtime, Page 18
OCTOBER 25, 2018
17