munity. Her father was a part-time cantor and later became the
coordinator of religious affairs for the school. There wasn’t a syna-
gogue like there is now, so the community shared a worship space.

A plaque dedicated to him is mounted on the walls of the Hillel.

She studied journalism and theater at Penn State, but couldn’t
wait to leave and chase her dreams in New York City.

Though she admitted she was scared, off she went after her
parents laid out a few ground rules, including that she have a job
before she moves and she live with a roommate. So, “green as
green can be,” she moved in with a roommate and worked for an
advertising agency, but quit after about three months as all she
was doing was getting people coffee.

She moved to Brooklyn and worked for the now-defunct depart-
ment store Abraham & Straus.

Along the way, she started dating her husband, Alan, whom she
reconnected with after moving to New York.

The two met when they worked as counselors at a B’nai Brith camp
in the Poconos for two summers — but had both been with other
people. After she moved to New York, the camp director had a get-to-
gether; Alan showed up and they started dating shortly thereafter.

“Do you want to hear the first date story? Because it’s great,” she
asked eagerly. “I couldn’t invent this one.”
On a freezing cold March day, not unlike this most recent March,
they took a trip to Coney Island for a Nathan’s hot dog, which she’d
never had.

So they went to Coney Island and were the only ones there but as
ever, Nathan’s was open — and it was “terrific,” she said.

“And he says to me two things: He says to me, ‘One, I’m never get-
ting married until I’m 30. Two, if I don’t have anything important to
say, I don’t talk,’” Paston recalled, making an incredulous face.

“I didn’t think that started off on a very good note,” she laughed.

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Jude Plum with Kristin D., shown wearing her wig
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Bryna Paston in a Donna Karan New York web commercial.

But of course, they continued dating and eventually
married in 1962. Breaking his first rule, they were 24, not
30, “so there, take that,” Paston teased.

They eventually moved to Dresher where Paston worked as the
Bucks County editor for what was then The Jewish Times. She hadn’t
found luck in journalism in New York, as there were limited roles for
women in the field.

She met with an editor for a job at a newspaper in New Jersey, but
was told they “already had their society editor,” as that was the posi-
tion women held. In advertising, the jobs were more plentiful she said,
but her passion was writing.

“I went to my father at one point and I said, ‘OK, there are three
things that I love: music, theater and writing.’ And he pauses and
he says, ‘Please pick the one that you can get a job,’” she laughed.

“The anxiety surrounding losing my
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EIevator lobby in rear
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, 19010
SEE PASSIONS | Page 7
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM THE GOOD LIFE
MAY 10, 2018
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