MY DEDICATION IS FOR ALL THOSE BRAVE PIONEERS WHO LEFT AN OLDE WORLD TO MAKE FLOURISHING LIVES IN AMERICA.

My Maternal Grandfather, Sam Grundfest (and Mable), was the first child born to Mollie and “Moishe” Grundfest, reportedly in the wagon as they trekked from NY to Cary, Mississippi. First as a peddler, then to begin the great adventure of cotton farming those 10 original acres of cotton. In 1904 Morris (‘Moishe') applied for U.S. citizenship at the Yazoo County courthouse. Mollie and Morris’ family grew to eight children, just as their cotton plantation flourished.

By 1918, Sam and Mable had eloped by train from Vicksburg to Cary. Then Sam, my grandfather, was sent to Little Rock, Arkansas,s Fort Albert Pike in the First World War. They settled in Little Rock, where my beloved Mom, Loris, was born in 1918. Mother-LORIS GRUNDFEST  married TED BIRNKRANT IN 1939-FROM DETROIT.  WHEN LORIS WAS six years old, my darling AUNT JANET, who later married ARNOLD MAYERSOHN FROM ALBANY, NY, was born.

I and my late Beloved husband, Ellsworth Levine Z”l grew up in Detroit. We have kept strong ties to our Little Rock and Mississippi family, taking our children and six grandchildren multiple times South for reunions and SIMCHA’S.

I HAVE TWO Pairs of great-grandparents buried on that little hilltop in the ANSHE CHESED cemetery in Vicksburg, surrounded by countless dear relatives. (FELDS and GRUNDFESTS).

I dedicate our mezuzah, which my Son Sam purchased in Israel for the wall, to all those who have gone before and to MY SIX ADORING GRANDCHILDREN WHO WILL CARRY ON THE TORCH. Jane, Kate, Thea, Jordana, Josh, and Aerin, and to their amazing parents: The children of Ells and my heart, Sarah and Jonathan Jacobs, and Sam Levine and Laurie Blitzer.