Early Years

Abstract

I am the third child born to Rose (Jaffee) Atlas and Isadore Atlas, immigrants from Russia and Poland, respectively. My mother, one of six children, worked at a sewing machine in a New York factory from the age of 12 and never finished grade school. My father came to the United States with an uncle in 1912 at the age of 16, worked in a ladies’ hat factory, and finished high school at night. Except for his sister Esther, who immigrated to Mexico City in 1928 and made contact with him in 1942, my father never again saw his parents or siblings. My parents were married in 1917. My brother Moe was born in 1918, my sister Mae was born two years later, and I came along in 1924.