Interview with Diana Siegel, May 25, 2004, Menominee Falls, Wisconsin

Partial Transcript: Andy Muchin is interviewing Diana Melkin Siegel on May 25, 2004 at her home in Menominee Falls, Wisconsin. She grew up in Marinette, Wisconsin.

Partial Transcript: Diana's full name is Diana Melkin Siegel. She is the daughter of Fanny and Morris Melkin, and the youngest of their five children. Diana is a twin to Ralph Melkin. Fanny's maiden name is Fiegelsen. Her father's name was not shortened, it remained Melkin. Fanny and Morris were from Glabok, Lithuania. Fanny and Morris met in Lithuania and came to America in 1905. Morris lived on a farm in Glabok and was raised by his Grandpa Sam. Grandpa Sam sold and bought horses and taught Morris the trade.

Partial Transcript: Morris' family consists of three sisters, one brother, and himself. Their names are Hannah, Rose, Sarah, and Jake. Hannah and Jake settled in Brooklyn, New York and sold clothes.

Partial Transcript: Morris immigrated to New York from Ellis Island to Syracuse New York. Morris got someone to sneak him out of Lithuania, so he did not have to go into the army. Morris' siblings came to America two years prior to him. Morris was around 18-21 when he came to America. He was born in the 1880's. Diana's mother was around the same age as him.

Partial Transcript: Morris and Fanny knew each other from living in Glabok, Lithuania. Morris came first to America and told Fanny he would meet her in America. Fanny left behind her mother, father, and brother to come to America. She traveled alone with a few posessions. She went right to Syracuse because Morris was there working in a knife factory. It was not good for his health. Morris' sister was in Marinette, Wisconsin. Morris moved to Marinette and Fanny followed shortly after.

Partial Transcript: Morris wrote to Fanny from Marinette (she was in Syracuse) and asked her to come live with him in Marinette, Wisconsin and promised marriage. Fanny moved to Marinette and they lived with Morris's sister Rose and her husband Joe. They had friends named the Estreens. Ike and Gertie Estreen. Ike and Gertie were cousins of Joe and Rose Melkin. Fanny moved in with the not-quite-married Gertie and Ike. Gertie and Ike were married shortly after, and Fanny and Morris married a week after them, Fanny wore Gertie's wedding dress. The Estreen's and Siegel's were lifelong friends.

Partial Transcript: The Estreen's are Dottie Paris' mother and father. They came to Marinette because they had family there.

Partial Transcript: Morris came to American in 1905, and Fanny came six months later. They were married in 1906 in Marinette. Morris knew the Homis'. He was in the cattle business with the Homis' for 18 years, until 1939 when the Meltzin's moved away and they had to break up the business.

Partial Transcript: Morris and his Father sold the farm and had to separate in order to escape. Morris was a leader of a group of people also trying to flee Lithuania. The other leader and Morris disagreed about a turn on the escape route. Morris said right, the other man said turn left. If they would have turned left they would have gone into enemy lines and probably would have died. Instead, they went right and settled in a barn to wait for the boat to come.

Partial Transcript: Morris and his father reunited in Ellis Island, went to Syracuse, and then later Marinette. Morris's father lived with him in Marinette.

Partial Transcript: Morris was a cattle buyer and was gone a lot on business. Fanny was a business minded woman, and saw a house for sale. She tried to buy the house. (1011 Blaine Street). $5 held the house until Morris came home, and they officially bought it. Morris traveled to Crystal Fall's Michigan often, and in 1939 he found a house for their family and they moved to Crystal Falls.

Partial Transcript: Morris would buy horses in Lithuania and sell them to Russia. Glabok was near Russia. In Marinette, Morris went miles and miles to get cattle, and then bring them to the market. His business was mostly in Crystal Falls, Michigan and it was named Melvin and Sons. Diana's twin Ralph is still in business in Michigan. He also had an International Harvester Business in Crystal Falls with a big building and employees.

Partial Transcript: Crystal Falls is a summer resort town with lakes, cottages, and lots of people visited. The Meltzin's friends would visit them there. Before they moved to Crystal Falls, Fanny struggled with Morris being gone all the time. However, their house on 1011 Blaine Street was special to her. Diana's siblings were born in the house. Only Diana and her twin brother were born in a hospital.

Partial Transcript: There were approximately 200 Jewish families in Marinette. Marinette had two Shul's, both Orthodox. The larger one was for families of more means, and the smaller one was for less prosperous families. Rabbi Hyatt of Superior was the Rabbi for the small Shul.The large Shul was called Montefor. The small Shul was just called the small Shul. The small Shul was on Louis Street. The large Shul was on Pierce Avenue. The small Shul is no longer there, and the large Shul was kept up by Betty and Joyce Arnowitz. Peter Arnowitz was very wealthy, and was Betty's father in law. He owned Arnowitz Iron and Metal.

Partial Transcript: Rabbi Hyatt came from Superior. His wife was Bernie and she was involved in Shul activities. The large Shul had a Cheder. Now the large Shul is for Jewish people and non-Jewish people. Jews would come from Crivitz,
Peshtigo, Iron Mountain, and other places to the Shul. Diana was born in 1923, and lived in Marinette from 1923-1939. She belonged to the large Shul. Diana went to Cheder with her twin brother and he had a Bar Mitzvah. Their teachers were Mae Katz and Anne Feldstein. The Feldstein's were in the jewelry business in Marinette, and Mae was married to Peter Katz. Peter was in the cattle business. Diana went to Cheder every Sunday, and Ralph went to Hebrew class during the week. Diana knows Yiddish very well, but not Hebrew.

Partial Transcript: The women sat upstairs at the Shul and the men sat downstairs. There were always rabbis. Diana remembers some of the rabbis and going to Shul a lot. Rabbi Hyatt's brother was named Wick and he was the butcher. Diana's family would buy his meat and he would wrap the meat in newspapers. His shop was in a basement, and it was kosher meat. Diana's mother would order other kosher goods from Milwaukee.

Partial Transcript: When Diana was 10-12 her mother made her hold the chickens in a gunny sack while they were butchered. They would then kosher the chicken at the house. Diana is still frightened of feathers because her mother raised chickens in the backyard and she would have to take them to slaughter. Fanny had a wood stove and was an incredible cook. On Shabbat, Fanny made challah, coffee cake, strudel, Teiglach, and other traditional foods. Diana still makes all of the recipes to this day. Diana explains how she makes her special Teiglach. Fanny was a brilliant cook who knew how to make everything by memory, and feeling. Diana is a Pillsbury award winner, twice nationally. Diana describes those competitions as the best experience of her life. Diana explains how she makes her challah, and how her mother made her bagels.

Partial Transcript: Diana's Grandpa Sam would go every morning in the winter to fire up the Synagogue. He helped Diana's mother, Fanny, care for Ralph and Diana. Sam used to bounce them to sleep.

Partial Transcript: Diana's mother took in a boarder named Mr. Brown. Diana describes him as a drinker, but nice. He drove a horse and buggy, and was Jewish. Diana does not think he paid to stay with them. He was living with them during the Great Depression, and he would bring Fanny flour, sugar, and other items that were difficult to acquire.

Partial Transcript: Every person in Diana's family got Scarlet Fever at the same time, except one of her brothers. Fanny got very overwhelmed and had a breakdown. She had a woman come and help in the house. Fanny recovered and was herself again.

Partial Transcript: When Mr. Brown would drink too much, he would fall asleep at the reigns of his buggy. The horses were so smart they would take him home and he would come inside and flop on the cot and sleep it off.

Partial Transcript: Diana's describes her mother as the most caring individual. When Diana was a baby, she nursed Ralph and set him to the side, and started nursing Diana. She fell asleep on Ralph and he turned blue, but woke up because Diana was crying. Diana jokes that she saved Ralph's life and he owes her for 100 years.

Partial Transcript: Sarah Katz, Eddie Yudin, Davie Estreen, George, and Ralph (her brother) were Diana's childhood friends. They went to the movies, threw each other surprise parties, and spent a lot of time together.

Partial Transcript: The Jewish population of Marinette lived in close proximity to each other in the city. Most of the 200 Jewish families lived in the same area in Marinette. The Synagogues were in that neighborhood, and Jewish businesses.

Partial Transcript: Diana explains how the cattle buyers did not harm each other. Everything was done fairly and if one man got to the animal first, then they got it.

Partial Transcript: The members of the different Shuls got along. However, everyone participated in activities at their own Shul. Not a lot of intermingling. Diana's mother was in Hadassah. They fundraised and put on plays, kids from both the small Shul and the large Shul would act in the plays. Rabbi Hyatt's wife organized. Diana participated until they left Marinette in 1939.

Partial Transcript: There was not a B'nai B'rith youth organization in the community.

Partial Transcript: Diana's family was Orthodox and Yiddish was spoken all of the time. Morris knew Russian, Polish, Yiddish, German, and she tried to teach him English. Diana knows Yiddish very well because there was a little old lady named Katz that lived across the street from Diana. Diana loved her, and the little old lady taught her Yiddish. The lady cried when they left Marinette. Diana used to do favors for her.

Partial Transcript: Dottie's brother lived in Manistique. So did Rose, Her family had a broom factory there. They would come into Marinette to visit.

Partial Transcript: The orthodox men went to shul every morning and every evening. For the holidays, everyone went to shul. Both the sanctuaries were full on the holidays. Her grandfather fired up the wood stove at the small shul every day. The small shul is no longer there.

Partial Transcript: When Diana went to first grade, a police officer would play a game with them outside and carry them across the street. In high school, Diana remembers the Kohodis family.

Partial Transcript: Diana had her best friends that were Jewish, but they were not always in her class. She was usually one of three Jewish people in her class. Her math teacher was German, and did not like Diana. Diana was called "dirty Jew" by her classmates, but would never confront those who bullied her and instead ran home. Her brothers did the same. Not all the Germans in the town were mean to Diana's family. Diana's mother helped a poor family in the neighborhood, and the granddaughter of that family still writes to Diana and attends all the Jewish funerals in the neighborhood. She never forgot Fanny's kindness.

Partial Transcript: Diana ran a meal program at Agape church. She fed 200 people at the event for 15 years. Diana says Fanny emphasized being kind to people, and that rubbed off on her. She still helps run a monthly meal program at the church where they feed 100 people every month. Diana gets desserts from Panera, and donut shops to donate. The sisterhood at the synagogue picks up the bill for a lot of the food because the church cannot afford it.

Partial Transcript: Crystal Falls was 100 miles from Marinette. Diana was there for four years. She graduated high school in Crystal Falls and went to business school in Michigan. She then moved to Milwaukee and got a job as a secretary until her triplets were born. She moved because her mom did not want her to date or marry a non-Jewish man. In Milwaukee, she married Saul Siegel in 1947 and then retired to take care of the triplets. All of her triplets went to 5 years of college, and belonged to B'nai B'rith. Her one triplet married a doctor in New York and made it very big. She does fundraising for temples in New York.

Partial Transcript: There were only 2 or 3 Jewish families in Crystal Falls, but 15 miles away in Iron River, Michigan there were about 100 Jewish families and a shul.

Partial Transcript: The friendships Diana's family had in Marinette never ended. Diana is throwing a reunion of the Marinette families. They will be discussing stories. Diana went back to Marinette and looked for old houses that were there when she lived there.

Partial Transcript: Diana has her father's first suit that he ever bought. It is a pinstripe suit. She will pass it down to her children. Morris also bought Rose and Joe a suit.

Partial Transcript: Diana still has Morris' original tax ledgers that state his assets on them. Morris could not write in English, even though he was multilingual. He could understand and speak English, but he wrote in Yiddish. He learned to write his name in English. Diana thinks her parents are incredibly strong and intelligent. He came to this country not speaking English and became a very big business man.

Partial Transcript: Diana is working on a family tree that traces back and goes all the way to her children and grandchildren.

Partial Transcript: Diana's parents stayed in Crystal Falls for the rest of their lives. Her mother died at 75 and her father lived for four more years. They lived with Diana, and for some time at the Jewish home. Her mother died in Crystal Falls, and her father died in Milwaukee. Her mother did not want non-Jewish people to touch her after she died. However, it was illegal to take a dead body over state lines. A good friend of theirs put sirens on his car and drove her body over 200 miles to Milwaukee so she could have a funeral there. Her parents are buried in Beloit, Wisconsin.