Yesterday, Ligeia and Mindy went to the Azrieli Foundation’s launch of its 3rd series of Holocaust Survivor Memoirs. One of the authors and evening’s readers, Willie Sterner, is related to Mindy (great aunt’s cousin). His life’s story is amazing and we now have it in a published book! He survived the Holocaust with the help of Oskar Schindler, as he became the famed German industrialist’s personal art restorer. Ligeia and Mindy look forward to reading his book!
Here’s Mindy with Willie at the end of the evening as all the survivors signed their new books.
Also, Linda Hooper, the principal of the Tennessee school that spearheaded the Paperclip Project (a documentary was filmed about it), gave the keynote address. Her stories of her small-town Tennessee community, the affects of the project and visible changes to the world were inspiring. Here’s Ligeia with Linda after the event:
We will leave you with Linda Hooper’s self-proclaimed mantra. It’s a poem by Gertrude Hildreth Housman, and it’s called “The Gift of Choice”
I came into this world without being asked
And when the time for dying comes
I shall not be consulted
But between the boundaries of birth and death
Lies the Dominion of Choice
To be a doer or a dreamer
To be a lifter or a leaner
To speak out or remain silent
To extend a hand in friendship
Or to look the other way
To feel the suffering of others
Or to be callous and insensitive
These are the choices
It is in the choosing
That my measure as a person
Is Determined
If you want more information about the Azrieli Foundation, check out their website at www.azrielifoundation.org
Mindy and Ligeia : )