Mazel Toy!

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r

A 20-year quest to find
family roots is culminating in
Lanienter/Lantor reunion.

LISA BARSON
Special to the Jewish News

0

zer Lanienter's family is having
a get-together. That sounds
perfectly normal, until you
learn that the family reunion
taking place Aug. 20-22 is the culmina-
tion of 20 years of investigating on the
part of Lanienter's great-granddaughter,
Dianne Mouradian. .
Ozer Lanienter lived in Brozowa,
Poland, which is northeast of Warsaw.
He and his wife had six children. Each
of the siblings left Poland at different
times around the turn of the century,
their journeys spreading the family
around the globe.
One Lanienter brother went to
Palestine. One traveled to Virginia.
Another went to Washington state,
via Idaho.
Both of the sisters made their way
to New York. And Aby Lanienter,
with his four children (including
Roslyn, Mouradian's mother), went
to Detroit, where he changed their
last name to Lantor.
With such widespread destinations, it
was no wonder that the family tree
splintered. As a child, Mouradian and
her 1 1 first cousins would listen as their
Uncle Morris shared stories of their fam-
ily, and Mouradian would "dream of
bringing the family together."
Twenty years ago, she started
putting those stories down in writing,
asking all of her relatives to help her

8/13
1999

54 Detroit Jewish News

fill in the blanks.
As the years
passed, she began to
conduct research on
the Internet, looking
up the names
"Lanienter" and
"Lantor." In one
Internet chat room,
she was surprised to dis-
cover she was on-line
with a cousin in Mississippi.
At a family wedding in Israel two
years ago, Mouradian asked her rela-
tives if they would be interested in a
family reunion. "I was surprised at
how excited everyone became — the
response was unanimous." Mouradian
agreed to chair the event, to be held at
the Butzel Conference Center at Camp
Maas in Ortonville. She sent out let-
ters to all of the family members she
had found, encouraging them to bring
as many relatives as possible. So far, 70
people have responded, and
Mouradian predicts the reunion will
bring together four generations of
Lanienters from 10 states and two
countries.
Each guest was asked to bring letters
and pictures to help fill in the family
tree with the hope of learning why the
family dispersed. She knows that her
grandfather chose Detroit because his
wife had family here. Because
Mouradian's grandmother was unable to
make the journey because of severe
arthritis, Aby Lanienter (Lantor) took

Above: Karen Diskin and Jennifer Lantor display the quilt
they are sewing from squares decorated and sent t(t19 em
their extended family members.

Left: Showing off the Lantor T-shirt, are Dianne
Mouradian, Roslyn Goldfarb, Arlene Wenokur and Tillie
Lantor at a planning meeting for the upcoming
Lanienter/Lantor family reunion.

the children and came on his own.
As family members were reunited
recently via telephone and e-mail,
they all expressed the same disbelief
that they were "found." Each time a
new member was located, they
brought with them knowledge about
someone else in the family.
"It turns out that all of the siblings
that came to the United States were ped-
dlers," Mouradian says. The brother
who went to Virginia opened a clothing
store that still exists. The brother who
traveled to Washington state started a
department store that's still in existence.
Head down to Hamtramck today and
you will find Campau Clothing, the
store opened by Aby. It is still family
owned and operated.
Through her research into the
extended family, Mouradian was
amazed to find people sharing a surpris-
ing number of characteristics.
Mouradian jokes about "the Lantor
thumb, which is capable of bending
back in a strange position. Even the
Lantor neck has a unique curvature."
In pictures, she says, these people

who haven't met before look strikingly
alike. Even their style is similar.
Mouradian and a cousin from Israel
emerged from their separate rooms
wearing the exact same outfit, down to
the same type of shoes.
The big reunion promises to be a
fun-filled weekend, starting with a fami
ly Shabbat dinner. At one area of the
conference center will be a section of
archives, where guests can read letters
from years past and view photos of pas
generations. There will be family game
and activities, as well as time to reflect
on the past and meet new-found rela-
tives. The planned Saturday-evening
bonfire will feature Israeli dancing.
Prior to reunion event, each family
member was sent a muslin square to
decorate. Karen Diskin and Jennifer
Lantor, Mouradian's daughter and niec
are combining the squares into a Tamil}
quilt.
Mouradian wants to get more infor
mation about her family so that the ne
reunion will be more complete. That is
says Mouradian, laughing, as long as
someone else agrees to organize it." ❑

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