Mazel Toy!

A handsome
survivor and a
native beau
have built a
lifetime o

CARL WALDMAN
Special to the Jewish News

l

n 1949, an immigrant from
Poland resembling Errol Flynn
and an attractive native Detroit
woman with flowing black hair
exchanged wedding vows.
Fifty years later, Steven and Helen
Goldin reflect, "It was not easy starting
with nothing."
Sitting in the sunny living room of
the Oak Park ranch home they
bought in 1955, you can look around
and understand why they call it their
"lucky house." The warm walls and
wooden bookcases are filled with 50
years of mazel, luck.
Despite the fact that these two
have been opposites from the start,
they have shared one common
alliance along the way. "Divorce was
never an option," says Helen. "We
kept our family together at all costs."
Steven, a Holocaust survivor, learned
that lesson first hand. At age 19, he left
his parents, younger brother and 80
members of his family. They ultimately
died in the ghetto of his hometown,
Ludwipol, Poland.
He escaped to the Russian forests
with his sister, where they survived for
two years. At war's end, Steven joined
Betar, a paramilitary group guiding
Jews out of Europe. After hard travels
and many arrests, in 1947 he and his
sister immigrated to Boston, where he
learned to speak English, and then to
Detroit to work for an aunt, manag-

Helen and Steve Goldin at their wedding ... and today.

ing a ladies dress shop on Michigan
Avenue and Joy Road.
The next year he met Helen at a
Jewish Community Center dance.
A soft-spoken woman, Helen is a
native Detroiter who grew up during
the Depression. "As soon as I saw that
handsome man, I knew he was smart
and would become somethinab great in
this country" says Helen.
Ten months later, May 30, 1949,
they were married at Congregation B'nai
David on Elmhurst and 14th Street.
With a beautifiil wife at his side, Steven

was ready to make something of himself
He went to Central High School at
night while Helen worked as a clerk for
the Veteran's Administration. Three
years after arriving in this country,
Steven bought a truck and went into the
scrap metal business. "He didn't even
know how to drive," Helen giggles.
While living in an apartment, their
first child Gail was born, and Helen
stopped working in order to raise a fami-
ly. As years went on, their children Gary,
Elyse and Craig arrived and the business
that Steven was building from the

ground up was growing.
In all areas — at home,
in business and in the
community, Steven and
Helen were not only
preaching hard work
ethics to their children,
they were showing
them. "A day's pay for
a day's work," is one of
Steven's favorite say-
ings. 'All of my kids
had part-time jobs,
whether they liked it or
not."
Jewish life is a central
part of the Goldin house-
hold. Steven participated in
five World Zionist Congresses
and five World Jewish Congresses,
and in 1980 Israeli Prime Minister
Menachem Begin honored him with
the Jabotinsky Centennial Gold
Citation for Goldin's dedication to
Jewish people.
Today, the Goldin children attribute
the messages they received growing up
to the successes they have earned in their
personal and professional lives.
"Our father taught us to be indepen-
dent, to be able to take care of our-
selves," says Elyse. "Our mother's lessons
were to be calm, cool and unfettering,"
says Gary. "Above all," say Craig and
Gail, "the legacy that has been passed on
to us from our parents has helped us
find strength. We were taught to hang
on together when hurdles arise, not to
walk away from difficult times."
To honor their parents, Gail and,Paul
Wunsch, of Studio City, Calif, Elyse
Goldin Essick, Gary and Shelley Goldin
and Craig and Marcy Goldin threw
their parents a party at Somerset Inn to
celebrate their 50 years of love and hard
work. Grandchildren Hillary, Allison,
Scott, Amanda, Danny, Mara and Julia
participated to honor their loving
Bubbie and Papa Steve. II

9/24
1999

Detroit Jewish News

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