Mazel Toy!
•
A blind date turns
into a life-long
love affair.
vt
Julia and Bill Barth: Now. . . and Then.
LISA BRODY
Special to the Jewish News
I
n an era where many love
affairs are counted in weeks,
perhaps in months, Julia and
Bill Barris are indeed special.
Their love affair has lasted
decades. On Sunday, Oct. 10, Julia
and Bill will celebrate their 60th
wedding anniversary
"It's really quite something,"
acknowledges Bill. "Now that 60
years are here, it's really inconceiv-
able. The years have just flown by."
Bill met Julia Berkan when she was
just 15. Julia's late cousin Adele Davis
fixed them up on a blind date.
"Adele," recalls Julia, "was dating
a fellow who knew Bill, and she said,
let's double date.' I said, 'Sure.'"
Neither Julia nor Bill remember
exactly where they went, but Julia
remembers how they got there. "This
was in the '30s, and Bill's friend had
a little car with a rumble seat in the
back, and we had to sit in that rum-
ble seat," she laughs. "Getting out, I
stepped on my skirt and tore my
hem. I don't remember where we
went, but I remember that!"
However, Bill and Julia have dif-
fering recollections of how that date
turned out.
"He was very handsome, but it
wasn't love at first sight," notes Julia.
Her husband disagrees. "I fell in
love with her immediately. I was
tongue-tied and did not have too
much to say.
Their granddaughter, Kari ,
Provizer, laughs when she hears of
that exchange. "That sounds like my
grandparents," she says.
Bill and Julia dated for many
years, as she finished high school and
college, and he became a partner in a
gas station. After Julia graduated
from college, they were married Oct.
10, 1939 at Congregation Shaarey
Zedek on Chicago Boulevard.
Julia taught kindergarten for four
years at Columbus School in East
Detroit, retiring after having two
"
daughters, Sherry and Kay. "In those
days, you had to retire when you had
children," explains Julia. When the
girls were both in high school, Julia
returned to teaching, guiding kinder-
gartners for 15 years at Parker
Elementary School on the west side
of Detroit. Bill's gas station business
branched out into appliances after
World War II. Eventually, he sold the
gas station and owned Kay Bee
Appliances for many years, before
running his own insurance company
until he was 65.
That was 20 years ago. The couple,
who live in Southfield, prefer to stay
close to home and their daughters
and son-in-law, Dr. Sherry Jackson
and Stuart Siegel, and Kay Kutinsky;
grandchildren, Kari and Dr. Jeffrey
Provizer and Rick Kutinsky; and
great-grandchildren, 18-month-old
twins Noah and Jacob Provizer.
But Bill and Julia are hardly sitting
still. They are active in volunteer activ-
ities, selling bagels to religious school
students on Tuesday and Thursday
afternoons as part of Temple Israel's
Bagel Brigade, and are actively on the
board of Temple Israel Treasures, a
senior group that provides monthly
social and educational luncheons.
Kari notes that while she was preg-
nant with her twins and on bedrest,
her grandmother would come over to
visit her and clean her kitchen.
"They are the two most loving,
generous, warm and honest people in
the whole world," says Kari. "Since I
can remember, we have always come
first, in joyous times and in times of
trouble. That is the greatest lesson I
have learned from them.
"They give advice that is not over-
bearing, but filled with years of knowl-
edge and wisdom," Kari says. "They do
not push their advice, but share their
lifetime of experiences."
Julia and Bill will celebrate their
anniversary with family at a special
dinner. "They didn't want a big
party," says Kari. "My grandmother
likes to do for other people, but does-
n't like the limelight for herself."
10/8
1999
Detroit Jewish News
55