Community

Maze! Toy!

Three
core
And

en

CARL WALDMAN

Special to the Jewish News

Seven decades later for the
marriage "that wouldn't last.

1/21
2000

50

er mother begged her not to
marry him. The marriage would
never last, she said.
In the mid-1920s, Mickey
Zamet was known as "Mickey the
Butcher," a wild guy from Newark, N.J.
But despite the rumors, teenager Fay Kurtz
thought differently.
"I watched what a wonderful son he was to
his mother," the 91-year-old Fay says today,
while smiling at her husband of 70 years.
Mickey and Fay have a long history
together. Both were born in 1908 in Newark
and they attended the same elementary
school. But it was at a Jewish ballroom dance
in 1920, when they were 12, that they caught
each other's attention. "I approached Mickey
to buy one raffle ticket for 10 cents, and by
the end of the night, and a few dances later,
he bought up my whole raffle book," Fay
recalls. That night she fell in love, wearing
her older sister's black dress.
Four years later, the two 16-year-olds start-
ed steadily dating, and saving their hard earned
money — together.
"I was what they called a platter display
man — a window dresser for butcher shops,"
says Mickey. He made $25 per week in the
wholesale meat business and Fay earned anoth-
er $12 per week as an office manager. "My
drive to succeed came from my mother who
made bootleg liquor out of her bathtub and
sold house dresses from a push cart," says
Mickey. "She did incredibly well for the times,
and was able to give me another $25 per week,
on top of my salary."
Fay laughs, saying her mother-in-law
spoiled her husband. But with hard work and

good fortune, Mickey and Fay were able to
wed in 1929 and within a few years, along
came their two children, Barbara and Neil.
In 1943, butcher shops dosed due to war
rationing and Mickey found himself out of a
job. "I had an uncle here in Detroit who land-
ed me an interview with the Confection
Cabinet Corporation, a company which .sold
concessions to theatres and movie houses," says
Mickey. Forced to leave Newark, the Zamets
re-established on Sorrento Street in Detroit.
In 1969, life threw them another curve
when the company Mickey worked for was
sold to a large corporation. At age. 63, after 26
years, he left before his pension kicked in.
Mickey and Fay bought a large mobile home,
and moved to Palm Springs, Calif., to be near
the mountains and enjoy life.
In the late 1990s, Fay suffered a mild
stroke. Her mind recovered well, but she
lost use of her left arm. After 25 years in
Palm Springs, it was time for Mickey and
Fay to move back to Michigan, to be near
their daughter and son-in-law, Barbara and
Herman Goldsmith of Waterford. "At 91
years old," says Barbara, "my amazing
father is the chief cook and bottle washer
at their senior apartment in the Park Crest
facility in Southfield. For the most part, he
is the main caregiver. He washes linens,
drives mom to doctor appointments, and
cooks the meals — under my mother's
direction, of course. They have truly taught
me how to be great parents."
Neil and Barbara describe their parents'
life as "a wonderful love story" They cele-
brated in November with a special 70th
anniversary party.
'And just for the record," Mickey wants
everyone to know, "it wasn't me who was wild
75 years ago in Newark. It was the girls."

❑