frond i nes

Old Friends Are The Best

I

recently had a memorable lunch with some very dear
friends of mine, the majority of whom were in their 90s.
Technically, they're my parents' friends. They've known
me since I was in diapers, but having lost my mom and dad
more than 25 years ago, I've adopted them as my surrogate
parents.
Some would become our family's lawyer, dentist, podia-
trist, optometrist and our family doctor, when house calls
didn't require a pre-authorization. I probably had more peni-
cillin shots administered in my "Uncle Jack's" kitchen than
I did at his clinic. (For the record, the
shots treated tonsillitis and not ... you
know.)
To this day they call themselves "the
Kiroes," a social club the guys started
as teenagers more than seven decades
ago and grew to include their spouses.
They're amazing. It wouldn't surprise
me if they were on fewer medica-
tions than me, despite being raised on
shmaltz! They survived the Depression
Alan
and the War and actually spent count-
Muskovitz
less years having to entertain them-
Jewish News
selves without the benefit of more than
Columnist
900 cable channels.
Attrition has reduced their number,
but not their spirit. The Kiroes still try to meet once a year,
and at this most recent gathering, they invited us "kids" to
tag along; yes, us kids, now in our late 50s and 60s. The same
kids who for years looked forward to the Kiroes Memorial
Day picnics, which included activities like egg tosses and
the annual father-son baseball game. On this day though,
we didn't play games; but I'd like to think I had attended my
very own mid-life playgroup.
All my siblings were at the lunch, along with a host of
other Kiroe offspring. Jokes were told and many a story
shared. One Kiroe invited each member to say a few words
and jokingly warned them to reference only "one illness"

The Kiroes: Norman Sommers, M Lezell, Leo Keeps, Dr.
Maurice Reizen, Dr. Norbert Ketai and Dr. Robert Yoffee.

in their remarks. And guess what? They all knew exactly
what was going on in each other's lives despite not being
on Facebook! Trust me, I know they'd rather spend their
day twitching than twittering and texting. Look, it's not like
they didn't have their communication vices in their day; but
thankfully, back in the 1930s, their parents had the where-
withal to forbid teletyping at the dinner table.
For me, lunch with the Kiroes was in many ways sur-
real, a sort of Field of Dreams experience, where my past
emerged, and I was once again in the company of mom and
dad. For just a couple of hours, I was taken back to a sim-
pler time when meaningful friendships were nurtured with
real human contact instead of being reduced to a post on a
Facebook page or a "tweet" on Twitter.
While we Kiroe Kids have crossed paths over the years,
we didn't create a Kiroe Club II, but we most certainly
share a bond that we cherish and will forever be proud of.
Recognizing that, my sister passed around a sheet of paper
asking for all of the kids' email addresses. I don't see a soft-
ball game being organized in the near future, but ifs nice to
know the Kiroe legacy will endure, and I know that would
make my folks and all of the Kiroes extremely proud. ❑

JN CONTENTS

theJEWISHNEWS.com

July 5-11, 2012

Vol. CXLI, No. 22

15-21 Tammuz 5772

Ann Arbor
35, 36
Around Town
20
Arts/Entertainment
33
Calendar
23
Dining Around The D ....22
Food
37
Health/Wellness
32
Israel
14, 27, 48
Life Cycles
39
Marketplace
42
Metro
8
Next Generation
24

Obituaries
Out & About
Points Of View
Sports
Staff Box/Phone List
Synagogue List
That's Life
Torah Portion

48
34
27
31
6
30
21
29

Columnists

Danny Raskin
Robert Sklar

38
27

Shabbat Lights / Fast Day

Shabbat: Friday, July 6, 8:54 p.m.
Shabbat Ends: Saturday, July 7, 10:04 p.m.

Fast of Tammuz: Sunday, July 8, 4:51 a.m.
Fast Ends: Sunday, July 8, 10:04 p.m.

Shabbat: Friday, July 13, 8:51 p.m.
Shabbat Ends: Saturday, July 14, 10 p.m.

Times are according to the Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah calendar.

On The Cover:

Page design, Michelle Sheridan

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With experience as Board member,
borrower, donor and staff member,
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Loan from almost every angle. Almost
22 years ago, she sat on the agency
Board as a YAD liaison. Later, Cheryl
and her husband came to HFL to help
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Tamarack. Cheryl currently assists the
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Cheryl's job, created in partnership
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July 5 • 2012

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