jews in the d

Judy Eder,
100 years young

A Will To

Succeed

Judy Eder overcomes childhood hardship
and celebrates a century of life.

JUDY GREENWALD CONTRIBUTING WRITER
PHOTOS BY JERRY ZOLYNSKY

T

he love and support parents give
their children is integral to their
becoming happy, well-adjusted,
productive adults. But what if a child is
abandoned by not one, but both par-
ents in childhood, is made homeless by
relatives and is shuffled from one foster
home to another? What chance does
such a youngster have to not only sur-
vive, but also thrive, succeed in school
and career, find love, raise a family and
dedicate time and effort to raise thou-
sands of dollars for children in need?
Ask Judy Eder, a native Detroiter now
living in Southfield, who’ll celebrate her
100th birthday on Nov. 2, and she’ll say
her background of hardship taught her
to forgo bitterness, be positive and per-
severe to live a fulfilling life dedicated to
helping others.
The friendly, personable great-grand-
mother, a breast cancer survivor who
loves to paint and sew, works out with a
personal trainer twice a week and enjoys
cooking for her friends at the Claymoor
Apartments, where she’s lived for 20
years. She has kept meticulous records
of her life’s journey and has an incredible
story to tell.

A SHAKY START
“When I was 9 months old, and my sis-
ter 2 years old, our mother abandoned
us,” Eder, who was born Julia Nevitsky,
said. “We were taken in by my father’s
sister and lived with my father and her
for the next 10 years. One day my father
took me and my sister for a walk, saying
he had something special to tell us.”
That “something special” was a rev-
elation to his daughters that he was
“disgusted with life.” He, too, left his chil-
dren, who would continue to be cared
for by their aunt. But that care didn’t last
very long.
“My aunt told us if my father didn’t
send money for our keep, she would
throw us out. Unfortunately, we didn’t
know where he was and couldn’t let him
know what was happening,” she said.
True to her word, their aunt sent the
two girls from her home, with, as Eder
noted, just the clothes on their backs.
Bewildered, they walked the Detroit
streets all night and sought help at the
first open place they came to.
“We wandered into a Catholic service
agency,” Eder recalled, “and they put us
in a cab and sent us to the Jewish Child
Placement Bureau. My sister was taken
in by another aunt and uncle, but I was
sent to a foster home.”
The next six years she spent moving

from one foster family to another. She
received $1 a month from the agency
to help the families with her expenses.
“That was a lot of money back then!”
Eder said.
In those days, she explained, chil-
dren didn’t stay with any one family for
more than six months. Despite moving
from home to home, with little chance
to develop lasting relationships, Eder
remembers many of the families with
fondness and said most of them treated
her like one of their own.

DETERMINED TO EXCEL & GIVE BACK
Living with different families also
meant attending a different school with
each new placement. While this would
be a tremendous obstacle to maintain-
ing good scholarship for any young
child, Eder explained it was her deter-
mination and fortitude that saw her
succeed, even excel, in her education.
“I made all A-pluses on all my report
cards,” she said proudly. “I can prove it
— I’ve saved every one!”
In 1935, at 16, Eder’s life changed
again — for the better. While at a dance,
she met 25-year-old Jack Eder, and after
a 10-month courtship, they married
in 1936. Eder saved a 1935 letter from
Child Placement Bureau Executive
Director Edith Bercovich, congratu-
lating her on meeting the man who
would be her husband and promising to
continue sending her the dollar because
“surely you need an additional few pen-
nies at present … until you get on your
feet and start working full time.”
Eder was no stranger to the working
world, though, with her first job com-
ing at age 14.
“I worked at a department store and
was put to work selling toothbrushes,”
she said. “I was nervous, but I sold
every toothbrush they had on display in
less than three hours. I did so well, the
manager had me selling scarves, which
was also successful. From then on, I
worked in every department, selling
everything from ladies’ wear to jewelry,
from silverware to furniture. I’ve been
a saleswoman all my life.” She retired at
age 85.
That busy life also included helping
her husband begin his own business.
Jack built Dixfield Market in Lincoln
Park, and the grocery store chain even-
tually grew to seven stores in the metro-
politan area.
With this newfound prosperity, Eder
knew she wanted to do something to
exemplify tikkun olam, giving back, in

continued on page 28

26

November 1 • 2018

jn

