Jews in the D

continued from page 15

16 | OCTOBER 10 • 2019 

the early 1940s until he retired 
at the age of 89. He mostly 
monitored all the trucks that 
came and went.
”
Rena’
s late husband, Jerry, 
who had worked in sales, joined 
the business in 1981 as Dave 
Schwartz was preparing to 
retire. Only one year later, as 
Jerry was immersed in learning 
warehouse operations, Schwartz 
suffered a debilitating heart 
attack and Jerry took charge, 
turning to his son to help with 
the transition.
“When I was 7 years old, 
my grandfather started taking 
me to work and instilled this 
love for Porter Bottle in me,
” 
recalls Larry, sometimes joined 
by sister Doreen. “He’
d ask me 
to stand on pallets — what he 
called the stairway to heaven — 
to screw in light bulbs. 
“My grandfather made it 
a cool and fun experience. I 
had to pack and repack pal-
lets exactly the way they were 
before, and I tooled around 
with my grandfather on a 
forklift. As I grew older, my 
grandfather had me writing up 
purchase orders.
”
When Larry was 12 and 
his dad was in charge, the 
two joined forces to redo the 
filing system. Larry filled in 
the information that Jerry had 
not yet experienced. As Jerry 
assumed leadership, Larry went 

on to advance his education and 
establish his own career path, 
first as a database analyst and 
later with his own eBay business 
selling archival hobby supplies.

THE NEWEST GENERATIONS
After Jerry became ill and 
passed away in 2007, Larry 
closed his own business and 
took charge of Porter Bottle 
with the partnership of his 
mom, and the two upgraded the 
computer operations.
“When my dad stopped 
working, we had a two-signa-
ture checkbook,
” says Rena, 
whose responsibility at that 
point was handling payments 
beyond working days in a gift 
store office. 
“I would sign the checks 
remembering my dad had 
taught me to notice who would 
be getting the checks. He told 
me that the information would 
stick in my mind and I might 
need it someday.
“Since Larry had been away, 
he didn’
t know the places that 
sold to us, but I did. At that 
point, I became the bookkeeper 
and started going down to work 
twice a week.
”
The youngest Schwartz 
descendants — also having fun 
with family business experi-
ences — have given their atten-
tion to inventory and packing 
pallets for specific orders. They 

include Evie Dickman 18; 
Jillian Dickman, 11; and Jordyn 
Tepman, 8. 
Although functions, includ-
ing warehouse operations, auto-
mated over the years, family 
values sustained. Members of 
Adat Shalom Synagogue, the 
family never opened on Shabbat 
and felt a kinship with Jewish 
customers developing kosher 
products, such as wine and tra-
ditional cuisine.
When Porter greeting cards 
go out in December, they’
re 
always about good wishes for 
the new year instead of religion. 
As downtown development has 
brought an enlarging Jewish 
presence, family members have 
met newcomers. Next door, a 
modern apartment building has 
housed Jewish tenants identified 
by their showcasing both lulav 
and etrog at Sukkot.
Ultimately, the family gets 
the most direct satisfaction 
from helping people, especial-
ly the ones launching busi-
nesses (from tasty pickles to 
skin-soothing shea butter). It is 
understood that customers’
 suc-
cesses — with the use of Porter 
containers — also brings them 
success through return sales.
Since the beginning, the offi-
cial Porter acknowledgement 
for walk-ins has remained: 
“Welcome to Porter Bottle; 
we’
re here to help you.
” 

“When I was 7 
years old, my 
grandfather 
started taking 
me to work and 
instilled this 
love for Porter 
Bottle in me,”

— LARRY TEPMAN

Rena and Larry Tepman of West 
Bloomfield stand in front of their store.

JERRY ZOLYNSKY
JERRY ZOLYNSKY

11-year-old Jillian 
Dickman of West 
Bloomfield and 
9-year-old Jordyn 
Tepman look at 
the bottles on dis-
play at the front 
of the store.

