OUR COMMUNITY

W

ay into his 93 years, Henry Pestka 
still did not reveal much about his 
experiences escaping Auschwitz and 
surviving the Holocaust; but his chil-
dren, Steve and Linda, have taken on 
that messaging as a personal mission with expanded and far-reach-
ing goals. 
The siblings, raised in Grand Rapids where their father established 
a real estate development business, decided artistry would be a way to 
honor their dad, along with other area survivors, while keeping the mes-
sages of the Holocaust before the public. 
Their specific means, with the associated commitment in time and 
energy of the Jewish Federation of Grand Rapids, became a relevant sculp-
ture developed by an internationally known artist and placed in a memo-
rial site with the advice and help of representatives at the Frederik Meijer 
Gardens & Sculpture Park. 
The chosen sculpture, Ariel Schlesinger’s Ways to Say Goodbye, will 
be dedicated at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 30, during an event open to the 
public and featuring remarks by the sculptor, Pestka family members and 
community leaders, and enhanced with music by Cantor Rachel Gottlieb 
Kalmowitz, who grew up in Grand Rapids and now serves at Temple Beth 
El in Bloomfield Township.
The monument, an aluminum fig tree with glass shards affixed to its 
branches, symbolizes the massacre and endurance of Jews during World 
War II.
The sculpture will be placed, in the presence of the sculptor, along an 

Shoah survivor’s family donates memorial sculpture 
to Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids.

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

12 | JUNE 23 • 2022 

Henry and 
Beatrice Pestka

ON THE COVER

A ‘Tree’ of
A ‘Tree’ of

Remembrance
Remembrance

