Sadie Cohen Geller

Meyer: Mrs. Geller, where did you come from in Europe? 
GELLER: From Russia, but I don’t remember the city.  It was more or less like a little village, but the closest thing would be what they used to call Stolin [note: Stolin, Belarus?]. 

Meyer: Stolin. You were born there and how many sisters and brothers did you have? 
GELLER: I had four brothers and no sisters. 

Meyer: Do you remember any particular experiences in the old country? 
GELLER: Nothing. I wouldn’t remember, because we came to New York in 1908. 

Meyer: How old were you when you came to New York? 
GELLER: Eight years old. 

Meyer: So you really wouldn’t remember. 
GELLER: Very little. All I can do is visualize my Grandfather and Grandmother, because they were grain dealers.  My Grandfather was a grain dealer then, but I really can’t remember very much. 

Meyer: What was your maiden, family name? 
GELLER: My name?

Meyer :     Your maiden name? 
GELLER: Cohen. 

Meyer: When you came to this country you landed in New York? 
GELLER: In New York. My father preceded us by a couple of years. 

Meyer: So you and your mother and your brothers came together? 
GELLER: Yes, we came together. Not all, because I have two brothers who were born here. One brother was born in 1910 and one was born in 1913. I don’t know whether you know Dr. William Cohen? 

Meyer: He’s your brother?
GELLER:  And Nathan Cohen, the attorney, do you know him? 

Meyer: Yes. 
GELLER: Well, that’s my brother. 

Meyer: How long did you stay in New York? Did you live there for awhile? 
GELLER: Yes, we lived there until we came to Portland in 1914, December 5th. 

Meyer: Did you have family in New York that your father was staying with originally? 
GELLER: Yes, my father had a brother there and other relatives. 

Meyer: What made him decide to come to Portland? 
GELLER: A relative here. 

Meyer:       A close relative? 
GELLER: Well, a cousin was here and my father was in the manufacturing business in New York. Now of course, the strikes were on then. So he corresponded with his cousin and he asked him to come here. So he did. Of course, when he came here he became a junk peddler. 

Meyer: Do you remember anything particular about the trip across the country? 
GELLER: Very little. I was the spokesman. I was the oldest and we were under the impression that we were going to see Indians, which we did on the train, and I can distinctly remember in Pasco, Washington, that we saw the Indians get on the train. Here I am with my Mother and four brothers on the train and we saw these Indians, and of course, when we came to Portland my father had a little house for us. 

Meyer: So he had preceded you to Portland? 
GELLER: Yes, he preceded us to Portland. I think by just a few months. 

Meyer: And he set up a junk business here in Portland? 
GELLER:  Yes, he was a junk peddler at the time. Then he was in the, I don’t know whether they called it metal business then or what they call it now, and he was quite successful. And of course my father was very, very well known in the Jewish community here. He was the pillar of the Shaarie Torah synagogue. He was called “Mr. Shaarie Torah” for many years. He was president of Shaarie Torah for 23 years. 

Meyer: For 23 years? 
GELLER: That’s right. 

Meyer: Let’s go back just a little bit about your earliest times right after you came to Portland. You said your father already had a house.
GELLER: A little house on Second and Sheridan, right next to Rosumny’s Bakery. 

Meyer: Were your cousins living right nearby? 
GELLER: No. At that time South Portland was all walking distance. We were there and of course, we made friends. I went to Failing School and graduated. 

Meyer: Did you know English by that time? 
GELLER: Oh yes, very well. I had gone to school in New York and when we came here I went to Failing School and only went to Failing School one year and graduated with quite high honors in Failing School. 

Meyer: And then did you go to high school? 
GELLER: No, I did not. I went to work at Meier & Frank’s. 

Meyer: And during this time you must have gone to the Neighborhood House? 
GELLER: Oh definitely. And the B’nai B’rith. But especially the Neighborhood House. 

Meyer: Tell me what kinds of things you did at the Neighborhood House. 
GELLER: I did sewing there under Mrs. Lowengart. Mrs. Selling was there and they had a free clinic there. That was our stomping ground, the Neighborhood House, for us youngsters. We were always there. 

Meyer: Do you have some special experiences of the classes or of things that you want to share? 
GELLER: Classes where? 

Meyer: At the Neighborhood House, with the sewing classes. 
GELLER: I would say sewing and of course, Miss Loewenberg, the Director of the Neighborhood House at that time, who was a special friend of mine. She was wonderful to me. Also, the teacher, the librarian. 

Meyer: What was her name? 
GELLER: Her name was also Miss Loewenberg. 

Meyer: She was a sister? 
GELLER: Two sisters. One was at the Neighborhood House and one was the Librarian, near the Failing School. I, at that time, did an awful lot of reading. 

Meyer: And did she suggest things for you to read? 
GELLER: Oh yes, and I read with Miss Loewenberg an awful lot. What should I say? I really don’t know what I should say, but it was good that I got my – – – South Portland we were there, we went to the Neighborhood House. Of course, the young men – for instance, the South Parkway Club was formed in 1916 and then they were at the Neighborhood House, at the Old Neighborhood House at First and Hall. And then they moved to this building. The South Parkway Club was the mainstay of the Neighborhood House. The boys with their basketball, and naturally we young girls were followers of the boys. We went to all of the basketball games as young women growing up and naturally we got married to some of the boys. I had two daughters, and we had a free clinic there. I used to take my daughters there all the time, that’s where we went. Not that we had to have the free clinic, but we went there. We knew that we would go to the Neighborhood House Clinic. As I say, we were always there. Our parents took English there. My mother-in-law, may her soul rest in peace, was there. That’s where she went to learn her English to get her citizenship papers. Of course, my husband’s parents the Gellers had a grocery store for many, many years on First and Grant. It was known as the Geller Grocery Store. And then of course, in later years, we bought the store that used to be Pander’s, which was across the street. From 1926 we had the grocery store across from my husband’s parents. Of course, my young brothers were growing up there. They went to Failing and then when we moved a little further, they went to Shattuck. My brothers graduated from Shattuck. I was the only one that graduated from Failing, because we had moved away.

Meyer:     Where did you move to? 
GELLER: We moved across the street from Shaarie Torah on First and Lincoln and then we lived there for many years until I got married.

Meyer: From that house? 
GELLER: I wasn’t married in the house. I was married in the popular Gevurtz Hall. Oh yes, it was a very huge wedding. 

Meyer: Before we get to your wedding, tell me about some of the people you were friendly with when you were growing up. 
GELLER: Well, all of the friends that I had in Failing School I have today. I still have some of them. Some of them are gone, but some we are still friendly. An awful lot who graduated with me, we are still friendly. We have been married 55 years and we are still friends. Do you want me to name some of them?

Meyer :     If you would like to. 
GELLER: Well, there is a Mrs. Krichevsky and we graduated together. 

Meyer: What was her maiden name?’ 
GELLER: Frieda Tonitsky. In fact that was her on the phone just now. She and I graduated and we are still friends, very close friends to this day. Minerva Rich, she used to be Minerva Swerdlick, she graduated in my class. Of course, some of them in my class are gone. 

Meyer: But the friendships were lifetime friendships for you. The feeling of community was very important to you. 
GELLER: There was Sadie Lewis, who used to be Sadie Popick. We have been friends for all these years.

Meyer:     Your Father had a junk business. 
GELLER: My Father, naturally, prospered in the junk business on a larger scale and as I said, he did quite well for himself. My Father was a big figure in the Jewish community. 

Meyer: Tell me about some of the experiences at the Shaarie Torah. You said he was president for 23 years? 
Geller:       For 23 years. I know he was president for 23 years at the Shaarie Torah and a most charitable man.

Meyer:      What was his first name?
GELLER: Ruben. Ruben Cohen. 

Meyer: Do you remember some special events at the Shaarie Torah? Some special experiences? 
GELLER: Well, my brothers’ bar mitzvahs were there. And of course, after I was married, I naturally joined Shaarie Torah and the Shaarie Torah Sisterhood, which wasn’t the sisterhood then, it was called – now what was it called? Well anyway, it was there and I have been very active at Shaarie Torah in the sisterhood all these years. 

Meyer: Did you go to Hebrew school? 
GELLER: No, I didn’t.

Meyer :     Did your brothers? 
GELLER: Oh yes. 

Meyer: Of course, they had their bar mitzvahs. Tell me about the neighborhood in South Portland? The stores, you talked about the grocery store. 
GELLER: We had a grocery store on First and Grant for many years, then we moved up to First and Sherman into a grocery store there. We lived around there. By then, my daughter was born. 

Meyer:      What year were your children born? 
GELLER: Fern was born in 1921 and Shirley in 1926.

Meyer:     I think we should go back. You described your large wedding. Your husband, I take it, was one of the basketball players? 
GELLER: No, he wasn’t a basketball player. He was just one of the members of the South Parkway. Just one of the boys. 

Meyer: You knew him because of the large friendship? 
GELLER: No, I didn’t know him. I met him after he came back from World War I. Because he was the kind that travelled around and I did not know him until 1919. I think that was when I met him. 

Meyer: Did he grow up in Portland?
GELLER:  [?]

Meyer:      Then you were married in 1921? 
GELLER: In 1921. 

Meyer: Your two children were born and you lived in that neighborhood? 
GELLER: We lived in that neighborhood until – 

Meyer: Where was the first house you lived in when you got married? 
GELLER: Well, we lived with our parents for awhile and then my husband went into business in Astoria.We lived there for a year and came back to Portland. 

Meyer: How was living in Astoria? 
GELLER: A nightmare. 

Meyer: A nightmare for you. You missed being here? 
GELLER: I missed being here and I had a tiny baby. I was only a youngster myself; I was only 21 years old when she was born. We were happy to come back to Portland. Then my husband started working after quite awhile. We also had a concession in Sellwood Park for a few years and I worked there. 

Meyer: You worked with him? 
GELLER: He worked with me, because he was on a job and I ran the Sellwood Park. We had a concession there for a good many years. Also we had a concession in Washington Park.

Meyer: You must have met lots of people that way. 
GELLER: Oh yes, I should say. 

Meyer: You also mentioned before (we are going back a little bit) that when you got out of Failing School you went to work at Meier & Frank. What kind of a job did you have there? 
GELLER:  I was a transfer girl to begin with and then worked up to cashier. 

Meyer: Were you a cashier when you got married? 
GELLER: That’s right. 

Meyer: Of course then you didn’t work. 
GELLER: No, I never worked except with my husband in our own business. We were 35 years in the grocery store.

Meyer:      Tell me some of the hard times in the neighborhood. Do you remember? It was still a little bit before the Depression, but do you remember? 
GELLER: It was hard times. 

Meyer: Was it hard when more and more immigrants were coming in? 
GELLER:  It was, for some people it was.

Meyer: Your father, being president of the shul, was he among those who would welcome the people? 
GELLER: Oh yes, he always did. 

Meyer: Did you have people in your home very often? 
GELLER: Oh yes, my father’s house was open for everybody. 

Meyer: So your home was a gathering place. 
GELLER: My father’s home was a gathering place, yes, always. Of course, I always had a very strict mother. After my Mother passed away and my working father re-married, he was still continuing to work like he did, especially when he worked for the Robison Jewish Home. In fact, he was one of the organizers of the Robison Jewish Home. I have been a member of the Sisterhood of the Robison Jewish Home for – it will be 55 years in February. 

Meyer: Are you the oldest member? 
GELLER: I’m not the oldest member.

Meyer: The longest standing member? 
GELLER: I’m one of them. That’s how long I have been with the Robison Home and very, very active.  That is my pet organization. 

Meyer: More than the South Parkway? 
GELLER: Yes, because with the South Parkway Sisterhood I am a charter member, but the Robison Home is philanthropic and that is my main concern. I work more for the Robison Home than any other organization. 

Meyer: Were you among the founders of the sisterhood for the Home too?
GELLER:  No, I wasn’t – I was just a youngster then, but some of the women that were there, naturally, took me in and I have been a member ever since. And of course, ever since they have moved out there, I have been very, very active, that’s my pet.

Meyer:      That’s your pet – it’s very important. 
GELLER: Yes it is, definitely.

Meyer:       Mrs. Geller, you talked about the neighborhood of South Portland. Did you feel that anything was missing in the neighborhood? 
GELLER: No, we didn’t know of anything. We knew that we were just there. We were just happy-go-lucky youngsters there. We went to the Neighborhood House building and the B’nai B’rith Building, but mostly to the Neighborhood House.

Meyer:       Did you ever go downtown? 
GELLER: When I worked I did. But we never thought of it. We would walk in groups to the Neighborhood House and to the B’nai B’rith, just walking freely. We never had any fear. We never had any cars then, so we just walked.

Meyer:      When you went to work at Meier & Frank did you take a bus or did you walk? 
GELLER: I walked to work, back and forth. Met some of my friends along the way and we walked back and forth. Especially Sadie Lewis and I used to walk to work every morning.

Meyer:      She also worked at Meier & Frank? 
GELLER: She worked at Lipman’s.

Meyer:       So that was your whole world and your children grew up there? 
GELLER: They grew up there. In fact my daughter Fern started at the Neighborhood House   kindergarten.

Meyer:      Was that one of the first years?
GELLER: One of the first years because she came home from a kindergarten that we had on First and Carruthers, a little non-Jewish kindergarten and she came home crying to me, “Mother, they want me to sing the Christmas carols and I won’t.” I went to Miss Loewenberg and talked to her, Ida Loewenberg. Fern I think was only four years old at the time. I talked to her and I said how about starting a kindergarten? And that’s when the kindergarten at the Neighborhood House was started. 

Meyer: Do you remember who some of the other children were who went with your daughter? 
GELLER: Well, I really don’t know. I could remember more of Shirley’s, because Shirley went too. 

Meyer: But Fern’s was the first class? 
GELLER: Fern’s was the first class.

Meyer: How many children were in that class? 
GELLER: Oh, there were quite a few. 

Meyer: About ten? Mrs. Geller, how did you get along with the other people in the neighborhood? 
GELLER: Beautifully. The Italian people in that neighborhood just thought, well Boris Geller was something. They just came in and to this day when we see some of them, we are still very, very friendly with them, those that we meet after all these years. Very friendly. 

Meyer: Mrs. Geller, we were talking about the first kindergarten class and I don’t think you told me who the teacher was? 
GELLER: I am almost positive it was Miriam Stone. Of course, she is the wife of the Policar, the physical director at the Center now. 

Meyer: This class went on for many years? 
GELLER: Oh yes, for many years, and they had real nice activities there, the youngsters did. They had their maypole dances, and for every occasion they had something. Across the street from the Neighborhood House at Lair Hill Park, that’s where all their activities were. They were very, very fine, and of course, the South Parkway Club met at the Neighborhood House and the sisterhood always had their activities there. Many years ago when we were younger, we had our Mother’s Day program at the Neighborhood House. 

Meyer: And that was a yearly event? 
GELLER: A yearly event, the Mother’s Day Program. We had our anniversaries at the Neighborhood House. We had Seders at the Neighborhood House. 

Meyer: For all of your families? 
GELLER: For everybody, for the Parkway Club. We paid. But we, ourselves, put on the Seder. 

Meyer: You did all the cooking? 
GELLER: A strictly kosher Seder. 

Meyer: Who conducted the Seder?  You can’t remember? 
GELLER:  D. Solis Cohen? I think so. I think D. Solis Cohen. 

Meyer: And that was a yearly event for many years? 
GELLER: Not for many years, maybe two or three years, because it was hard work. We had to kasher the silverware and bring in – – and the only reason that we were able to get dishes was because my husband worked at M. Sellers and he was able to get us dishes. 

Meyer: I see. 
GELLER: To borrow them when we had the Seders. We used to have at least 200 people.

Meyer :     At the Seder? 
GELLER: At the Neighborhood House, at the Seder. 

Meyer: Was this in the 1920s? 
GELLER: Yes, in the 1920s. 

Meyer: Tell me, did your children go to the Shattuck School? 
GELLER: Yes, because we moved away from the Failing School district and they both graduated Shattuck School. Well, wait a minute, Fern I think graduated Failing because we were closer to it, but Shirley graduated Shattuck. 

Meyer: And then they went to? 
GELLER: Lincoln High School, both of them. 

Meyer: Tell me about the Depression, the times during the Depression. Do you remember those? 
GELLER: Yes, it was very, very rough for us. 

Meyer: In the grocery business? 
GELLER: Very rough, I’ll say. Of course, at that time we had the concession at the Sellwood Park, which helped us out, but it was rough. 

Meyer: Do you remember any particular things at that time? 
GELLER: It was just rough – hard times. 

Meyer: Do you remember any particular things at Shaarie Torah during that time? 
GELLER: At that time I wasn’t that active in Shaarie Torah. 

Meyer: Did the girls have any particular activities in school that you remember? 
GELLER: Well, I don’t know, but swimming was there and they learned from Mickey Hirschberg at the Center. They were both very good swimmers, and especially the older one was a terrific diver and that’s what they liked. 

Meyer: That was one of their favorite things? 
GELLER: Yes. 

Meyer: We talked a little bit, Mrs. Geller, about the Robison Home Sisterhood and I wonder if you would like to tell me how you became actively involved in the Sisterhood? 
GELLER: Well, I was always under the impression and I still am, that a Jewish neighborhood, a Jewish community, should have a home for the Jewish aged, because I always say, there for the grace of God go I. 

Meyer: And your father was among the founders of the Home? 
GELLER: Of the Home. 

Meyer: When was the Home founded, do you remember? 
GELLER: Where? 

Meyer: When was it founded?
GELLER: It was 57 years ago that the Home was founded on Third and College. And in the later years, just before my father passed away at 89, he was at the Home for two days. We had to take him there, but he didn’t last very long, and so, as I say, I have always been interested in the Home. 

Meyer: But you weren’t one of the founders of the Sisterhood? 
GELLER: No, but I became a member. 

Meyer: And very actively? 
GELLER: I was active then for awhile and then you kind of drift away and I should say in the last 20 years I have been very active. 

Meyer: Were you involved in some of the fundraising of the South Parkway too? 
GELLER: Yes, definitely, always. 

Meyer: In any particular events? You talked about Mother’s Day. 
GELLER: That wasn’t fund raising. Our fundraising was we had a donor and we used to have – the South Parkway Sisterhood used to have lunches at the dairy where we raised money for our philanthropic work that we did. Now we have a donor affair that we raise money for, and most of it goes to the Robison Home. We are only a handful a women, I think. 55 women the South Parkway has right now, that’s all. 

Meyer: One of the things is you helped children over the years, with your fund raising? 
GELLER: Well, we helped everybody that needed help. 

Meyer: Besides the Robison home? 
GELLER: Well, the children were helped by the men’s South Parkway Club. They always said they were the Club with a big heart for the underprivileged children. They still are. They used to send worthy children to camp for a week, which amounted to thousands of dollars. They still do help. Not as much as they used to, but they still do. A tremendous job, the South Parkway boys club. 

Meyer: It’s important. Those kinds of things are really important. 
GELLER: Yes they are. 

Meyer: How long did you live in South Portland? 
GELLER: We lived in South Portland until 1941.  

Meyer :     In 1941 what made you change, what made you decide? 
GELLER: We moved our store to the east side and that’s when we moved.

Meyer: Mrs. Geller, your husband decided to move your grocery store? 
GELLER: To the east side.

Meyer :     What made him decide to move? 
GELLER: Well, business wasn’t as good as it should be, so we took a chance and bought a store in a building on the east side. 

Meyer: Where was it? 
GELLER: On 11th and NE Fremont Street. 

Meyer: What was the store called then? 
GELLER: Geller’s Grocery. 

Meyer: Had the neighborhood changed by 1941? 
GELLER: Where, in South Portland? 

Meyer: In South Portland. 
GELLER: Oh yes. 

Meyer: What kinds of changes? 
GELLER: Well, I think it deteriorated. 

Meyer: Had some of your friends already started to move? 
GELLER: A lot of the friends had started to move away from there, and I don’t think there was that closeness anymore. There was nobody there. Many had moved in different directions. By then everyone was driving cars and they lived in different neighborhoods. 

Meyer: Where did you move – close to the grocery store? 
GELLER: We moved to Irvington.

Meyer: And then again you were close to family and friends? 
GELLER: Yes, we were. 

Meyer: Did you think that you had the same feeling of community in Irvington with your friends? 
GELLER: Yes, we still remained friends with all our friends. Well, up to this day we still have our old time friends. 

Meyer: What about being away from the Neighborhood House and Shaarie Torah? 
GELLER: We still went to the Shaarie Torah and we still went to the Neighborhood House. Always, up until a couple of years ago, when we moved to the Jewish Community Center. 

Meyer: So it just took a little bit longer but you got – you were still doing – 
GELLER: We still went to the Neighborhood House, all these years. We were very, very happy there, all the members at the Neighborhood House, because should I say we were the big fish in a little pond? There wasn’t anything we couldn’t have had at the Neighborhood House. The Council of Jewish Women had the Neighborhood House and the South Parkway Club – we had everything we wanted. 

Meyer: That was home? 
GELLER: That was home to us at the Neighborhood House, always. 

Meyer: During the Second World War, there were lots of changes, of course, but by then all of your friends had moved away from South Portland, or most of them? 
GELLER: Well, there were a few who still lived further up, but most of them moved away to different neighborhoods, mostly Irvington that they moved to. 

Meyer: How did you feel about moving away? 
GELLER: We just took it for granted, that’s all.

Meyer:      Everybody else moved. 
GELLER: So we just moved.

Meyer:      Your life really went on. 
GELLER: Just the same, with the same friends we have to this day. 

Meyer: And did your children live in the Irvington area when they got married? 
GELLER: Oh yes. 

Meyer: Mrs. Geller, you adjusted to living on the east side very well, with all of your friends. Tell me, let’s look back a little bit about some of the changes in the Jewish community, both after you moved and within your circle. 
GELLER: Well, I really didn’t notice anything. You just went on. Within our circle we just went on as usual. We belonged to different organizations as we did. We went. We partook. We still went. 

Meyer: How did you feel when the urban renewal started in South Portland? 
GELLER: Well, that was something. When you passed by, and you take a look at these things, “Gee, where did I live?” And the only way I can tell where I lived, on First and Grant, is across from the Boy Scout Building there, that’s how I know it’s Grant Street. That’s where we lived for so many years, and I have always said, if some of our parents could get up and see what happened to their South Portland, they wouldn’t believe that anything like that could happen. But it has. 

Meyer: But you think that the neighborhood has deteriorated and it was a good thing to have Urban Renewal come in? 
GELLER: I think so, I think so, because what else? You couldn’t let those old buildings stand there. They were just deteriorating and our parents were going, dying. And we younger ones naturally were moving away from there so the old buildings were bare. So when the Urban Renewal came in I thought it was a good thing. Of course, there is that nostalgic feeling of South Portland – it’s there, and now we kid about South Portland and now most of us are moving back to Southwest. We call it Southwest not South Portland, but it’s there. 

Meyer: Tell me about the changes in the Jewish community when the Center moved. It was on 13th for many, many years. How do you feel about the changes now that the Center is far out? 
GELLER: Well, it was quite a change because it was far out and a lot of us can’t get there as easily as we used to – to the Neighborhood House or to the Center on 13th Street. It is quite a ways out but we are getting adjusted to it. 

Meyer: How did you feel when the Robison Home decided to build way in the Southwest? 
GELLER: Oh yes, that was something too, but right now we think it’s the best place for it. 

Meyer: It turned out – – 
GELLER: It turned out that the location and the grounds that they have enough for it. 

Meyer: That really turned out very well. 
GELLER: Oh yes. 

Meyer: What about your family? Do your children still live in Portland? 
GELLER: My youngest daughter lives in Portland and they are members of the Jewish Community Center, definitely.

Meyer :     What is her married name? 
GELLER: Zidell, and my son-in-law is all for the Center. He’s there all the time partaking of the facilities. 

Meyer: And your other daughter? 
GELLER: She lives in Seattle. 

Meyer: And what is her married name? 
GELLER: Cohn. 

Meyer: Cohn. And your maiden name was Cohen, and your brothers still live in Portland? 
GELLER: Two of my brothers are gone but two of my brothers live in Portland, one is Dr. William Cohen and the other is Nathan Cohen, an attorney. 

Meyer: How do you feel about being a Jew today and living in Oregon? 
GELLER: Well, I have always been very proud of being a Jew, always. I have never denied being a Jew. I have many non-Jewish friends, but they all know how I feel about Judaism. I am a Jew and always will be a Jew. 

Meyer: And your children share these? 
GELLER: I hope so. 

Meyer: You’ve transmitted this on. 
GELLER: I hope that’s the way they feel. 

Meyer: Mrs. Geller, when you look back at South Portland, what do you think about? 
GELLER: Well, I think about South Portland as a very happy community. We had nothing, we needed nothing, but we had our close friendship, which meant more than being rich at that time. 

Meyer:      And that’s one of your happiest memories? 
GELLER: My happiest memories. We were close friends. None of us had that much. We were all raised by immigrant parents and I say we had nothing, we needed nothing and we were happy with nothing. 

Meyer: But you gave a lot to each other. 
GELLER: Yes, we did. 

Meyer: Do you think people still do that? 
GELLER: I think more or less, basically people are kind. Of course there are some people that money has gone to their head, I suppose, but I think underneath it all most people are nice people. 

Meyer: It’s a nice way to think about people. 
GELLER: That’s the way I feel. I have always felt that way about people. There is always a little bit of bad in the best of us, but we can look for the good instead of the bad. 

Meyer: That’s right.