UHC congregant Andy Farber contributed this recollection of his late father Alvin for the September 2013 edition of Hadashot.
My dad, Alvin H. Farber, passed away early on a Monday morning, June 10, 2013. He was 91.
My son Adam and I flew out to be with him during his last few days. My son Dan, who lives less than two hours away, also was with us, as were my brothers, Matthew and Bill. My brother Jon could not be here as he is in the Philippines. My older son, Mike, and his wife, Deanna, attended the funeral with us. Of course, my mother is here and had been with him for a long time: June 20 would have been their 65th wedding anniversary.
The story begins in Brooklyn
Dad was born on March 13, 1922, in Brooklyn, N.Y., the son of Max Farber, a second-generation American. He was raised Orthodox and in his early years attended Yeshiva. Dad went to Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn and was on the track team.
He was a gunner, loader, bow gunner, radio operator and tank commander with the first, third and seventh armies.
He held a variety of jobs while attending City College of New York. Before completing college, he moved to Washington, D.C., and had a job with the Maritime Commissions of the federal government before being drafted in 1942 at the age of 20. He served in Iceland, England, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria and Germany. He was a gunner, loader, bow gunner, radio operator and tank commander with the first, third and seventh armies. He received an honorable discharge in 1945.
Dad returned to college and met Rena Negin during the summer of 1946 at the Camp Tamiment resort in Pennsylvania. On June 20, 1948, they were married and two days later each graduated from the City College of New York, Dad with a degree in accounting and Mom with a degree in education. He became a certified public accountant soon thereafter (but definitely after the honeymoon!) on his first try.
Dad returned to college and met Rena Negin during the summer of 1946 at the Camp Tamiment resort in Pennsylvania.
They lived in Brooklyn for less than a year before moving to Stuyvesant Town on the east side of Manhattan. My parents had four boys. While my parents lived in Manhattan, Matthew was born (in Brooklyn) in 1953, and I was born in Manhattan in 1954. In 1957, they moved to Baldwin, Long Island, where Jonathan was born in 1959 and Bill was born in 1962.
Retirement in Oceanside
Dad enjoyed his working years, with interspersed summer family vacations and so many family events as we grew up. After retiring, my parents settled in Oceanside, Calif., and were fortunate to enjoy good health and travel extensively for 20 years. The last few years they lived (and Mom still does) an hour north, in Mission Viejo.
My dad was a very hard-working, ethical, honest man who enjoyed telling jokes and making others laugh. He enjoyed laughing at his own jokes as well, just like his father. He enjoyed being with people and they with him.
My dad was a very hard-working, ethical, honest man who enjoyed telling jokes and making others laugh.
He bowled in leagues for years and played bridge with my mother — some party bridge, but more often duplicate bridge. Matthew and I learned bridge from them and occasionally played with them at home and on vacations.
Dad enjoyed his sons and his grandchildren. I can’t say but just a small bit now about my father who gave a vast life of love, care and memories.
Burial with military honors
At his funeral at Eternal Hills Cemetery in Oceanside, Calif., before the religious ceremony was carried out with great dignity and grace by Cantor Sue Deutsch, two soldiers completed military honors for his service to our country.
I can’t say but just a small bit now about my father who gave a vast life of love, care and memories.
Taps was played, the flag was removed from draping the coffin, folded far better than we ever did in the Boy Scouts, and presented to my mother as one of the soldiers spoke. He said, “On behalf of the President of the United States, the U.S. Military and the citizens of our country, we give thanks to your late husband for the services he provided to us.”
There was not a dry eye at the gravesite. The religious ceremony began and my brother Matthew spoke eloquently and emotionally, and I spoke briefly as well.