Bert and I grew up in Kew Gardens in the borough of Queens New York. We shared a bedroom – and boy, did that create a lot of opportunities to fight! His side of the room had a window that let out to a fire escape, and my side of the room had the doorway to the rest of the apartment. When we had our usual brother/sister fights, we would draw a chalk line down the center of the room. I could not go on his side, and he could not go on my side – – the problem was that the doorway to the rest of the rooms was on my side, so he HAD to come on my side to leave our room – darn!
Bert had a lot of comic books and I had a stuffed brown dog that I loved. His name was Brownie.
Our telephone number was VA 9-2966. The phone was black. We lived there until I was in the middle of the 4th grade, when we then moved to Brooklyn.
I liked it when we moved to Brooklyn. I was in the middle of the 4th grade, and my brother was in the 8th grade. Of course, our fighting continued, but only because I was the one who instigated trouble in an effort to get some attention from him.
And as we got older and the years passed, we set our childhood fighting aside as we got to know – and love each other.
My brother Bert and I are now both in our 70’s. We have become very close and I love him so very much. Although he is a world famous scientist, it has not changed his love and affection for his family. He has always been there for me – in good times and in bad – and I try to do the same for him.