Remembering Jane

At the beginning of July, close family and friends 
gathered near Dunoon to celebrate the life of 
Jane Foreman 
and scatter her ashes in a spectacularly beautiful 
and peaceful mountainside glade 
in the Benmore Botanic Gardens.  

Led by Iri, Margi, Sara, Noam and Gil, 
there were memories, anecdotes, poems and music 
that left lasting echoes amongst the highland trees and shrubs.

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought 
I summon up remembrance of things past...

Jane Foreman 1944 - 2018

Continuing the search for Grandpa Avraham Chaim...

So this is the set up. After disappointment at not finding mention of Avram Chaim in Hordzieszka, I thought perhaps I’d find some trace in Hull.  From a Jewish burial website I discovered that he was buried in the Delhi Street cemetery. 

This morning we found that the tiny grave yard is hidden away on the far side of Hull.  Miscalculating the distance, we set out early, walking through the surprisingly green and pleasant but extensive outskirts of the city, then along a busy road, and finally we found it. As feared it was fenced off, and locked.  We peeped through the gates, and were taking photos of what we could see when a woman, Heather, appeared and told us she thought we could get the keys from a Jewish organisation somewhere. She said that a gardener came every few weeks to look after the place, but she wasn’t sure when. Generously she offered to take a photo of the grave the next time he came, and took our email address. 

Sadly we began to head back to the city centre. This time we’d take the bus. We were still waiting at the nearby bus stop when Heather drew up in her car, calling out that the gardener had just turned up. She whisked us back to Delhi Street on the way telling us that she recently discovered that some of her family was Jewish but had changed their names during the war. She drops us outside the entrance where the gardener stops strimming to let us in.  But no-one knows where Avram Chaim is.  The gardener has only just started work so the place is wildly overgrown (though obviously tended). We hunt around finding (perhaps) Moisha’s in-laws (the Sultans). But no Davidovitch. It has been a long morning so after a long systematic search, it begins to look unlikely that we’ll find anything. 

‘One last look...’ I say stumbling through thick weeds between crumbling graves towards a last area I hadn’t been able to see close up. And there, at the last moment, I find it.  Not in good condition, but unlike many still clearly legible. I tidy it up a bit (not too much, for the letters are only semi-engraved and very worn, and the in-laid material of the letters comes away slightly as I brush away the weeds). I take photos, say a few words from the Kaddish (I don’t even know what he’d have thought of that), leave a stone, and stumble back through the tightly packed graves. So, I think, perhaps a better prepared visit to Horzieszka is called for.

(More close ups and interpretation to follow)

Frances Davidson z"l

DAVNOB received today the following tragic information from Jonathan.  The whole family sends its deepest condolences.

We’re sorry to have to ask you to let the Davnob family know the following tragic news, so soon after our joyful if poignant gathering in Cambridge to remember Daniel, after which we were heartened and uplifted to receive many loving, uplifting and warm messages of appreciation for the opportunity to celebrate his life. 

With profound sadness we now must inform you that our beloved Frances died this morning, May 12th, in George Washington Hospital in Washington DC, following a sudden and unexpected ruptured aneurysm in the brain on Friday. Her catastrophic illness was mercifully short, and she died peacefully, surrounded by her deeply grieving husband, daughter, and granddaughters. Thankfully she was comfortable throughout the ordeal and suffered no apparent pain.

Donations in Frances’s memory may be made to a charity of your choice. Among Frances’s favorite causes were HIAS https://www.hias.org/ , breast cancer research https://www.breastcancerinstitute.org/ , and Wellfleet Public Library http://wellfleetlibrary.org/index.php/friends

We were delighted to reconnect with so many Davnobs in Cambridge and look forward to meeting on happier occasions before too long. 

In sorrow and love, Jonathan, Joanna and Bobby, Lyna, Jasper, and Zoly.

Celebrating the life of Daniel Davidson

Daniel Davidson 1968 - 2018

An event to celebrate the life of Daniel Davidson 

was held at Pembroke College in Cambridge on April 14th 2019.

More information, and news from the event will appear soon.

Happy Birthday to our Young Matriarch

Davnob and the whole family join together to wish 

Judy 

a very happy and significant birthday.

"Many women have done excellently, 
but you have surpassed them all"