{"id":139,"date":"2025-10-09T23:33:35","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T23:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tinytalesbytara.com\/?p=139"},"modified":"2025-10-09T23:33:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T23:33:35","slug":"whos-who-in-mays-long-wait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tinytalesbytara.com\/?p=139","title":{"rendered":"Who\u2019s Who in May\u2019s Long Wait"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When I wrote May\u2019s Long Wait<\/em>, I already knew the story by heart \u2014 after all, it\u2019s the story of my parents, May and Bernie. But because I was so familiar with everyone involved, I realized later that readers might not know exactly who\u2019s who in the extended family. So, I thought it would be meaningful to introduce the real people behind the names you meet in the book \u2014 and explain how they\u2019re all related.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note:<\/em><\/strong>  Only a portion of the family trees are shown here \u2013 the parts that are mentioned in the book.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"May's<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May\u2019s Mother<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Minnie Laber Wosnitzer<\/strong> \u2013 Minnie was May\u2019s loving mother.\u00a0 Minnie was one of six siblings. She also had six half-siblings \u2014 a big, blended family that gave May plenty of cousins.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    May\u2019s First Cousins<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Millie Zucker<\/strong>, daughter of Minnie\u2019s younger sister, Hannah Laber Zucker.\u00a0 Millie was married to Max Rudnick<\/strong>.\u00a0 She met Max when she was a dancer in the theater he owned.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Mollie Zucker<\/strong>, younger sister of Millie and daughter of Minnie\u2019s sister, Hannah Laber Zucker.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      May\u2019s Uncle<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • Harry Laber<\/strong>, younger brother of Minnie.\u00a0 He never married and lived with May and Minnie until May married.\u00a0 He moved back in with Minnie after May and her family moved out to start their own home.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n
        \n
        \"Bernie's<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

        <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Bernie\u2019s Mother<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        • Gussie Abramowitz Blieden<\/strong> \u2013 Yes, the very same Gussie featured in my Tiny Tales by Tara<\/em> book: Gussie\u2019s Suitcase Packed with Courage, Hope, and Secrets.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          Bernie\u2019s Siblings<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \n
          • Arthur Blieden<\/strong> \u2013 Bernie\u2019s older brother – he is the same Arthur who is mentioned in my upcoming Tiny Tales by Tara <\/em>Book, Arthur\u2019s Apple Tree Accident<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Mildred Blieden Rich \u2013 <\/strong>Bernie\u2019s younger sister<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

            Bernie\u2019s Father<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              \n
            • Harvey (Harry) Blieden<\/strong> \u2013 although he is not mentioned in the story, his youngest sister and one of his nieces are mentioned.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

              Bernie\u2019s Aunt<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                \n
              • Reve Blieden Bricker<\/strong> was the youngest sister of Bernie\u2019s father, Harvey, and thus was Bernie\u2019s aunt. She was married to Harry Bricker.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                Bernie\u2019s First Cousin<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                  \n
                • Mickey (Myra) Blieden Spira<\/strong> was the daughter of Meyer Blieden<\/strong>, a brother of Harvey. \u00a0Meyer, died in the 1918 Spanish Flu Epidemic before his daughter was born.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                  Readers sometimes ask why the fathers aren\u2019t part of the story. The reasons are simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                  May\u2019s parents were divorced, and she hadn\u2019t seen her father in about ten years. But after May and Bernie married, Bernie encouraged her to reconnect \u2014 and she did. They reconciled and remained in touch until her father passed away in 1949.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                  Bernie\u2019s father, meanwhile, had died in 1934 \u2014 before Bernie ever met May. Since May\u2019s Long Wait<\/em> takes place later, during the war years, he simply didn\u2019t appear in that part of the family story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                  Family stories can be complicated \u2014 filled with siblings, cousins, and names that repeat across generations \u2014 but each name helps complete the story. Knowing who stood in the background of May\u2019s Long Wait<\/em> makes the story even richer for me, and I hope it helps you picture the real families behind May and Bernie, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                  Every story, like every family tree, becomes clearer when you take the time to trace the roots.<\/p>\n\n\n

                  \n
                  \"Bernie<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

                  Gussie, Bernie, May, Minne<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                  When I wrote May\u2019s Long Wait, I already knew the story by heart \u2014 after all, it\u2019s the story of my parents, May and Bernie. But because I was so familiar with everyone involved, I realized later that readers might not know exactly who\u2019s who in the extended family. So, I thought it would be meaningful to introduce the real people behind the names you meet in the book \u2014 and explain how they\u2019re all related. Note:  Only a portion of the family trees are shown here \u2013 the parts that are mentioned in the book. May\u2019s Mother May\u2019s First Cousins May\u2019s Uncle Bernie\u2019s Mother Bernie\u2019s Siblings Bernie\u2019s Father Bernie\u2019s Aunt Bernie\u2019s First Cousin Readers sometimes ask why the fathers aren\u2019t part of the story. The reasons are simple. May\u2019s parents were divorced, and she hadn\u2019t seen her father in about ten years. But after May and Bernie married, Bernie encouraged her to reconnect \u2014 and she did. They reconciled and remained in touch until her father passed away in 1949. Bernie\u2019s father, meanwhile, had died in 1934 \u2014 before Bernie ever met May. Since May\u2019s Long Wait takes place later, during the war years, he simply didn\u2019t appear in that part of the family story. Family stories can be complicated \u2014 filled with siblings, cousins, and names that repeat across generations \u2014 but each name helps complete the story. Knowing who stood in the background of May\u2019s Long Wait makes the story even richer for me, and I hope it helps you picture the real families behind May and Bernie, too. Every story, like every family tree, becomes clearer when you take the time to trace the roots. Gussie, Bernie, May, Minne<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sharing-family-stories"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tinytalesbytara.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/MayFamilyTtree.jpg?fit=666%2C432&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tinytalesbytara.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tinytalesbytara.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tinytalesbytara.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tinytalesbytara.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tinytalesbytara.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tinytalesbytara.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144,"href":"https:\/\/tinytalesbytara.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions\/144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tinytalesbytara.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tinytalesbytara.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tinytalesbytara.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tinytalesbytara.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}