I Become A Lawyer

At this point, I would like to ask our children, all thirteen of them, to contribute their stories and not wait until they are eighty-four years old. I am certain that their children would find them interesting.

When Bill Welsh found me in the Speaker’s office in early 1966, he was there to ask that a bill be introduced. Each year, for the past several years, he attempted to enact a law which would give the Division the authority to collect wages for employees who worked and were not paid the wages due. I had become friendly with many members of the Legislature. Among them were Alex Resnick, the Delegate from the 5th District in Baltimore City and Joseph Long, the State Senator from Salisbury on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. With the help of the Speaker’s secretary, Grace Donald and Alex Resnick and Joe Long, the bill was enacted and signed by the Governor. It was assigned to the Employment Standards Service for enforcement. The Chief, Arthur Williams, had no idea how to do this. I was called into the office to devise procedures. I created two forms; one a detailed form which gave a wage-hour investigator all the information needed to investigate and a second form with the bare essentials. The short form was sent was sent to the employer together with a letter. The letter told the employer that a claim had been filed by an employee or ex-employee that he had worked and was not paid the wages due. If the employer agreed that the wages were due, send a check and resolve the matter. If a check was not received within ten days, a wage-hour investigator would be at the employer’s place of business on (date) and (time) to discuss and resolve the claim. The workload of the Service greatly increased. At the time of my retirement in 1990, more than a million dollars was collected annually for employees who had filed claims. I was anxious to get back on the street where I could be back in the store by early afternoon.

When I became Chief in 1969 one of my duties was to interpret the laws assigned to the Service. For example; the Wage Collection Law applied to employees and employers. I was required to decide who was an employee and who was an independent contractor to whom the law did not apply. When I had questions, I would call one of my friends who was a lawyer. I hesitated to do this. When I discussed this with Momma, she suggested that I enroll in Law School and take a few courses until I could make these decisions without the assistance of my lawyer friends. So I enrolled in the Law School at the University of Baltimore. I began by taking two courses twice each week, at night. I left the office on Preston Street at 4:30 and walked over to the University of Baltimore on Charles Street. Momma picked me up at 10:00 o’clock, two evenings each week. At the end of the semester, I took two more courses and then two more courses. Suddenly, in 1975, I had eighty credits, enough to graduate and take the Bar Exam. I was in no hurry: becoming a member of the Bar would not increase my employment status. I took the Bar Exam in 1976 and was sworn in later that year. The swearing in was conducted at the Court of Appeals in Annapolis. Each new lawyer was given two tickets for guests to attend. I took Momma and Amy. After the ceremony, we walked to the State House and the Governor’s Office. Marvin Mandel had become Governor and Grace Donald had become the Governor’s Secretary. Unfortunately Marvin was not there but Grace took Amy into the Governor’s office and Amy sat in the Governor’s Chair behind the Governor’s desk. I showed Grace the Certificate I received and she offered to have it framed. It hangs over my desk on Mansfield Hollow Road.

By 1976, most of the children had moved into their own homes and apartments. My salary was sufficient and we no longer needed the earnings of the Kenmar Food Market. We sold the store and the building at 301 South Stricker Street and a new door opened for Momma.

Post-1959

1959 became the beginning of many changes in our lives. We had decided that it was desirable that our children grow up in a Jewish environment. Momma started to look. One afternoon in early 1959 our friend, Irv Abramowitz stopped in the store between appointments. We discussed moving. That evening, his wife, Grace, called Momma. Her parents were empty nesters and lived in a six bedroom, 2 ½ bath house at the corner of Merville Avenue and Ken Oak Road. This is one block north of Rogers Avenue and six blocks east of Park Heights Avenue. Grace told us that they were anxious to move to a small house on Glen Avenue. We made an appointment to see her parents and the house. The house sat on a ¼ acre with a two car garage behind it. There were four porches, three covered, in front and in back, of the first two floors. There was a very large entrance hall with a breakfast room, kitchen, pantry and half bath behind it. To the left was a living room with a fire place (gas) and a dining room behind that. The living room had parquetry wood floors. The walls were plaster covered by linen cloth and painted. There was molding on the walls to make a center frame. Grace’s mother said that she had had a seated dinner for 100 guests in that house. From the entrance hall, stairs led to the second floor. Three bedrooms, a den and a full bath were on the second floor. The den opened up to the covered rear porch. The front bedroom opened up to the uncovered front porch. Momma and I were in the front bedroom, Risa had one bedroom and Phyllis and Amy shared the other bedroom.

The third floor held two bedrooms and a full bath. There were eaves alongside each bedroom. Marc had the small rear bedroom and Larry, Arnold and David had the front bedroom. Marc established a workbench under the eaves where he promptly disassembled anything he could spirit upstairs. When the toaster went missing, it appeared disassembled on Marc’s workbench. There was a full basement with two rooms. I used one for and office and we used the other one for storage. The walls were two feet thick made of stone.

The Zervitzes asked $12,500.00 for the house. Momma and I walked out onto the front porch, looked at each other, nodded and knocked on the door. We moved in May, 1959. Northern Parkway was due to be built alongside the house, but it only took a small triangle from the southwest corner of the property. One night about four o’clock in the morning, we heard a loud crash. Am employee driving to work at Koontz Dairy, located at Northern Parkway and Reisterstown Road failed to make the turn and ended up against the tree in the front yard. Both the tree and the employee survived; the vehicle did not.

One afternoon, Marc came running down the stairs shrieking, “They got pictures of naked ladies hanging up.” Momma and I trudged up to the third floor and saw no such hangings in the front bedroom. Marc reached up and pulled down the window blind. Larry had taped a Playboy centerfold to the inside of the window blind. When it was up, the picture was not visible. I seem to recall that we permitted them to keep it there. The boys bathed in the tub on the third floor. Arnold hated to take a bath so he threw dirt in the water. “Of course I took a bath and washed,” he said. “Can’t you see how dirty the water is?” David did not go to summer camp but spent uncounted hours in the backyard with Glenn Gibson building roads for the many matchbox cars that they had accumulated. There was always a pool in the backyard and the neighborhood children always found their way there. We always had animals. I recall a dog, Lucky, who ran out into Northern Parkway and was struck by a vehicle. He did not live up to his name. I believe that our children feel that Merville Avenue was among the best years of their lives.

Risa transferred to Arlington Elementary School where I had attended some twenty five years before. One of her teachers, Mrs. Wallenstein was my sixth grade teacher. Small world! Larry and Arnold and Marc went to the Talmudical Academy. Phyllis and Amy went to Arlington. I spent nearly an hour commuting to the store, but it was worth it. We lived in a Jewish environment. Ben Leibowitz, my sister Ruth’s husband, taught Momma how to drive and we acquired the “tired monster.” After the children came home, Momma left them with Risa and came to the store. Sometimes she came down to the store after they left for school and came back when they came home. Everyone pitched in and helped. With seven children, there was just too much to do for just one mother and one father.

Kenmar Food Market moves to 301

The lease on 238 South Stricker Street ran out in 1954. There was no intention to renew the lease. We had purchased the building at 301 South Stricker Street and had prepared for a move. The store was painted and a tile floor laid. A freezer, a refrigerated vegetable case and a refrigerated reach-in box were added. Completely new shelving was in place. A window air conditioner was installed over the entrance door. All that was left to do was move the meat display case and the inventory. This was accomplished in one day and we were open for business. And remember, I was 29, Momma was 27 and we had five children all five years old or less.

Meanwhile, the children were getting older (as is usually the case) and Risa was ready to start school. The public schools in the area were bad, very bad and we needed a good school for our children. She was enrolled in the Louisa May Alcott Elementary School at Reisterstown and Keyworth Avenues. We gave our home address as the home address of Momma’s parents on Park Heights Terrace. Momma’s paternal grandmother, whom we know as Super Bubbe, lived across Keyworth Avenue from the school. I would drive Risa to school each morning and pick her up most afternoons. There were times when Momma’s mother, Grandma Esther Hoffman would pick her up and we would retrieve Risa after the store was closed. When it was time for Larry and Arnold to go to school, we chose the Talmudical Academy on Cottage Avenue. I would drop off the three of them in the morning and the School Bus would deliver the boys in the afternoon.

The boys began to work in the store in the afternoon. They would wait on the children who came in to buy penny candy. There were probably 30 kinds of penny candy like those little half balls of hard candy pasted on a strip of paper, sweet liquid juice in tiny wax bottles and giant licorice sticks; all a penny each. There were no throwaway soda bottles but there was a two cent deposit on the bottles. The children redeemed the bottles for penny candy. The boys probably ate as much candy as we sold but it kept them busy. Buzzy Berg would stop in with Richard and guess where Richard immediately went. That’s right, the candy case. Life was good; the store prospered and produced enough income for the seven of us to live a middle class life.

Problems arose but nothing serious and nothing out of the ordinary. Then two disastrous incidents struck. Larry ran out into McHenry Street and was struck by a vehicle. A visor over a headlight caught Larry in the mouth and tore open his upper lip and knocked out his two front teeth. At first we thought that his entire lip had been torn off, but it was only split. A good plastic surgeon made repairs but left a scar. This is probably one of the reasons that Larry has always had a mustache. Arnold was different. His philosophy was, “You go along with the program.”

Several years later, when Marc and Phyllis were about three years old, Phyllis found some matches and gave them to Marc. He crawled under our bed and lit one. As the smoke billowed out of our second floor bedroom windows, neighbors called the Fire Department and ran to tell us at the store. I ran to the house. It was only a half block away. It has been said that my first action was to call the insurance company. That is not true! My first action was to see that Marc and Phyllis and anyone else were out of the house and safe. My SECOND call was to the insurance company. The room was completely gutted but the insurance covered the costs of refurbishing the room.

Vehicles were important in our lives. Our first vehicle was a 1939 Plymouth which we purchased from Momma’s Uncle Lou Music. That’s the one that we pushed more than we drove. In 1950, we bought a 1948 Dodge from a salesman, Bob Hoenes who worked with my father at the Independent Lock Company. Our next vehicle was a used 1950 Chrysler nine passenger station wagon. We needed the size because everyone wanted to sit near a window. Our first new vehicle was a 1952 Plymouth station wagon, then a new 1955 Plymouth station wagon. When we moved to Merville Avenue in 1959 we needed a second vehicle because Momma learned to drive. We spent $20.00 on a two door 1952 Plymouth from Sam Berg’s junk yard. We called it the “tired monster” because the shocks in the front were bad and the vehicle tilted low in the front. But it ran and ran and ran. And guess who drove it; and it wasn’t Momma. We had a 1959 Rambler and then another Rambler. We had a 1968 Dodge Dart and a 1973 Dodge Dart. We had a 1977 Pontiac which was a total disaster. Our next vehicle was a 1978 Volvo which became known as Mom Marcie’s little red bus. David worked at Michaelson Motors where there was a Mazda franchise. We thereafter bought Mazdas.

The Early Years II

Along with many other ex-G.I.s I began college in September, 1945. And, along with many other ex-G.I.s, I was anxious to complete college and get on with my life. I took as many courses as possible and amassed enough credits to earn a Bachelors degree by February, 1948. A recession had taken hold and the market was flooded with recent college graduates. I managed to land a job with the United States Department of Agriculture. The ANNUAL salary was $1,050.00. That equates to $20.19 per week. I was based in Washington, D.C. and field trips were included in the job. When based in Washington, I got up at six o’clock in the morning, took a street car to Camden Station, a train to Washington and a bus to work and got there 8:30. I didn’t get home until 6:30 P.M. Momma and I became engaged in March, 1948 and she was not happy with the arrangement. Field trips consisted working in various cities for a two week period. We wrote to each other daily while I was away. The Department paid for transportation and gave us $6.00 per diem. The $6.00 paid for food, lodging, laundry and anything else we needed. I traveled with a partner and we could not make it on $6.00 per day each. The hotel room at the Times Square Hotel in New York was $12.00 per day. There went the six bucks. Between the travel expenses and the commuting expenses, nothing was left of my salary and I started digging into my savings. I was fortunate to live at home. By August, 1948 I was ready to leave the job. But with the recession, not much was available. Momma and I talked about it and because I had another year of college eligibility under the G.I. bill, we decided that I should go back for a year of graduate work. The wedding was scheduled for September 12, 1948 and we would live with Momma’s parents Samuel Zelig and Esther Hoffman in a three bedroom row house on Park Heights Terrace. There was room in that there was only Momma’s 18 year old brother, Bernard (Buddy) living there. I began college when we got back from the honeymoon. We received a stipend of $105.00 per month, $80.00 of which went for room and board. We made do and when Momma needed a winter coat, she worked for a credit company and we bought a good winter coat.

I finished the year of college in May, 1949 and Risa was born in June, 1949. Jobs were scarce and I took a job with Wearever Pots and Pans selling door-to-door. It did not work out. We looked and looked, talked and talked. We finally came up with the idea of a grocery store. I knew how to cut meat from working in supermarkets before I went into the Army and had a degree in business. We enlisted the four parents and finally found a suitable store for sale at 238 South Stricker Street with living quarters behind and above the store. My parents loaned us $5,000.00 and by late August, we were budding grocery magnates and Kenmar Food Market was born. We moved on September 12, 1949. We took Risa’s carriage, her necessities and blankets for us. The first night, we slept on the blankets on the floor. The next day, I went out and bought a spring and mattress. To store clothes and other possessions, we used orange crates. Momma was 22 years old, I was 24. We had a kitchen behind the store and four rooms on the second floor. The front room was a cavernous room which we used to hang clothes to dry. There were no Pampers so we washed Risa’s diapers and hung them to dry in the second floor front room. The first thing we bought was a front loading Bendix washer. It had a round glass door and we parked Risa in front. She watched the clothes go round and round and was fascinated. We had no refrigerator so we kept the perishables in the refrigerated display cases in the store. In May, 1950, we received a life insurance dividend check, enough to buy an Admiral refrigerator to use in the kitchen. Eureka, what luxury!! My parents contributed the unused, hideous green kitchen set from their basement. We began our family life.

Education

Jews are known as “People of the Book,” loosely translated as favoring study and education. And William Golberg was fully a Jew in this respect. Although his formal education consisted of night school to learn to read, write and speak English upon his arrival in the United States in 1914, he was determined to insure that his children were educated. This meant a college education for the boys and a high school education for the girls as was the custom in those days.

The language spoken at home was Yiddish; Russian among the adults when they did not want the children to know what was being said. When Kenneth was enrolled in kindergarten in 1930 at Arlington Elementary School #234 at Rogers and Magnolia Avenue, he could not speak English, only Yiddish. By the time he reached the first grade in 1931, he was fluent in English. He was a bright child and during his enrollment in elementary school, was advanced a half grade. He completed elementary school in February, 1937. He was sent to Junior High School #49 where the seventh, eighth and ninth grades were completed in two years. School #49 was located in a row building on Cathedral Street across from what is now the Meyerholl. It was probably and individual home. It consisted of a building of classrooms and an administrative office, a large cemented courtyard behind the school and a small gymnasium at the rear, fronting on Maryland Avenue. Other that the accelerated pace, Kenneth can remember that Latin was taught. He had no problem; learning came easy to him.

Kenneth wanted to go to City College where all the Jewish boys went. William insisted that he attend Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (Poly) and William was correct. Poly’s reputation was such that graduates of Poly’s A course were admitted to the second year of college. Kenneth was admitted to the B course because it was required that a student begin the A course in the ninth grade and Kenneth began Poly in the tenth grade having completed the ninth grade at School #49. Poly was located on North Avenue at Calvert Street. Kenneth was not quite fourteen years old when he began Poly in February, 1939, immature and small for a high school student. That and being Jewish, a very small group at Poly, made social action with other students non-existent. Kenneth graduated in February, 1942, not quite seventeen years old. As usual, everything came easily to him; there was no problem getting excellent grades. Poly was basically a school which prepared students for an engineering degree offering such subjects and steam, electricity, chemistry and calculus. William had made a good choice.

However, William’s choice of college was not a good one. William believed that a profession was the best choice for a career; medicine, dentistry, law or pharmacy. Pharmacy was the only one which did not require an advanced degree; so pharmacy was it!

Kenneth spent the period between February, 1942 and September, 1942 working full time as a meat cutter in a supermarket and saved enough to pay all expenses at the University of Maryland, School of Pharmacy located at Calvert and Greene Streets. He hated it! It was boring. He had studied all the required courses at Poly except Zoology. He was required to take Algebra, having taken, Geometry, Solid Geometry and Calculus at Poly. He joined a Jewish Pharmaceutical fraternity, Phi Alpha.

World War II was raging and Kenneth received notice that he was to be inducted in the Armed Forces shortly after he completed the first year of Pharmacy School in May, 1943. In July, 1943 he was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia for basic training. After basic training. He was assigned to the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) and sent to the University of Maine in December, 1943. (The ASTP was held in disdain by those enrolled in it. We sang, “Your son wants to fight for his country but first he must get his degree. So take down that service flag, mother, your son’s in the ASTP.”) Plans were being made for invasion of Europe and infantry soldiers were needed. The ASTP was disbanded and everyone was sent to Fort Jackson to be trained for the invasion in February, 1944. While on maneuvers in Tennessee shortly thereafter, Kenneth was injured severely enough to be given a medical discharge in August, 1945.

Among the benefits offered honorably discharged veterans by the G.I. Bill was a four year expense paid college education with a $90.00 per month stipend. William wanted Kenneth to return to Pharmacy school but with maturity and financial independence due to the G.I. Bill, Kenneth rebelled and enrolled at the Johns Hopkins University in September, 1945 majoring in Economics. A student was permitted to take as many credits as he wished; Kenneth graduated in February, 1948 with a Bachelors degree in Business. He could not join a fraternity at Johns Hopkins because the belonged to a fraternity at Pharmacy School and his fraternity did not have a chapter at Johns Hopkins. But he was welcome at the fraternity houses of Alpha Epsilon Phi and Phi Delta, the two Jewish fraternities at Johns Hopkins. It was at the AEPi house that he met his bashert, Marcie Hoffman.

Kenneth worked with the Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. The hours were long because he commuted to work, by street car, train and bus. This was unsatisfactory in that he and Marcie became engaged in March, 1948. He had terminated this employment when they were married September 12, 1948. He had one additional year left under the G.I. Bill and when a suitable employment opportunity did not arise he went back to Johns Hopkins for a Masters degree in Marketing. The monthly government stipend was $105.00 monthly for married couples and Kenneth and Marcie managed.

At this point, Kenneth’s education was interrupted by the obligations imposed by a growing family. In 1965, Risa, the oldest child was sixteen and Amy, the youngest, was seven. Kenmar Food Market was well established and prospered. Kenneth took a job with the State of Maryland, Department of Labor and Industry. In November, 1965. By January, 1969 he was Chief, Employment Standards Service with a staff of thirty-five. Among his duties was the interpretation of the laws administered by the Service. His knowledge of law was non-existent. Marcie suggested that he enroll in law school and take a few courses to acquaint himself with enough law to adequately perform is duties. He enrolled at the University of Baltimore, School of Law in September, 1969 and took several courses at night. One course led to another and by 1975, he had amassed eighty credits, enough to graduate. In 1976, he took the Bar Exam and was sworn in as a member of the Maryland State Bar that year. His formal education was complete.

Subsequently, Kenneth continued his education at the School of Hard Knocks, whose colors are, not surprisingly, black and blue.