Rose Baker Story

While in Florida this past March, my wife Judy visited with her late mother’s close friend, Rose Baker, who turned 100 in February.  Judy grew up in West Orange where Rose and her family had also lived. Judy’s Mom was born and raised in Bayonne where she met Rose. Judy had always assumed that Rose’s childhood was also spent in Bayonne. It turns out that assumption was wrong. Judy learned from Rose that her first 16 years were spent in Paterson.   Given my connection to the JHSNJ and Paterson, Judy listened to Rose fondly reminiscing about her early years. Judy also arranged for Rose’s son Michael and daughter-in-law, Jane, to interview and record her Paterson memories. The following are some of those memories.
 
        Rose Lake was born on February 15, 1919 at home at the corner of Main and Grand Streets. The family surname had been changed from Lefkowitz to Lake. She also recalls that the surname of her cousins Eli and Arthur had also been changed from Lefkowitz to Lawrence. She and her older brother Seymour lived with their parents Harry and Minnie above their family’s infants and children’s clothing store. Her mother Minnie’s maiden name was Minnie Morris.
 
       As the family business improved, it moved to a bigger location on Main Street, close to Meyer Brothers and Quackenbush’s. Their three story store employed up to 16 people and was called Lake’s Baby Shop. It was known for its sign in the shape of a stork with a diapered baby in its mouth. The family also moved “uptown” near the corner of East 36th Street and 19th Avenue so that after kindergarten at P.S.3, Rose completed grade school at P.S.20.  
 
      The Great Depression of 1929 resulted in bankruptcy and the closing of the Main Street store. Rose recalls that their next store was located at Broadway and Church Street where it sold women’s clothing. At age 14 Rose was attending Eastside High School and working in the store after school and on weekends. Some of her friends, including her close friend Ruthie Raskin, also worked in the store. They often went to eat at Grinker’s, an “elegant luncheonette” near the Fabian Theater.   Later on Ruthie married Harold Moskowitz.  
      
       Some of her Paterson memories include walking to the dedication of the new Temple Emanuel at age 7 in a new dress bought for the occasion. She also recalled that her brother Seymour was the first Saturday morning Bar Mitzvah at the new synagogue. Rose said that Rabbi Reuben Kaufman of Temple Emanuel taught her Hebrew and Sunday School classes, officiated at her mother’s funeral, and years later, at Michael and Jane’s wedding.  She also fondly remembered Mr. Nussbaum, “the best looking Hebrew School teacher,” who was also an attorney. She also remembered being impressed that her family had their own sanctuary seats that they had purchased. At her 1932 confirmation ceremony (see photo below, Rose is in the back row far right), Rose recalled delivering her speech smoothly until she forgot a line when she made eye contact with her parents in the audience.   
 
      Rose then went on to remember other girlfriends including Evelyn Abrash, who became her cousin when she married Arthur Lawrence. Other friends included Minerva Birnbaum, Ethel Susskind, redheaded twins Zelda and Ruth Scotnick (Ruth married Seymour Schnitlick), Essie Stein and Marjorie Levine (her father was editor of the Paterson Evening News). 
 
       When she was 16, Rose “hated leaving Paterson” for Bayonne where her father opened a new store. She decided that she was not going to start a new school and instead went to work in the store. It was at that time that she met and became life-long friends with Judy’s mom Toby.  Once Rose got her driver’s license, she would often visit her Paterson friends especially Ruthie Moskowitz. For a short time she dated a son of the Lobell Family that owned a Paterson lock shop. Her brother then introduced her to a Paterson pharmacist named Alexander (Ellie) Baker.  Ellie worked in and lived behind Williams Pharmacy at the corner of Broadway and Carroll Street. They dated, married, and eventually settled in West Orange where they raised their two children Michael and Karen. Their long time family business was Stanton Drugs on Main Street in Little Falls. Ellie was a 1930 graduate of Eastside High School. He passed away a number of years ago and is buried in the family plot in the Verein Cemetery on McBride Avenue in West Paterson/Woodland Park.  
 
        Rose loved living in Paterson and being a part of its vibrant Jewish community. She is thrilled to be able to share these memories with the members of the JHSNJ.