Linda Wolf

       Like so many others, I met Dick while a student, first in New Haven and then fortuitously  I followed him and Sherry to Boston.  They taught me what an observant Jewish home felt and looked like,  and how to go about establishing one of my own.   But more than simple mechanics, they taught by example, showing  us students what life with a  busy family of independent children and two energetic, strong adults was like.   Challenging.

       Then, as my life moved on in different directions,  I moved to New York for  medical training, and then to Northern California to begin my own family.   Again quite by quirks of fate and Silicon Valley, Alisa moved into the same community with Harold and their three children.  Our sons met at Solomon Schechter School, and my contact with Dick and Sherry was reestablished.  This time, however, there was a twist.  Dick had problems with his sinuses and an allergic-type cough that were stumping all the best minds at Harvard Health.  Suddenly, on my office e-mail appeared a long description of Dick's various symptoms and attempts at treatment.  It took me a while to realize that he was asking my advice!  I felt completely overwhelmed by the task, and probably wrote back some doctorese drivel that had no real meaning in English, but sounded reassuring.  How could my maven defer to my knowledge???  Fortunately, the Boston doctors did come up with a list of medicaltions that helped him feel better and cough less.  I last spoke to Dick when he was visitng the Goldbergs for Shavuot this year.  He laughingly explained that the best thing that happened as a result of his bicycle accident and resulting surgery for multiple facial fractures was elimination of his post nasal drip!

      Another pleasure that I was able to share was watching Dick  with his grandchildren.   Quietly, with obvious pride and some mystification, he seemed content to sit on the sidelines and watch his daughter competently arrange her own Jewish home.  He seemed quite happy to take a back seat after so many years in the center of all the action.  May his memory continue to be a blessing to all who knew and loved him.