My sister Mary, was a noble soul inside and out. I cannot believe she is dead. She will always be in my vision as I see her in every action movement and spirit.

We were always great pals from our very youth due to our closeness in age. We were only 18 months apart. However, she was my leader advisor and consultant. She grew to be very beautiful with a rosy complexion, a head of chestnut brown wavy hair and a mouthful of sparkling teeth. Her delicate features were to resemble an ancient Greek statue and her long delicate fingers were appropriate for a pianist. But she needed to earn a livelihood and under the circumstances we were bound to live with the best thing for her was to learn dressmaking.

I still remember the first dress she made for herself. It was a dark Rust color which reflected in her hazel eyes. She never in her life wore a printed dress. That is how she dressed her children and they still follow her trend to this day.

It is no wonder that her husband fell in love with her at first sight. They met in Boston, where we lived but after they were married they bought a grocery store in the Bronx. It was a very prosperous business due to his skill of candling eggs. People came from blocks away to buy the eggs especially the cracked ones which had some kind of damage.

While the business was that prosperous he bought some expensive

jewelry, diamonds and a $20000 policy in Mary’s name. Mary helped in the store, raised their two daughters, cooked, washed, cleaned and sewed garments for herself, as well as for the children. It is not an easy job but she did it! That’s how it went on for ten years.

But to our great sorrow, at 37 years of age her husband Nathan Ente was afflicted with pneumonia and burned up within four days. He was survived by Mary his wife and their two daughters Minna 9 years of age and Florence 5 years young,

Our brother Chaim happened to live in New York where he was studying accounting during the evening. He stepped into 'the store until it was sold.

After Mary partly recuperated from the sudden tragedy she realized that, with all the provisions Nathan left her, it was no solution to her problem as the money went fast. She rented a three room walk-in apartment and took in dresses to sell. She did the alterations, cooked, washed, cleaned and raised the children with loving care so that they should not feel the impact of their great loss, their loving and handsome father. Florence, the younger one who was very attached to her father, became very nervous emotional and tense. Mary, their loving mother had to tolerate and carry the pain deep in her heart.

However, with all the hard labor she could not make two ends meet and was finally forced to give it up. She went back to her old trade in the garment industry, which gave her the means to put her children through college and art school, she worked till sixty-five years of age, then she joined me in my business establishment. I can't forget how happy she was when I finally decided to sell out and cash in. We settled in an apartment on i2th and Drexel Avenue on Miami Beach, where we lived together for twenty years. She suffered with high blood pressure for years, which gradually damaged her brain.

Eventually it became too much of a burden on my part and finally decided that we both should enter the Miami Jewish home for the aged, where we lived together for several years. Her condition worsened daily and she was taken up to the third floor to get the necessary care. I was granted a room in the pavilion but I visited her daily to keep her company. Many times I found her absorbed in thought and asked her what was on her mind: the answer was "oh many things." It was very likely that she preferred to keep them inside her heart. That is what she took along to her last resort, forever and ever,

That was my sister Mary, the noble soul, inside and out.