Celia Siegel

SIEGEL, Celia (Silverman) Born: Aug 12, 1913 in Sedzhisov, a shetle in the foothills of the Carpathian Mtns. in SE Poland. Died: July 21, 2009 in Los Angeles. Celia's father, Jacob, was a tinsmith and a roofer and her mother, Sheindle, had 6 surviving children, 2 more were lost to cholera and one to a childhood accident, she choked on a coin. Jacob was deployed during the First World War building troop accommodations for the Austrian/Hungarian army of the Emperor, Franz Joseph. After the War Jacob took his oldest son and immigrated to New York where they labored for 8 years to earn passage for the remaining family. Celia, her mother and sisters arrived at Ellis Island on the Ile de France in 1927. They lived in Brooklyn. Celia graduated from New Utrecht High School and desired college, but her parents saw no value in education for girls. So she worked in a medical supply company in the Chelsea district of NYC where she met and married Solomon Siegel in 1944. It was a set up. Her parents despaired of their unwed daughter and contacted a shadkin, a marriage broker, and Solomon was the discovery. He was 4F because of a childhood injury that crushed an ankle and making a good living during the War booking bets and hustling Maidenform Bras, the company gave him a Cadillac. They moved to a one room apt in Bensonhurst that cost them a $1000 bribe, such was war time housing. It was worth it because Solomon had moved in with Celia's family and that started another front in World War II. Howard was born in 1945 and Gail in 1947. The Siegel's bought their own 4 plex for $9,000 in 1949 and moved to Boro Park where David arrived in 1950. They were good years. So good Solomon and Celia decided in 1953 to move to their dreamland, California, where Celia's sisters, Jennie and Frida, already lived in Los Angeles. Solomon lost everything and struggled. Celia went to work for Jim Clinton (The Man Who Suits America Best) at the main office on LaCienaga and Airdrome for a dollar an hour in 1955. She didn't stop working for the next 25 years, predominately for the Prudential Insurance Company on Wilshire next to Ohrbach's. Celia never complained and raved about the free lunches. Solomon made a comeback but it was never like New York. The family moved to Formosa Ave and Beverly Blvd in 1962, the house cost $27,000. Solomon died in 1984 but Celia thrived as her family grew and she counted each a blessing. It was there she lived for 47 years while commuting to Victoria to visit her sons, where she took buses until she was 90, where she took desserts at Pagliacci's in the late afternoons and where she owned a condo in the Orchard House. It was there on Formosa Ave where she chose to finish when her limitless self reliance finally gave out. Besides her children, David and his wife Jane, Howie and his wife Janet, and Gail, there are many grandchildren and step-grandchildren including Solomon, Rose, Mollie and Harry, Amy and Ryan, Jason and Shelby. Celia leaves the world a diminished place. She was a loving woman who embraced the world, embraced her husband and loved her children unconditionally. The funeral is on Sunday at 11AM at the Jewish Cemetery here in Victoria. 552568