Retta Schachter Fagin

Dear Family
I was fortunate to accompany Jacqueline on some of her regular visits to Retta. Before Covid, this was possibly around 2019. I remember what good company she was, how sharp her mind was . A very great lady ! Love , Aimee

Aunt Retta deserves much of the credit for the connection us cousins have with each other. I am grateful for her efforts (including those wonderful Thanksgiving gatherings), without which we may not have gotten to know each other. She and Ted also traveled to California twice for our family celebrations. Here's a picture of them saying the brachas for the Torah at Amy's bat mitzvah.

I've saved some of her letters, which show much love and thoughtfulness. In 1989, when there was a strong earthquake in the part of California where we lived, she sent a heartfelt note of concern for us and for the extended Barr family. She even included a check to replace some of the dishes we lost in the quake.

In 1994, when we told her we would be moving to Mexico, she sent us a 2,000 peso note she had from her previous travels to Mexico, thinking we could make good use of it. Little did she know that devaluations and the introduction of a new peso currency meant that her 2,000 pesos were worth about 10 cents. But the thought behind the gift was not lost, and to this day we keep the note near our front door in the upturned trunk of a small elephant figurine (the elephant is believed to be a symbol for good fortune and blessings).

Her knowledge and recall of family history was amazing. The last time Chuck and I visited her, in 2021, she told us stories about her parents and mine. And just a few months ago she filled in the missing pieces of the story about when Bill and Ken purchased Wonderland, helping us to figure out that our family purchased the business from the family of one of my new friends here in Nashville. We're talking about a business transaction from the 1950s and Retta remembered what happened!

We were lucky to have her in our family!

Nancy

Thinking of Aunt Retta just makes me smile. She was always so warm and made me feel comfortable around her (even through the awkward teen years). I am so grateful to have known her!

Retta with her siblings in 1984. From left, Jay and Ken Schachter, Florence and Bill Schachter, Retta and Allen Landowne.

Here's the Schachter Family in 1925. From left, William, Jacob, Rose, Retta, and Ken.

Retta was a mother, teacher, friend, advisor, cheerleader, supporter, critic, cook, grandma, great grandma and North Star. I have so many memories of Retta it´s hard to sort them. She was so important in my life for more than 50 years. She welcomed me as a daughter in spite of our very different backgrounds and temperaments. She supported and guided me as a young wife, and eventually as a mother. Retta knew how things should be done, she was confident that she knew the right way, and would gladly instruct you. Mostly that was welcome, and I came to learn that she was most often right.

Retta was perhaps the most organized person I ever met. In her home, if you needed something minor, say a rubber band, somehow the first drawer or cabinet opened would have a small box with rubber bands. It was almost uncanny how logical her mind was.

She was somewhat provincial in spite her of travels, truly believing that classic New Yorker cover that showed Manhattan as the center of the world. Eventually she came to acknowledge that Texas and Houston had something to offer, but usually after the New York Times had featured it. In spite of the difference in backgrounds, our families appreciated each other and joined in supporting and encouraging our marriage and how we raised our children.

Thanksgiving dinners at her home in Heritage Village were legendary-aunts and uncles and cousins and in-laws and more...we´d set tables that stretched from room to room, play music and rhythm instruments and sing, and always forget to serve the peas.

She was generous and supportive to her family. She helped us get through the struggles of being new parents and graduate students even though we did that almost 20 years later than most. She listened and cared and genuinely saw her nieces and nephews and younger friends and was not critical or judgmental about their life choices.

Retta was a strong-willed woman who weathered pain and loss and continued to live with love and kindness. I will miss her.

For our family, Aunt Retta was on a pedestal. She was a role model for us, especially for the women, for she was brilliant and brave as well as creative. We were proud to have an a family member who was a physics major in college, who married three times, who was a talented musician. And she knew everyone in the family well. We all recall her going around the table on her 90th birthday, talking about each relative in our three generations personally. Retta was an icon and will be missed. May you rest in peace, dear Aunt Retta. Here are two photos, one recently with me and the other before the pandemic, with my sister, Aimee.
Jacqueline Sirena Schachter (Haft)

Josh your Mother's life story is amazing.

Seems like a symphony that opens softly with
music played in the air and the notes ringing out from her piano as lifted high through the window. Seems she conducted and shared her music passion and gifts with so many.
Life was the music that danced through her days, nights and all her 105 years.

My love and comfort to You, Betsy, your sons and families. Such a legacy.

My mom was a force of nature. She squeezed all she could out of life and left nothing behind. Energetic, kind, generous, adventurous, a bit judgey, and always supportive. I will miss her a great deal, but am deeply grateful for the years with her given us.