Blanche Seigal Glovsky

Blanche Seigal Glovsky, 92
     PORTLAND -- Blanche Seigal Glovsky passed away early Sunday morning, March 12, 2006 at the age of 92.
     She was the daughter of the late Abraham Seigal, a founding member of early Portland Jewry. Born in 1914 in the Ukraine, and raised in L'uboml, Blanche spent her early childhood years in that turbulent area. Motherless at the age of 7 in 1921, she went to live with a maternal uncle and aunt and her five cousins until 1928, when she immigrated to the U.S. to join her father, older sister, Dora, and her paternal family who had preceded her in Portland.
     She lived in Portland for the next 51 years, marrying David Glovsky, best known for his part-time activity as Dave the Guesser at Old Orchard Beach's Palace Playland. In 1979, she and Dave moved to Miami Beach, Fla., but returned to Old Orchard each summer. In 1992, they moved to San Diego, Calif., to live closer to their daughter and grandchildren.
     Her loving husband Dave, predeceased her in October of 1977 after 66 years of marriage, and during the same month, she lost her only sister, Dora.
     Blanche came to Maine in 1914, knowing no English, and speaking only Ukrainian and Yiddish, but in two short years of night school, mastered the English language and slowly adapted to American ways, never losing her deep religious faith nor her hard-learned customs. She used to tell about her surprise at seeing a banana and a tomato for the first time at the age of 14, on the steamer trip across the Atlantic. She told many stories of how as a child, she and her family would have to hide from the ethnic cleansing pogroms of the Bolshevik Revolution.
     After marrying, she was active in a number of organizations in Portland's Jewish community. She was a life member of Misrachi Women, Hadassah, and the original Sisterhood of Anshe S'Faard Synagogue on Cumberland Avenue, and was also active in the Jewish Community Center and The Portland Hebrew School.
     To her final days, she maintained her dry wit and her remarkable sense of humor. Bluma, as she liked to be called, was popular wherever she went and was held in high esteem by all who knew her. Forever optimistic, she would always see the brighter side of any situation, and was a constant inspiration to her friends and family. Exceptionally kind and loving, she was more than a devoted parent. She was an extraordinary mother and grandmother, and will be deeply missed.
     Blanche is survived by her daughter, Adeline Glovsky Hale (Arthur); her son Joel Glovsky (Jeane); four grandsons; and three great-grandchildren.