An Immigrant Story

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“My father's name was Morris Margol. Originally, Margolis, but once he was in the United States, he opened a small clothing store, and he was advised to drop the I S, which he did. He originally came from a village in Lithuania, Pushalot, Lithuania. Before that, he went to London to live with his sister and brother. Came to the U.S., ended up in Jacksonville, Florida. My mother came to the U.S. as an infant, also from Lithuania, but a different town. She ended up with her family in Baltimore, Maryland. She ended up in Jacksonville, Florida, and they got married.” 

“First of all, I had an older brother, almost exactly three years older. I also had an identical twin brother, Howard. And younger sister, Bernice Wolf, living in Tampa, Florida.” 

“I remember every year on my brother and my birthday, it’s February 22nd, we used to have a parade in downtown Jacksonville honoring George Washington. Because once we were old enough, we thought it was a parade in our honor, since it was our birthday as well… Every year on our birthday, our mother would remind us we were born on George Washington’s birthday, and we could never tell a lie. So, throughout our lives, we tried honoring her request.”