Man of few words, but they counted
Samuel Chafetz at age 28 in 1953, holding his daughter Gerilynn. This photo was taken in the Bronx. Credit: Handout
My father was a taciturn man. He almost never spoke to me, and when he did, it was in slow, deliberate sentences.
When I was 23, I had a graduate degree, but couldn't find a job in my field, so it was time to look for one in the city, but I was ignorant and fearful about traveling on the subway. Dad, an electrical engineer, came home the next day with a map of the subway system. But instead of teaching me how to get from here to there, he began to explain the history of the subway system. I cringed and steeled myself for a lengthy lecture. Within minutes, however, the tangle of lines with letters and numbers made sense. I felt confident and no longer afraid.
What he taught me that day was more than the subway system. It was that being thorough and attending to detail was the best way to teach, learn and understand anything — especially when it involved navigating life and the world.
-- Gerilynn Green, Plainview
