ForeverMissed
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His Life

My Dad

March 22, 2014

            Milton L. Wolfson was born in the Bronx in 1917, attended DeWitt Clinton High School and went on to Columbia University.   He worked for the FBI in the fingerprint division and lived in Washington early in his married life with my mother, Hannah, and then served in the Air Force in WWII.   A position with the Bureau of Mines brought him to Pittsburgh, living in Brentwood then Carrick with sons, Larry and Mark, and somewhere along there, I arrived.  Taking a job with the U.S. Steel Operations Research Center, we moved to Monroeville, where Russell was born and where my older brothers and I graduated from high school.  Dad didn’t care about baseball, but he got us two tickets to the ’60 World Series.  My brothers went, as I chose to have a birthday party instead.  ‘sokay, it was Game Six.  He often entertained visitors from overseas working with the Research Center.  The next year he took me to my first baseball game, really for one of those visitors, who was thrilled by it.  Dad still didn’t care, but Forbes Field changed my life.  He was involved in politics and society early on.  (He often told the story of being called to testify in the McCarthy hearings.  He named no names.)  Once when the council fired the borough manager in what some perceived as a political hatchet job, he and my mother were part of a fiery citizens protest, both getting their photos in the Post Gazette in dramatic fashion.   When he needed help for his myriad endless home improvement projects, he made a point of hiring a needy black man, Jim Lewis, who was a steelworker idled by a labor strike.  Jim sometimes brought his kids to play while they worked.  Because of that, I never learned that there was a difference between whites and blacks or understood then that life was so different for them.  Later, he campaigned for McCarthy, who carried the county, one of the few he won.

            The marriage ended.  My mother wanted her own life and quests, so Dad became a single parent, learning how to cook, making an effort to monitor schoolwork and school events, attending my wrestling matches when he could, sometimes taking off work to do it.  He found new recipes. We took vacations together, the three of us, my Dad, Russell and me. We drove to Florida in 1968 and I watched through the car window as D.C. burned for Dr. King.   He maintained his busy schedule but still did his best to be the parent.  He gave a lot of time and effort for that, and as I was a teen with my own circles, he became closer with Russell than with any of us.  He remarried and moved to Squirrel Hill.  He quickly turned the corner lot the house stood on into a botanical wonder, every square foot filled with plants and flowers of all types. He spent hours tinkering in the yard; it was something to behold in spring.  After his retirement, he sought constantly to broaden his life.  He took classes in stained glass making and Tai Chi.  Taking full advantage of the low tuition for seniors, he took class after class after class at Pitt, in any subject that sounded interesting, from film to philosophy.   We played tennis, a lot of tennis. He still remained involved in politics and social issues.   He called himself a member of the peace movement, but to me it was more the agitation movement, often dropping everything to join in a protest or a labor union demonstration.  He joined in the anti-war protests in Frick Park and spent most of his Saturdays there for years.  He went to plays and concerts, sometimes gaining tickets by serving as an usher.  Like many parents heavily involved in social issues, he spent a lot of time away from his family. But at one point, he brought his sons, the three that were local,together, in an attempt to produce closeness, understanding, some forgiveness maybe.   We met regularly for a number of years.  We, the sons, resisted it all at first, but we eventually gave in and there emerged some understanding.  It went a long way to shape the family dynamic for the rest of his life, the rest of ours, I guess, in a very positive way.  There has never been a time since 1962 that all four of his sons lived in Pittsburgh, but we all got together annually the last several years.  

            Through it all, he played bridge.  Weekly, twice weekly, tournaments, social games, for as long as I can remember.  He attained the rank of Life Master many years ago.  In the end, he spent his free time poring through the piles of junk mail from every social and political organization that could get his name on a mailing list, trying to reach them all, trying to find, or rather not to miss, any worthy causes.  And by the window in his senior apartment in Squirrel Hill, sat a dozen or more potted plants.  He remained in relatively good health even up to the end of his life.  And when his health failed, there was his family, all the sons and grandsons, a couple spouses, his great-grandson, there to lend support.  It had to be a very rewarding time for him.   I believe it was a great help in giving him solace about his contribution.  It was an outpouring of love. That was what he wanted most.  I don’t think he had near enough of it through his life, but it was there when he needed it most.   He was humbled, grateful and, perhaps content.   At peace, I am certain.

 ...these are the thoughts that came to me first...there are many more
                                           --#3 son, David 

 

 

 

Official Obituary

March 20, 2014

Milton L. Wolfson, age 96, passed away on March 13, 2014. Son of Hyman and Fannie Wolfson, He was predeceased by brother Lionel. Survived by sons Lawrence ( Irma ) of Shaler, Mark ( Claudia ) of Murrysville, David (Eri Fujita ) of Los Angeles , Russell ( Elaine ) of Hermitage, grandsons Matt ( Mary ) of Pittsburgh, Brian of Leeper, and great grandson Max of Pittsburgh. He considered himself a pacifist but felt compelled to enlist in the Army Air Corps and served in an  8th Air Force bomber squadron in WWII. Milton was a political and social activist, from protesting Mussolini to grape boycotts to Vietnam to the Iraq war on the corner of Forbes and Braddock. He was an expert bridge player, attaining the rank of Life Master and was still an active player. An avid gardener, his profusion of plants of all shapes and colors across from Taylor Alderdice delighted  many passersby.  He was proud of being the longest-standing member of the First Unitarian Church, where Memorial Services will be held, 605 Morewood Ave, Pittsburgh on Saturday, March 29 at 1 PM. Reception afterwards.  .Donations may be made to the Deafness Research Foundation.