Now let me tell you about my brother Butch.  I am 2 years and 9 months younger than Butch (Larry) although he always told everyone I was his "older sister"

Growing up we spent a lot of time together.  He watched over me whether I wanted him to or not.  Saturday afternoons he would take me to the movies.  Buy me popcorn sit me in a front seat and tell me he would kill me if I moved.  Then he would go with his friends and pick me up at the end of the movie.

We played street games with the kids in the neighborhood all the time and if anyone said I was too little to play he would beat them up.

I went to all the sports games he played in and after the games he would not let us take a ride home from the neighbors.  We had to walk home (a long distance from our house)  to make us late so he would miss Hebrew School.  Mom always  made him go late.

He tried to teach me to drive a stick shift.  He had the cutest friends.  If any guy called me  he would tell them never to call his sister again and hang up on them.  I am so glad that Jeff didn't listen to him and stayed persistant  When riding in his convertible he would make me sit as far away from him as possible because he wanted to pick up girls.  He wanted me to wear a sign that read    I AM HIS SISTER     

Butch  was my brother, my protector,  and my friend.

Love you Butch  always  and forever 

While I am not alone in the type of relationship that I had with Larry,  I am part of a small group of people that are related to Larry, worked for Larry and have not been fired by Larry.  Well if he did fire me, he never told me.

I was not old enough to drive, but Larry said I was old enough to cook in the kitchen for him.  What seemed like every Saturday and Sunday Larry would come and pick me up, take me to “The Sandwich man”.  I would be in the kitchen for Breakfast and Lunch.  Flipping eggs, pancakes, waffles, making home fries and helping do whatever I could.  YES, I got yelled at often!

By the time the yelling would stop, he would give you a smile to let you know it was OK. (Maybe I only got the smile as a way to let me know not to worry, he would still give me a ride home…. I never did ask him about that).

Lunch was almost always a turkey club with fries.  When Lunch was over, Larry would make some bad joke and tell me to go get ready to “goto work”.   He would then take me to Chumleys and my 2nd job would start.  Sometimes I would be in the kitchen, others standing alone in the space used as the deli during the day shucking oysters and clams.  Weekdays when I did not have school I was in the Deli.  As I got older, the days would start in the deli and end in the kitchen.   It did not matter what part of the restaurant, or the name of the restaurant.  I am sure I got yelled at most days but I never took it personal.  After a few minutes, he would walk by, glance over at me and give me a smile.  He was never mad at me.  He just needed to unwind “Larry’s way”.  I would not trade it for anything… 

In the end, it was all worth it! 

If it was not for my “job” (aka, forced labor J) I would never have had the opportunity to cook next to my cousin Michael.  Both Michael and Larry took the time to teach me what they could about the business and cooking.  Michael taught me more about cooking in a restaurant than anyone else I have known.

The life lessons both Michael and Larry taught while working in the restaurant, I still use today.   Cook with passion, When you cook with nothing, you get food that tastes like nothing and so many others.

Today my job is in computers and when things get crazy, I just stop and think about working for Larry.  If I/we were able to handle all of the tickets in the sandwich man that would come in on a Sunday morning in the blink of an eye, all while Larry is pacing from the “window” to the back of the kitchen yelling at you… then I KNOW I CAN handle anything.  Staying calm helped Larry stay calm.  Today, when work is stressful and it gets crazy, I just think back to Larry.  If I can stay calm with Larry looking over my shoulder, I can stay calm though anything.

I was a young kid when I first started working for Larry.  He took a chance on me in his kitchen and I worked hard to not let him down.  As I got older, when he needed some extra help, he would ask and I happily drive to either restaurant (or both) and do whatever was needed.

Maybe it’s just me, but now and then I do miss it.   Spending the day with my uncle and cooking with my cousin was all worth it.

I did get paid for my work, (But I never did clearly understand what my hourly rate was) I would have done it all for free….Well in exchange for my turkey club for lunch and Chicken teriyaki for dinner.

We each have our own memories of Larry.  He will be forever in our hearts and live on in all of those memories. 

Good Bye Uncle Larry.  You will be missed.

Last picture taken of all of us together

Last Christmas =  Disney Cruise 2013.

We had a great visit last summer with the Rudnicks.  Dad really enjoyed catching up with you all as did us all.  We hope to see you soon for a happy event!!

Larry lived with kidney cancer for many years.He had a wife to take care of and grown children who needed him.Not to mention the grand kids and dog.He went to work every day,even though we moved to Jersey to retire.The Ice Cream Parlor was sold a few weeks ago and Larry was told there was nothing else that could be done for the cancer.Hospice was wonderful but he died peacefully in his bed.It was the way we had wanted it.Larry,you will be missed,but you can finally relax.No getting up early,no more pain,and no fears of what  will happen. Love and miss you 

1st we'll start with the donut shop he had in Westville......He said do you want to work for me on weekends filling the donuts....He would yell every weekend you're putting too much jelly in the donuts they are so full the jelly was coming out.....( I got fired)......then he wanted me to go down to the flea market with him & sell coffee & donuts that lasted about 3 weeks because he said I complained  that it was cold....(I was fired)...Then the restaurant in Wallingford he said I was too slow & always wanted to eat...(fired again). Then there was the Restaurant in West Haven he said I talked too much with the customers, & I wouldn't learn how to use the slicing machine....You got it fired again.......After all said & done never worked for him again & we got along just fine.......Please when I get up there don't have any jobs for me....RIP Cousin.....You will be missed..  Linda

I'm going to miss my grandpa so much. He was such a funny person, especially around the dinner table. He always had some "choice words" that he would use to crack a smile on everyone's face. I think I'm going to miss that the most, the way his laugh was contagious (even though it was usually at my grandmas expense). Grandpa and I, we had a special relationship. Ever since we were both considered sick, we really only had eAchother to vent to. We understood. Most of the time it was a silent understanding, but it was still our silence. I'm also going to miss his random text messages. They were straight to the point but always had "luv g pa" at the end. In my final words about my beloved and missed grandpa, I hope that you have many broken jacket zippers in heaven to remind you of grandma. I hope you have a small doughnut  shop where you're pulling my mom and your sister out of school to work for free. I hope you have a dinner table full of coke and Pepsi and you have joey at the other end cracking jokes with you. I hope there's a little Alex dog that you can sneak treats to. But most of all, I'm glad you won't need me to confess your hidden pains too and your deepest fears because you're out of pain now. I know you're smiling because you are off of this earth where pain is inevitable, you have finally made it to sanctuary. Say hi to Mommom for me. I have holes in my heart because of the love you both took when you left. But I'm slowly realizing that it's ok, because one day we will meet again. Until then, smile down and me, because I'll be looking for you. 

I will miss my dad the most.  Every day he would sneak me treats even though I am a bit chubby.  He would let me outside to bark at all the squirrels and golfers in my backyard.  He even threw my toys for me to play with.  I loved watching TV with him and will be so lonely without him.

-Alex