Thursday, March 31, 2011
In Memoriam : Peggy Keilus, poet of New York City
By M. C. Dobelis
The worshippers on Friday night, March 25, at the Brotherhood Synagogue, who had gathered to honor Peggy Keilus, long- time secretary of the congregation, were shocked to hear that she had passed away, just the night before, a day after her 90th birthday.
Peggy’s connection with Brotherhood Synagogue began in 1988, when she started working as secretary for its founder, Rabbi Irving J. Block. She had been such an established feature at the house of worship, her cheerful cultured voice greeting all callers, that even her illness in the fall of 2010 took people by surprise. "Read your poem in the Times," or "when are you publishing again in the Bulletin," or "how's the book coming," callers would ask. Finding out her age was another shock for the members. In this age of pressures, when people are glad to retire early, just to get off the fast train, finding a person who joyfully works at a job year after year, not showing weariness or age, is a virtual miracle. But for Peggy, who had no local family, the synagogue was an important part of life, as much as her poetry, and there were the pleasures of living in the city, ranging from attending New York's theatres, which she loved, and the excitement of the daily news, especially politics (she was a Stuyvesant Towner), to the satisfactions of problem solving for her friends at her reception desk, up front.
Peggy's life was another New York legend. Born in Portland, Oregon, where members of her family still live, she graduated from Reed College with a degree in English, and, instead of teaching school, decided to join the US Navy, as a WAVES member, during the years of World War II. Her duties brought her to NYC, and she decided to stay, after discharge finding a job with the Pinkerton Detective Agency, where for some 40-odd years she looked after the wellbeing of the sporting people at the city's race tracks. She wrote poetry since early days, and in 1988, when she retired, actually only making a career change, to become the secretary of the very energetic Rabbi Block, her short humorous poems started appearing in the temple’s monthly Bulletin and, on some Mondays, in the Metropolitan Diary of the New York Times.
On October 18, 1999 she wrote about City Dogs:
City dogs /Are so polite/Seldom bite /Laugh at dangers /Sniff at strangers,/ Eat croissants /
Love infants /Marrow bones,/Ice-cream cones /Feathered migrants/ Fire hydrants.
New Yorkers were found not to be as accommodating as their pets, in Peggy’s Announcement, ( 2004)::
"New Yorkers are a fast -paced crowd," the voice intones with cheer,
" Your fellow riders will be pleased if you exit by the rear."
New Yorkers, being what they are, listen, nod and grunt.
And being fast-paced, as they are, they all go out at the front.
Peggy never stopped writing. In March of 2010 she assessed the pros and cons of the U.N.:
Hope is alive /Near the F.D.R. Drive.
Hope for the world /And each demographic, /A boon for mankind, /But awful for traffic.
But not all new events met with her approval. In 2008 she complained to her Dear Diary:
Bars are closed, jewelry stores gone, /Next day they open a nail salon.
Restaurants move, leave empty space,/Pedicure lounges take their place.
Farewell to agents of travel and tours, /There's a line outside for manicures.
Goodbye to the deli, to bakeries we cherish, /Bookstores drop out, it's polish or perish.
City Seasons were a pleasure, some more than others. As Peggy put it:
“The Girls in Their/ Summer Dresses,”
Irwin Shaw said it all.
Reluctantly,/We welcome fall.
For Peggy, the familiar was a reassurance of life’s continuum. She declared:
It's not the Chrysler and not Time Warner.
It's the vegetable stand on Third and the corner.
Makes my heart beat with spring afresh:
The vegetable man's back from Bangladesh.
These selections of Peggy Keilus’s humorous short pieces; slightly horizontally reformatted, were published courtesy on NY Times. The family - Michael Kaufman and Victoria Turner, nephew and niece from Los Angeles - have turned over a package containing a collection of her works to Rabbi Daniel Alder of Brotherhood Synagogue - who also started serving, as a student Rabbi, in 1988 - for possible publication in a book form, of which more anon. A memorial service was held at Brotherhood on Sunday, March 27, led by Rabbi Alder, with congregants and neighborhood friends getting to meet Mr. Kaufman. Members of the gathering also told stories of Peggy’s graciousness and kind deeds, volunteered poetic contributions, cried and laughed and held hands, in a true New York’s tribute to one of its own.
The worshippers on Friday night, March 25, at the Brotherhood Synagogue, who had gathered to honor Peggy Keilus, long- time secretary of the congregation, were shocked to hear that she had passed away, just the night before, a day after her 90th birthday.
Peggy’s connection with Brotherhood Synagogue began in 1988, when she started working as secretary for its founder, Rabbi Irving J. Block. She had been such an established feature at the house of worship, her cheerful cultured voice greeting all callers, that even her illness in the fall of 2010 took people by surprise. "Read your poem in the Times," or "when are you publishing again in the Bulletin," or "how's the book coming," callers would ask. Finding out her age was another shock for the members. In this age of pressures, when people are glad to retire early, just to get off the fast train, finding a person who joyfully works at a job year after year, not showing weariness or age, is a virtual miracle. But for Peggy, who had no local family, the synagogue was an important part of life, as much as her poetry, and there were the pleasures of living in the city, ranging from attending New York's theatres, which she loved, and the excitement of the daily news, especially politics (she was a Stuyvesant Towner), to the satisfactions of problem solving for her friends at her reception desk, up front.
Peggy's life was another New York legend. Born in Portland, Oregon, where members of her family still live, she graduated from Reed College with a degree in English, and, instead of teaching school, decided to join the US Navy, as a WAVES member, during the years of World War II. Her duties brought her to NYC, and she decided to stay, after discharge finding a job with the Pinkerton Detective Agency, where for some 40-odd years she looked after the wellbeing of the sporting people at the city's race tracks. She wrote poetry since early days, and in 1988, when she retired, actually only making a career change, to become the secretary of the very energetic Rabbi Block, her short humorous poems started appearing in the temple’s monthly Bulletin and, on some Mondays, in the Metropolitan Diary of the New York Times.
On October 18, 1999 she wrote about City Dogs:
City dogs /Are so polite/Seldom bite /Laugh at dangers /Sniff at strangers,/ Eat croissants /
Love infants /Marrow bones,/Ice-cream cones /Feathered migrants/ Fire hydrants.
New Yorkers were found not to be as accommodating as their pets, in Peggy’s Announcement, ( 2004)::
"New Yorkers are a fast -paced crowd," the voice intones with cheer,
" Your fellow riders will be pleased if you exit by the rear."
New Yorkers, being what they are, listen, nod and grunt.
And being fast-paced, as they are, they all go out at the front.
Peggy never stopped writing. In March of 2010 she assessed the pros and cons of the U.N.:
Hope is alive /Near the F.D.R. Drive.
Hope for the world /And each demographic, /A boon for mankind, /But awful for traffic.
But not all new events met with her approval. In 2008 she complained to her Dear Diary:
Bars are closed, jewelry stores gone, /Next day they open a nail salon.
Restaurants move, leave empty space,/Pedicure lounges take their place.
Farewell to agents of travel and tours, /There's a line outside for manicures.
Goodbye to the deli, to bakeries we cherish, /Bookstores drop out, it's polish or perish.
City Seasons were a pleasure, some more than others. As Peggy put it:
“The Girls in Their/ Summer Dresses,”
Irwin Shaw said it all.
Reluctantly,/We welcome fall.
For Peggy, the familiar was a reassurance of life’s continuum. She declared:
It's not the Chrysler and not Time Warner.
It's the vegetable stand on Third and the corner.
Makes my heart beat with spring afresh:
The vegetable man's back from Bangladesh.
These selections of Peggy Keilus’s humorous short pieces; slightly horizontally reformatted, were published courtesy on NY Times. The family - Michael Kaufman and Victoria Turner, nephew and niece from Los Angeles - have turned over a package containing a collection of her works to Rabbi Daniel Alder of Brotherhood Synagogue - who also started serving, as a student Rabbi, in 1988 - for possible publication in a book form, of which more anon. A memorial service was held at Brotherhood on Sunday, March 27, led by Rabbi Alder, with congregants and neighborhood friends getting to meet Mr. Kaufman. Members of the gathering also told stories of Peggy’s graciousness and kind deeds, volunteered poetic contributions, cried and laughed and held hands, in a true New York’s tribute to one of its own.
Labels: Peggy Keilus, Philip Rothman, Rabbi Daniel Alder, Rabbi Irving Block
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 6:45 PM 
