Joyce and I went to Prague nine times. More on this later.
In 1970, our family moved from New Haven to Great Neck to be closer to several South African friends whom we knew well. Some of them became surrogate family.
We had lived in Great Neck a few months when Jack was summoned to South Africa as his Mom was not well. One day, I was invited to meet a small gathering of neighbors. It was there that I met Seymour and Joyce. We chatted endlessly and at the end of the evening exchanged telephone numbers.
When Jack returned from South Africa we all became great friends. We discovered that we shared many interests – music, art, theatre, sports, books and just lots sof fun. Seymour encouraged Jack to collaborate in writing two science books for children. One on the heart and the other on the lungs.
At about this time, both Joyce and I were becoming restless and looking to see whether we could start a business. She was already interested in becoming a travel agent. She suggested we do a group trip for doctors and that was our first business venture. We led a small group to the Bahamas, made no money but enjoyed working together. However, I did not have the temperament for catering to people’s demands. Joyce flourished as a travel agent and remained one for the rest of her life. She traveled the world.
I decided to go into commerce with another friend and did so for twenty years.
We all remained good friends but saw less of each other due to running our respective businesses. Joyce was doing a wonderful job guiding groups of professionals all over the world. Of course, she was also our travel agent.
One year she came back raving about the Czech Republic and suggested that Jack and I go to Prague on our next trip. It sounded wonderful and it was more than that. We loved it!.
In 1995 I had been ill and retired from my business. Joyce suggested that she and I go to Prague and so we did. I was introduced to the Czech Republic. Joyce was an excellent guide and teacher and I guess I was a quick study! That is when she and I started going to Prague regularly. We also started a venture buying and selling glass sculpture.
We were very successful buying but not so great at selling. We could somehow not divest ourselves of our purchases because they had become part of our own collections! So that ended our second business venture.
We traveled many times to Europe. We made many friends, especially glass artists. Joyce had become very close to Jiri Harcuba, a professor and glass artist. It was their friendship that took me along this wonderful path.
Our friendship lasted for 38 years. When our children were younger we would have birthday parties for our dogs. Joyce, of course, loved dogs (and cats). We would invite other friends with dogs to celebrate our dog parties! Hysterical laughter would echo through the house!
We enjoyed so many things together. However, we also had our differences. Sometimes things got very heated as Joyce discussed everything with passion. Whether it was animals, glass, books, the Arts, tennis, the Knicks – even arguing about the comparative merits of stars like Duke Snyder and Willie May – you name it!
Her final illness came like a bolt from the blue. Due to medical reasons I was unable to visit her in early August for 2 weeks. By the time I was able to visit her, she was not in a fit state to have visitors.
We miss our friend terribly. She was one-of-a-kind.
Our love goes out to Seymour and all the family.
Vilma, Jack and family.
