United at Last: the Berenberg Sisters

By early September, 2005, history will have been made: Naomi Berenberg Leavitt (my Mom) and her little sister Miriam ("Mim") Berenberg Null will be living near each other in Southbury, Connecticut. The recent photo (above) was taken by and emailed to me by Mim.

As I understand it, the sisters were separated first when my mother went off to college at NJC (New Jersey College for Women). After Mom lived in Brooklyn, then Albuquerque with my dad and me, and later my sister Nancy, they were reunited briefly in Brooklyn in the late 1940's when we all lived briefly with David and Rose Berenberg. No long afterwards, Mom moved to Philipsburg, NJ with Dad and the two kids, and Mim married Mike and ended up in Long Island.

Mom moved to Southbury from Bethlehem, PA after Dad died, and Nancy and Bernie moved to nearby Torrington. Now, at the end of August, Mim will be moving to Southbury too.

And just where is Southbury, you might well ask? For you satellite photo buffs out there, here's the answer. That long island in the photo south of Connecticut is, well, Long Island.—JDL