Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Memories of Michael
From his cousin Judy Ronningen
Seattle, Washington
Many people knew Michael as a private person, someone who preferred to be by himself a lot.
But I knew Michael as my fun cousin from New York, whom I loved to visit when we were in our 20s and 30s. Together we’d ramble all over the city until late at night.
We went to see “Dracula” on Broadway, with sets by Edward Gorey. He took me to the top of the World Trade Center when I didn’t even know what that building was. We went to Ellis Island when the Great Hall was still an empty, abandoned building, and we imagined what it was like for our ancestors from the Ukraine and Poland to climb up the big staircase.
Did you know that one year he ran the New York Marathon? He couldn’t finish, but was proud that he was good enough to participate.
In later years my husband and I would visit, and we’d go with him to the Strand, his favorite bookstore. He loved to read history and was a big fan of World War II-era airplanes. He also talked about being active in his transit workers union.
Over the last few years we spoke infrequently, but would catch up for hours on the phone. He ranted about the “hipsters” taking over Greenpoint. I teased him about not having a computer. We last talked after the election. We strongly disagreed about Trump, but talked for a long time trying to understand each others’ point of view. Late that night, before we said goodbye, we agreed that we would keep talking out our differences during our next phone call.
