MARILYN GOLDBERG –
TEACHER AND WORLD TRAVELER
WHERE DID YOU GROW UP?
I have had an interesting and varied life. I
grew up on the Lower East Side. My father
had a shoe store on Orchard Street and we
lived around the corner on Allen in a renovated
apartment. That meant we had hot water,
heat and a bathroom. We had an ice box, no
telephone because there was one in the store
and we were there often. We enjoyed great
camaraderie among the storekeepers. When I
was little and tended to wander away to neighboring
stores they always brought me back.
My older sister and I went to PS 91. When she
graduated as valedictorian, she gave a speech. My
parents asked my teacher permission for me to
attend. When I went downstairs to the auditorium,
a mean teacher would not let me enter. I was
heartbroken and never forgot that. I do believe it
affected the way I approached children when I
became a teacher myself many years later.
DID YOU HAVE A CAREER?
In 1941 we moved to a light, airy, new apartment
in Rego Park, Queens. It was so different
there from the Lower East Side. Here everyone
spoke English. It was a wonderful move for
me. I met my lifelong girlfriend. The city was
so accessible and we took advantage of many
attractions. I went to Forest Hills HS and
Queens College where I majored in Education.
When I graduated, I got a job in the Village
School in Roslyn where I had student taught.
I had pupils from the lavish estates as well as
from apartments over the stores in the village.
It was a terrific experience for me. I bought a
car and was the first one in my family to learn
to drive and own a car.
I began dating Lee (Irwin) Goldberg. My
sister introduced us. It was a successful introduction
because we were married within the
year. Our first apartment was in Astoria where
Lee had grown up. He was very creative and
artistic and had a clever sense of humor. It was
a good marriage, always.
When I became pregnant, we bought a house
in Baldwin. That was a good move. I began
substitute teaching that led to a permanent
second grade position at the Lenox School.
The school was like a family. There was a close
relationship between the faculty and families. I
stayed in touch with many of the parents as the
children grew. One of them, Jasmin Moghbeli,
is now a NASA astronaut training to fly to the
moon in 2023. Amazing! We are still in touch
by email.
In 1983, Lee died suddenly. That was a horror.
Both children were home having graduated
from college and were working. Teaching was
a lifesaver for me because your attention has
to be totally involved when you are working
with little ones. Ellen was engaged and was
married six months later. She and Len now live
in Livingston, NJ, and have two children. My
son, Steven, bought a house in Freeport and
later married Patricia. They have a son.
I was fortunate to have good, supportive
married friends and a group of single friends
who were goers and doers.
WHAT WAS RETIREMENT LIKE?
When I decided to retire nine years later,
people asked me what my plans were. “I’ll flow
with it,” I said. I knew I wanted to take an exotic
trip and planned one with a friend. My close
childhood friend went to the theater just then
and unexpectedly met a friend of hers from
Brooklyn, Irving Shapiro, who I did not know.
He was retired and had been widowed for two
years. He said he was ready to date and wanted
to go to the Galapagos. My friend smiled and
wrote my name and phone number on a scrap
of paper. “Marilyn just booked an Elderhostel
trip there.” Irving called me and that was the
beginning of a wonderful new life.
We traveled the world together and blended
our two families. I now have 8 grandchildren
instead of three and we were both at the birth of
five of them. We hosted big family gatherings for
the holidays, out-of-towners would sleep over,
and in the morning we would take the children
to Coney Island to feed the pigeons. Somehow,
Irv always had a gigantic bag of popcorn in the
trunk of his car. To this day the grandchildren
remember those gatherings fondly.
We drove all over the United States and
Canada. We visited China, Turkey, went through
the Panama Canal, and to a dozen European
countries. We rafted down the Grand Canyon. In
China, early in the morning, we were invited into
a school where three little girls sang “Twinkle,
Twinkle Little Star” to us in English. Adorable!
In Konya, Turkey, a young girl stopped us in the
street to practice her English and then invited
us to her home for tea. There we met her very
gracious and hospitable family. We visited Israel
twice and also Petra, Jordan.
Our last trips were closer to home, enjoying
boat and river cruises. On our very last trip, Irv
developed a leg infection and had to be hospitalized
in Maine. He seemed to recover but did
not feel well after we got home. He died in NYU
Hospital days later.
He was Mr. Brooklyn. He knew every nook
and cranny and was a true historian of the borough.
I learned to love it as much as he did. He
told everyone that he came from the 51st state.
That always caused great confusion.
In 2014, I moved to NST. The friends I made
here seemed as if I had known them all my
life. I am so thankful. Much time is spent in
the Women’s Club and on the Cultural Events
Committee. Before the pandemic, I enjoyed
taking part in the many programs and amenities
NST offered.
Who could have imagined that a little girl from
the Lower East side could have had such an
interesting, loving, rich life traveling the world
and now is living in a luxury complex in her
senior years?
So many residents at NST who came from
Baldwin remember, quite fondly, their child’s
second grade teacher, Marilyn Goldberg, who
taught there for 25 years. One of her students
is scheduled to go to the moon in 2023 as a
NASA astronaut. When not in the classroom,
Marilyn indulged her passion for travel and
visited six continents. Her retirement years at
NST are filled with service on the Women’s
Club and the Cultural Events Committee.
Marilyn Goldberg
Marilyn's 8th grade graduation photo
4 NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER ¢ February 2021