I was born in Bristol, England on June 14, 1902 (although mother did not register the birth in time to avoid a penalty so registered the birth as July 18th, 1902.) My father was Isaac Goldberg (later changed to Gilbert) born 1865 in Kovna, Gaburnia (Russia). He had deserted from the Tsar's army in 1881 and crossed the border, eventually ending up in Leeds. He died in San Francisco in 1928 of unknown causes. My mother was Leonora Crown Goldberg born in Leeds 1868 and died in San Francisco in 1943. My maternal grandparents were Mandel (Marcus) Crown and Rose Lipman Crown, born in Germany. My paternal grandfather was Elijah Goldberg, born and died in Russia, I have no record of his wife. I never saw any of my grandparents.
I do not remember too much about Bristol. We lived at two locations, No. 1 Canton Street and No. 12 Armada Place, One of these locations must have been located near the waterfront, as I recall going to the loading docks quite often and helping ourselves to a dried fruit called Locust from the trucks there. At one time Mother and Dad managed a social club and also opened up a candy store. I do recall however, that mother had a very good friend, Mrs. Leach, whose son Archie used to play with us. He later became known as Cary Grant of movie fame.
The family which eventually consisted of Mother, Dad and eight children (Gertrude, Maurice, Harry, Marcus, sidney, me, Cyril and Herman) moved to Manchester about 1910. I recall our arrival in Manchester when Dad left the horse-drawn cab and stopped to pick up the key to the house that he had rented on a previous visit. He returned very upset because the landlord had changed his mind. He had not realized we were Jewish and did not rent to Jews. I guess that is the reason the family made up their minds to go to the United States as soon as possible.
Early years in Manchester
We rented a big house at No. 59 Bignor Street. It was in a middle class neighborhood about three miles from downtown. The houses were brick and attached together for the entire block. As coal was used for heating we had a shute from the front to the basement for the coal vendor to dump a load when ordered. There were no telephones in the block. When on rare occasions we needed to use one, Dr. Voss, a dentist a few blocks away, was kind enough to let us use his. The house had no electricity but did have gas supplied by the city which was used to light our rooms by means of Wellsback Mantels, a web-like material shaped like an electric globe. In order to heat water, we had to keep a coal fire burning continuously in the fireplace which heated the pipes behind it. To take our weekly bath, we had to light the gas jets under the bathtub which was filled with water and wait till it heated. The lavatory was outside and one of my frequent jobs was to cut small squares of newspaper to hang on a nail inside the outhouse.
When we arrived in Manchester, Father had a job lined up as Foreman in the operating end of Cohn and Wilkes, a clothing plant. Their principle product was Cravanete Top Coats. I believe he remained with them until he left England.
Mother had her hands full taking care of a family of ten, so it is not surprising that we were always scraping the barrel to make ends meet. I did my share, my first job as a youngster was to walk about two miles to a dairy farm and assist the driver of a horse drawn milk wagon on his rounds delivering milk to households. Most of the customers were waiting at the front door with a jug which I would take to the wagon and fill with the quantity ordered and take it back to the customer. The driver kept track of the amount so that it could be billed later. The wagon had a low slung flat body with six thirty-gallon cans filled with milk. No covers, no pasturization, but people survived.
Another job I had was lather boy in a barber shop. The barbers in those days would only do the shaving, so it was up to me to keep lathering until the barber was ready to shave. Every little helped in keeping the family budget balanced.
School days
I went to St Johns Public School which went as far as the ninth grade which I finished a the age of 11. The law required that I stay in school until 12, so I was stuck assisting the teacher in his chores. My final school class consisted of 20 pupils (13 boys and 7 girls). The teacher was Mr. Marshal, who was strict when necessary and did not hesitate to use the bamboo cane on uncooperative pupils. He was however great with others. He was caught up in the war in 1914 and was killed in action. I still have one class photograph.
Going to work
Mother managed to get special permission for me to leave before the end of the term so I went into the business world at the age of eleven and a half. My father wanted me to become an apprentice in the tailoring business, but I had the nerve to refuse and got away with it.
To appease my dad, my first job was with a retail tailor, a one man business. My duties were to watch the store when the boss was out and make the patterns based on customers' measurements to send to the operating tailor. I did not like the work so changed my employment to work for Joseph Dabah Co., a wholesaler and exporter of cloth materials. I stayed with them until I left the country in 1920. Because I dealt with many Arab customers, I can still count in Arabic.
Life at Home
We really had no social life at home. Our living room was not used except for company, and that was visits from relatives mostly. I do not recall any of my older brothers having fir] friends, but my sister would often have dates with men. Our summer holidays were taken up mostly by family picnics on weekends. Individually I would visit my cousins in Leeds for a week or two, and they would visit us periodically. I had a few friends, most of them migrated to other parts when they left school. I did keep in touch with Ellis Glass and family in Cape Town until he died in about 1970.
I remember that Gertrude worked for a furrier and Maurice sold silk scarves and handkerchiefs from open market stalls in Northern England. I sometimes went with him for the day. Harry worked for the BSA bicycle Company with headquarters in Birmingham. Jack (Marcus) toured the country with a theatrical group.
Life at home was pleasant but somewhat restricted. Dad insisted that we all practice Orthodox Judaism which meant that we perform a ritualistic prayer each morning before breakfast. No matter what conditions prevailed we must be home before sunset each Friday night, then after dinner we all walked in a group to the synagogue for the evening services and repeated the same on Saturday morning. In addition to going to Sunday School, which required a bodyguard to protect us from the gangs that used to torment us en route, I also took private instructions at home from a Hebrew teacher each day after school.
One vivid memory was Mother working in the kitchen all day Friday baking a week's supply of bread including the Challa for Friday night's dinner. Except for Dad who was very strict and stern, we all got along very well together. I don't remember any sibling conflicts.
Mother was a very kindly person whose entire life was dedicated to the welfare of her children. She offset the strictness of our father in many ways, she was always busy cooking, cleaning house, and many other chores. Of course, we all pitched in and helped with specific duties assigned to each one of us. My particular chore was to scour the front steps.
Getting to America
Our desire to go to the United States was in the minds of our family for a long time. Mother had five sisters: Annie, Sarah, Betsie, Rebecca and Esther and two brothers: Abraham and Mark. Sarah, Rebecca, Esther, Abraham and Mark migrated to the United States at the turn of the century, all ending up in the San Francisco Bay Area. (Betsie went off to Perth, Australia where she married and had two sons Maurice and Joseph Rosenthal. We have not been able to trace them there-) Annie stayed in England and married Eli Markinson. Her grandson Harold Markinson still lives in Leeds with wife Ruth.
The First World War started in 1914. The only ones eligible for the draft were Harry and Marcus (known as Jack). They decided they were not going to sign up for Army service, so they sailed for New York on freighters as stowaways. Later Maurice who was too old for the draft joined them in a legal manner. The three were employed by the Mineola, Long Island shipyards which were under contract to Britain. This was a 10% over cost deal so they never were assigned any duties during their employment. After the war, they received a thank you note from the Royal Family for their war efforts!
After a few years on the east coast, they moved to San Francisco to join our relatives who were living in that area (Mother's sisters and brothers). When the United States joined the war, Harry joined the U.S. Army and was stationed in the state of Washington for the duration as a medical assistant. When he received his honorable discharge at the end of the war, he automatically became a legal citizen of the United States. Jack went to Mexico and got a visa to enter the United States legally this time.
In the meantime, back in England, we had been trying to obtain visas from the U.S. Consul to enable the rest of the family to join them in San Francisco. But owing to the quota limitations, we were unsuccessful. However through the effort of Congressman Cahn we were finally cleared.
My sister Gertrude and I sailed from Southampton on September 1, 1920 aboard the S.S. Olympic (70,000 tons). I had a job in New York at a branch of the people I was working for in Manchester, and Gertie was to continue on to San Francisco. I did not like New York, however, so I went along with her to San Francisco. My three brothers were living in a second floor apartment at the corner of Haight and Masonic Streets with enough room for two more. Before the end of the year we had accumulated enough money between us to send for the rest of the family. We rented a four story house at 68 Castro Street, large enough to accommodate a family of 10, and prepared for the family arrival. I loved the USA and from the start had no regrets about leaving England. We had no serious contact with anti-Semitism here which was quite a change.
Mother, Dad, sidney, Cyril and Herman arrived in San Francisco early in 1921 so the whole family was again complete.
This was the house on Castro Street, as it looks now:
Father never did get used to living away from his friends in England. To keep him occupied, we set him up in business with a small Tobacco and News store on Haight Street. Mother was very happy here. She delighted in seeing the family grow by marriage and children, and kept in close touch with us all, visiting us quite frequently. My sister and all the brothers except sidney, who remained a bachelor, married locally and raised families in the area.
After a short rest following my arrival, I started looking for work. I left applications at various companies and took a temporary job at Pacific Telephone. While working there I received a phone call from R.H. Benedict, an officer at the Western Meat Co. offering me a job on a permanent basis at $23.00 per week, which was a fairly good salary at that time. Eleven months later I was appointed office manager of the San Francisco Office.
On May 10th, 1928 1 became a Mason, a long time ambition, joining Fidelity Lodge #120 in San Francisco. This was a large lodge (600 members then). I became Master of the Lodge in 1954 for one year, a highlight in my life. I would attribute my association with that organization to influencing my personality and life style for the rest of my life. In 1930 1 became a member of the Scottish Rite, but though I paid my dues for sixty years, did not get a great deal of satisfaction out of that organization.
Marriage and children
On October 18, 1931, 1 married Lydia Shatz. Soon after, because of the depression that hit the country at that time, I was transferred to the Sacramento Office. On October 25, 1934 our first child Donald Irwin was born in the Sutter Hospital, Sacramento. Unfortunately he was born with a defective throat that made it difficult for him to breathe. He passed away a few months after birth, which of course was a blessing, as there was no hope for a cure. He is buried at Salem Cemetery in San Francisco.
When economic conditions in the country improved in 1935, I was transferred back to the San Francisco Office as Office Manager.
On November 21, 1936, Donna Lee Gilbert was born at Mount Zion Hospital, San Francisco, by Caesarean operation. Her mother, however, developed perotonitis and died on December 4, 1936. Soon afterwards Donna and I moved in with my brother Maurice and his wife Beaty (Lydia's sister) and their two children (Bruce and Marjorie). We lived with them until 1939.
In 1939 1 was offered the job of district auditor out of Little Rock, Arkansas. I turned down the offer mainly because I had become interested in my next door neighbor Ruth DeLue. We were married on September 10, 1939, and after a short stay in a rented apartment, we built a new home at 1426 35th Avenue in San Francisco's Sunset District. On May 17, 1943 Ruth presented us with our second daughter, Joyce Adele.
By this time, Western Meat had been absorbed by the parent company Swift and Co. I continued my employment with Swift for a total of 47 years, until my compulsory retirement at age 65 in 1967. At that time I was the Pacific Coast District Office Manager.
Needless to say, after working without a break all my life I did not enjoy retirement. I played golf, traveled, did some part time accounting but not enough to keep me active. In early 1972 1 got a call from O'Neill Printy, a former associate at Swift, asking if I would care to keep the books for a new company he was about to form as a franchisee of Sizzler Restaurants I jumped at the chance, and became an officer and partner and did my share in helping the corporation grow from a one unit start to its present size of ten restaurants.
In the intervening years, our two daughters grew up, married and had families of their own.
After the girls were married, we moved to an apartment in Daly City. Fourteen years later, we moved to a condominium at 380 Vallejo Drive, Millbrae.
Addendum:
Among his many good works, Reuben was recognized for organizing a project which provided transportation and medical treatment for Yun Kyong Eun, an 18 year old Korean schoolgirl who was flown to San Francisco for eye surgery in 1984 in order to prevent her from going blind.
He retired from active participation in Sizzler Santa Clara Inc. on July 1, 1991.
He and Ruth were happily married for over 62 years. They celebrated their 50th and 60th wedding anniversaries with about 100 family and friends. The last big event was Reuben's 100th birthday party, on June 14, 2002 where he amazed guests by standing and speaking and generally remaining energetic the whole night.
They have traveled extensively by land, sea and air. In 1994 they moved to The Forum At Rancho San Antonio, Cupertino where they continued to lead an active social life. Only two weeks before his death, Reuben was occupied at one of his favorite pastimes, a poker game.
His demise on May 19, 2003 was quiet and painless. The last of his generation of Gilberts, he will be missed by many, but first and foremost by his loving wife Ruth, who sat by his side daily and was holding his hand at the end.
