Ruth and Joseph Kahn

Joe was my oldest brother. He was a quiet, serious fellow. As children he was not that close to David and me because of the age difference. He was very close to my older sibling Ruthie, they were sixteen months apart. It wasn't until we were young adults that Ii realized how fond of his family he really was. My mother used say that we were "four of us against the world". He was very handsome - black hair, blue eyes and had no trouble finding girls. He was once voted "Greek God of South Shore" He and his friends did very funny amusing things like breaking into the stables at South Shore Country Club, riding the horses out the front gates and down 71st street. South Shore is a lakefront neighborhood on Chicago's south side just south of Hyde Park. All of us stayed there until we reached adulthood. Joe was a troubled adolescent who was always looking for his mother. He found her after nine years had gone by at 63rd and Stoney Island. When we reconnected, it was unreal. I had already mourned her when I was six or seven so it was hard to recognize her as our mother. He got into trouble with the law and spent some time at "Sheridan" near Utica , Illinois which was kind of a prison for boys who committed some serious crime - I don't remember what he did, but it wasn't that bad. He Married Suzanne Angelis around 1965 and moved to California where he lived for about 15 years. He came back to Chicago around 1979 after he and Suzanne were divorced. Joe would bring their son to Chicago in the summer. Suzanne remarried and moved to North Carolina, divorced and also moved back to Illinois. Their son, Joey stayed in North Carolina and later joined the Air Force.. When Joe came back, our family was complete!. Together again, we had the time of our lives. Tramping in the woods, starved Rock, Apple Picking, snowball fights. When the Ortiz Family- some from California piled into Ruthie's house, Joe's son was included in all the mayhem. He was a father figure to Gregory and an Uncle to my kids.

Joe was a quiet, serious boy. He was very close to Ruthie as a child but not so much with David and me. It wasn't until we were young adults that I found that he had a great fondness for his family and that included the nieces and nephew.