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Southwest Jewish History |
Volume3, Number 1, Fall 1994
"This Land, These Voices"
Abe & Mildred Chanin: Their
Storyby Alice Amado
Abraham and Mildred Chanin
This article is entitled with the same heading of Abe and Mildred Chanin's self-published book of Arizonan oral histories collection. What a better way to express the Chanins' contribution to "This Land," our vast, beautiful Southwest and "These Voices," their contact with the people of the Southwest. They have had contact with many people of diverse racial and religious backgrounds while conducting their research for their books but also during their teaching careers.
Over the years, many articles have been written about the Chanins and their work at the Bloom Southwest Jewish Archives, I would like to reminisce about them on a more personal note. My daughter, Melissa, met Abe in 1989 and found him to be a very likable, down to earth person who offered advise and encouragement on her Masters' thesis. Shortly thereafter, we attended a lecture given by Abe on Arizonan Jewish pioneers at the Arizona Historical Society in Tucson. Abe is a charismatic speaker as he brings to life the historic characters during his talks. He captivated the audience with his sense of humor and wit. After the lecture, Melissa introduced my husband and I to Abe and his charming wife, Mildred. That was the beginning of a friendship that led to Abe calling me "Mamacita," which means "little mother" in Spanish -- although he said my height had nothing to do with it!
During our first meeting with the Chanins we mentioned meeting two gentlemen with the last name of Amado during a trip to Los Angeles. One individual we met is Richard Amado, who is a Sephardic Jew. Although our familial connection, if any, is not clear, we found his family origins to be from the same location in Spain as our own ancestors. The other individual we met was Paul Amado, who was originally from the small Arizona town of Patagonia. During the 1920s, Paul's father worked on a ranch owned by Albert Steinfeld, owner of Steinfeld's Department store. Paul Amado had told us a very touching story about Mr. Steinfeld providing shoes each Christmas to local needy children. Each year he would advertise the big event in the local Spanish newspaper, El Tucsonense. Of course, Abe still being the "Newshound," was very interested when he heard about it. The English language newspapers never carried those stories.
A few years later we discovered that Albert Steinfeld had sold five lots to Vicente Ferrer, who was Ismaela Ferrer Amado's father for $50.00. Needless to say, this was back in October 1910, but what a great land deal! Ismaela was Melissa's paternal great- grandmother. This area became part of the "Amado Block" where the now restored house belonging to Ismaela Amado is located. This is the same house that is located almost across the street from the Stone Avenue Temple.
Over the years, our family was fortunate to have known Abe and Mildred on a close almost familial level. Abe was born in New York City and his family moved to Tucson in the 1929 due to his father's health condition. Abe and Mildred, who was born in Ohio, both grew up in Tucson and claim to be "native Tucsonans." As Abe likes to tell everyone, "Yo soy puro Hispano," which translates to "I am pure Hispanic (at heart)." During Abe's Tucson childhood, he visited many Hispanic homes where he acquired a taste for good Mexican food.
Many times we would have dinner with the Chanins and spend hours listening to Abe and my husband, Gene, talk about many people or familiar places from days long past. In spite of the age by between my husband and Abe there was no generation gap. For example, Abe and Gene both recalled selling Christmas trees in the local farmers' market during the month of December. Abe still loves to brag that he could sell anyone a Christmas tree!
Recently, Abe was trying to locate the family of Charlie Moreno, the first Kosher butcher in Tucson. My husband knew where the Moreno family still lived and was able to acquire a photograph of Mr. Moreno from his daughter. Abe will be featuring Charlie Moreno and his store in his upcoming book, "Cheese Blintzes and Chorizo." (The Bloom Archives has available the photograph of Mr. Moreno and some of his family information).
The catchy title of Abe's new book always causes many chuckles from people because chorizo is a spicy Mexican sausage, usually made from pork. Although, Abe has stated to my daughter that his chorizo is always beef! Another of Abe's favorite Mexican food is green corn tamales. For those of you who are not familiar with Mexican food, tamales are made from a ground white corn mixture with cheese and green chili that are wrapped in a corn husk and then steamed cooked. By the same token I have learned a little about Jewish cooking from Mildred, who shared some delicious recipes with me.
The Archival collection, started by Abe and Mildred Chanin, is the product of many years of work, dedication and a committment to preserve Jewish life in the Southwest. Anyone who has visited the Archives has seen the impressive collections of Jewish history. Although Abe has retired, he will always continue to be a big part of Tucson's community and history. Melissa was fortunate to have had the privilege of working with him. She has a "tough act to follow," but then again, she had the best teacher.
