This morning’s
edition of the New York Times had an inspiring story about a woman named Sylvia
Bloom, a Brooklyn native who died in 2016, not
long after retiring from her job as a legal secretary at the age of 96. She had worked there for 67 years.
Born in 1903 to
eastern European immigrants, she attended public schools in Brooklyn, and later
completed a degree at Hunter
College
In 1947, she
joined a newly formed law firm named Cleay, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton. At
the time of her death, the firm had more than 1200 lawyers, and hundreds of
staff members.
Although her
salary as a legal secretary was “adequate” it was not sufficient to support a
lavish life style. When she started with the firm, it was common for legal
secretaries to get involved in the personal finances of her bosses. Whenever
her bosses made investments, she often bought the same stocks, but in smaller
amounts.
Although married,
she and her husband never had children of their own, and they always lived a
modest lifestyle, living in a rent controlled apartment. They almost always took
public transportation.
Her soft spot was
the Henry Street Settlement on the Lower East Side ,
a school for disadvantaged student, which recently became a HUGE beneficiary of
her thrift and financial acumen.
Over the course of
the career with the law firm, Ms. Bloom’s investments did well. She spread the
investments to three brokerage firms and 11 banks. At the time of her death, she
had accrued a fortune of more than $9 million.
Last week, the
terms of her will were made public, and the Henry Street Settlement learned
that she had endowed them with $6.2 million towards their scholarship fund.
If you have read
“The Millionaire Next Door”, you know that there are a LOT of wealthy people
living in our midst, but you would never known that by their lifestyles. The
Times article also mentions Leonard Gigowski, Grace Groner (who I have written
about before) and Donald and Mildred Othmer, all of whom lived modestly , but
managed to amass large fortunes.ttp:
One thing that all
of these people had in common is that they grew up during the Great Depression,
and I have actually benefited personally from people that are similar to them.
My dad was born in
1909 (the golden age of farming) and my mother was born in 1913. Dad’s mother
died when he was 11, leaving his dad alone to raise 7 children. In the summer
of 1929, 56 year old Mark Brennan died of a heart attack, so my 20 year old dad
and his 18 year old brother became heads of the household. Meanwhile, my
mother’s parent’s saved up a modest down payment that allowed them to purchase
a house in Hastings , Minnesota St. Paul
His other unmarried
sister, terrified of running out of money, worked at Smead Manufacturing in Hastings
It’’s not uncommon
to read stories about lottery winners who eventually wind up bankrupt, but THE
most popular image of the value of poverty is a picture that was taken by
Dorothea Lange in 1936. Her picture, titled “migrant mother” (see below)
shocked the nation, and led to immediate government assistance to people much
like her. Her identity was not revealed until nearly 40 years later, when the
world learned that her name was Florence Owens Thompson, a Native American
women who was born in Indian Territory the same year that Sylvia Bloom was born
in Brooklyn . In the year that the picture was
taken, she was on her second marriage, and had given birth to 7 children. By
the time of her death, she had married once again, and had given birth to 3
more children. She was 32 years old when the picture was taken, but looked roughly 20 years older than that.
Later in life, her
10 children bought her a small home in Modesto ,
California
Like Sylvia
Bloom’s story, Florence Thompson’s story also continues a very interesting
twist.
In 1998, the
United States Postal Service issued a stamp with the image of “the migrant
mother” on its face, one of the few times that the Post Office had issued a
stamp honoring someone who had been dead less than 10 years. In the same year that the stamp was issued,
Dorothea Lange’s handwritten notes and signature were sold by Sotheby’s of New York New York
In 1998, the late
Robert Schuller published a book titled “Tough Times Never Last, but Tough
People Do”. That title describes not only Sylvia Bloom and Florence Thompson,
but also millions of other people who struggle with adversity, but still manage
to survive all the setbacks that the world can throw at them.
Keep that in mind
the next time you’re feeling sorry for yourself.
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