- Ottawa Jewish Archives
- Ottawa Jewish Historical Society fonds
- Interview with Ruth Polowin
Interview with Ruth Polowin
Description only — contact the archiveO0045
- Held by
- Ottawa Jewish Archives via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)
- Dates
- December 7, 2000 (indexed as 2000)
- Level
- item
- Scope & content
- Duration: 37:45 Ruth discusses where her family originated: her mother was from England and her father was born in Drummondville, Quebec. Her mother arrived in Canada when she was a baby and settled in Montreal. Her mother was born in 1927, and came to Canada c. 1928/29. She spent her childhood in Montreal and had 2 brothers and 2 sisters, and her father. Her mother had died when she was very young, so her father raised them, but it was very hard so he put his children in an orphanage, until the age of 16 or so. Ruth’s mother worked for different families doing housework, before working in department stores in Montreal. On her mother’s side, Ruth has some cousins: 1 cousin living in Hudson, Quebec, 1 cousin in Vancouver, 1 in Guelph, Ontario. Ruth is in touch with them. Ruth’s mother was born a christian, but converted to Judiasim when she married Ruth’s father in Montreal before Ruth was born. On her father’s side, her father was born in Drummondville, Quebec before his family moved to Winnipeg and he had several sisters and brothers. Ruth’s father was the first of his siblings who came to Montreal. His father had several businesses, and Ruth’s father at age 17 moved to Montreal to run a general store. Her father was also a musician who played the banjo and because of his interest in music, he neglected his business and it failed. Ruth’s parents met at a dance hall where Ruth’s father was playing in the orchestra. They got married by a Justice of the Peace, then her grandfather in Winnipeg died, and her paternal grandmother asked Ruth’s dad to come home to help. Before they could do that, her mother had to convert. Ruth was born in Winnipeg in 1930. The 1930s were a terrible time, and Ruth’s grandfather lost all his businesses, and died from a heart attack. [time discrepancies] In 1933 Ruth and her parents moved back to Montreal and gradually her father sent for his siblings to come to Montreal. Ruth’s paternal grandparents came from Romania. In Ottawa, Ruth and her family lived at 257 York St in a very small apartment. As her aunts and uncles arrived they all lived together. Ruth’s dad worked for the Rocks, the department store on Rideau. He was the manager of the shoe department. Ruth went to York St School. Ruth and her parents moved to Ottawa because her father’s cousins, Mr. Vineberg owned the Rocks department store and offered her father a job. Ruth recalls being friends with Mary Steinberg, E[?] Cardish, Freida Polowin, Charlotte Markovich, the Sloans, the Baylins, the Zelikovitz’s, the Shores. Recalls skating and other outdoor activities, and confrontations between Jewish boys and gentile boys. Mary Steinberg’s father had a truck, and in the summer he would drive people to Britannia park to swim and relax, and meet others. Ruth went to Murray St shul and belonged to Young Judaea. She didn’t belong to AZA but she went to most of the dances at King St Shul in the basement. The stores in those days were little corner stores, or if you walked up Rideau St there were other department stores. Ruth worked at Freeman’s in the shoe department and she also worked at Kreski’s[?] in Rideau. She also babysat to make money. When Ruth was 13, her brother Alan Soloman was born and her mother went to work after Alan was born, so Ruth used to come home from school and watch him. Ruth was involved in York St School, she was involved in plays and the choir. She went to the highschool of commerce after and she was very involved on the student council and other fundraising activities. She was also a tap dancer for many years and enjoyed being on the stage. During the war, Ruth’s father was not in the armed forces but her uncles and cousins were, and went overseas. Her uncle Gus was wounded but healed. All her family who served overseas came back safely. One of her cousins married a war bride from Scotland and brought her back to Canada. Ruth was in the Jewish brownies and Jewish girl guides, and would meet at the York St shul. Helen Z[?] and Ethel Lakim were leaders. Ruth also went to camp B’nai B’rith in Dunrobin. Ruth only went once because she didn’t like the outdoor living and her parents took her home early. Ruth recalls rations during the war, and how difficult it was to get certain items. In 1948, Ruth met Norman Polowin on a blind date through his cousin. The Polowins lived on Camrbidge St in the high class area, and Norman showed up for the date in a fur coat with his father’s car. Norm worked nights at the Russel Lunch, and he didn’t finish school at Glebe collegiate. Ruth recalls how they did their courtship over the phone and saw each other once a week They got married June 4th, 1950 at Agudath Israel by Rabbi Lipshitz and Rabbi Facman [?]. Ruth worked for a year after finishing school at R&A Cohen. After she got married she didn’t work because she had married into a wealthy family. They lived at 66 Marlborough with Norms parents. From there they moved to 31 Desjardins ave, which was an apartment complex that Norm’s parents owned. They lived there for 4 years. Their first son Gary was born when they were living on Desjardins ave, and lived there until he was about 5 years old. Ruth recalls how they occasionally borrowed her father in law’s car, but often just took the street car. Norm worked nights and most weekends In the summer they would go to Lake le peche, and Rockcliffe park. Audio skips From Desjardin they moved to Rex Ave, when Gary was 5 years old. The rest of their children were born on Rex Ave, and they lived there 41 years. They have 5 children: Gary, Mark, Lisa, Ross, Wendy. They are all married and have their own children. Ruth has 15 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. They just had a bar mitzvah for their grandson Micah, Gary’s son. After Norm got out of Russell lunch, he was in the insurance business before working with a travel agency and his hours became more regular so they could do things as a family. They did a lot of traveling when Norm worked for the travel agency, and one year they won a trip around the world. They chose to go to London, England then to Bombay, then to Singapore, then to Hong Kong, then to San Francisco before returning home. Ruth volunteers at the general hospital in the Cancer/Chemo department, and she also works at the Queensway hospital in the diagnostic department. Audio ends
- Location
- rue York · street · confidence 50% · street · found as “York St”
- rue Murray · street · confidence 50% · street · found as “Murray St”
- rue King · street · confidence 50% · street · found as “King St”
Where
More details
- Genre / form
- sound recording
- Format
- Audio
- Harvested
- 2026-10-17T20:12:50Z · source datestamp n/a · cjhn