Family Story Finder
The sweep of family history across the generations
Adventures in Israel—Walter and Joanne
Two of the Ruby offspring went back to Israel for significant periods.
Demise of the cultured Lewi family
Five siblings who stayed true to German ideals until the bitter end
Eilertsens by the lake
Ed was the rector at Saint Martin's By the Lake in Minnetonka Beach, Minn. The family was raised in towns around the lake region west of Minneapolis, including in the church rectory
First grandchild
Twyla Ariel Eilertsen Ruby was born on August 7, 1985
In the Signal Corps in New Guinea
Stan strung transmission wires in the South Pacific during World War II.
Kindergarten campaigner
In 1955, Helga led a committee of parents to open a preschool in Vestal.
Love conquers all as Gerhard marries Ilse
Two young Berliners make a modern marriage—with lasting consequences
Mel Brenner
Mel accomplished many things in life, but his life’s greatest moments happened during the Battle of the Bulge
Ringel vs. Ruby in World War I
Herman Ringel and Walter Ruby wore opposing uniforms in the Great War
Stan at Brant Lake
Stan summered at a Jewish summer camp in the Adirondacks.
Stan finds love outside of a 20-block radius
Home from the war, Stan Ruby was a graduate student in physics at Columbia University. Helga Ringel was a smart, pretty war refugee from Berlin
The Felensteins of Long Island
Joan Ruby married Milton Felenstein. Their life and family in Rockville Centre.
The Rubys in Israel—1961 sabbatical
Our family’s amazing year of discovery and connection
Third Generation Rubys
First came Walter, then Danny and Joanne. They would carry on the Ruby-Ringel genes.
When Ed Eilertsen "crossed the bridge"
In a dramatic moment while crossing the Mississippi River, he broke with his parents' austere Lutheranism for a more ecumenical approach
Ze'ev and Penina Sharon of Kibbutz Afeq
A pioneer to Palestine in 1936, Ze’ev married Penina and they did their part to build the state of Israel as founders of Kibbutz Afek.