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.
An afternoon at Lake Merrit
In July 2003, Stan and Helga came to the East Bay for a golden summer outing.
Demise of the cultured Lewi family
Five siblings who stayed true to German ideals until the bitter end
Ed Eilertsen tribute puzzle
Ed loved crosswords, so Dan Ruby created a tribute puzzle for his memorial. Kate and Twyla were the clue crew.
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
Lest we forget—family Holocaust testimony
Remembering our Ringel and Wohlgemuth/Paechter family members who perished in the Shoah.
Love conquers all as Gerhard marries Ilse
Two young Berliners make a modern marriage—with lasting consequences
Seymour Rabinowitz and Harriet Berkowitz
Seymour, also called Samuel, was partly estranged from the family. He worked as a truant officer in the New York City schools. His daughter Harriet Berkowitz discovered our blog and contributed a trove of precious documents.
Stan at Brant Lake
Stan summered at a Jewish summer camp in the Adirondacks.
The family secret behind grandfather's desk calendar
A surprising artifact discovered after a parent's death leads to a series of discoveries and a new pastime in genealogy
The physics experiment that went wrong
How and why did Stan Ruby's important post-graduate research go wrong, and what impact did it have on his career in physics?
The Rabinowitz girls
Meta, Blossom and Sadie
The Rubys in Israel—1961 sabbatical
Our family’s amazing year of discovery and connection
Turning over rocks to find long-lost relatives
During the course of my genealogy work, I have discovered and connected with cousins from all my family branches. Here are some lessons learned.
Walter's first draft of family history
Cherry picking the best content from our founding document written in 2006: "The Ruby Family Histories — The Early Lives of Stanley and Helga Ruby"
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.