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and a wonderful friend.
In 1903, Josef's father, Hikel Dimeretz (in America he was to become Michael Diamond), fled the tyranny of Russia and came to America seeking a better life for his family. In order to make his escape, however, he was forced to strike out alone and had to leave his wife Rifke and their three small children behind, hiding in the basement of a friend's house in a small village near the Russian city of Kiev. The oppression against Jewish people in Russia was so terrifying in those days that it was not safe to go out into the streets at night. There were many indiscriminate killings and beatings, and even the most heinous offenses against Jews were not considered criminal in Russia in those days. Consequently, with little if any prospect for a better future, and facing almost certain conscription into the Russian army, in which case his family would surely suffer even greater adversity, it seemed that his only hope was to flee from Russia. Michael's plan was to earn enough money in the United States so he could purchase passage for his wife and children to join him in the land of the free. Michael was a tall, dark, handsome man, but he had no formal education and he could not speak English. He was a tailor by trade, and upon his arrival in America, he went to Boston where he was able to get a job with a clothing manufacturer. He sent letters to his wife and children regularly, but he was not able to earn enough money to purchase passage to America for his family. Finally, after three years of waiting for a rescue that never came, a courageous and determined Rifke struck out on her own with her three children. They boarded a tramp ship heading for New York. That trip across the ocean was a nightmare with three small children and no food. When Rifke arrived at Ellis Island in New York, she also spoke no English, and she had no money and no way to find or contact her husband. Hikel (as she always called him) had written to say that he had gone to Los Angeles, but that letter had not reached her before she left Russia. Since she had no one in the U.S. to meet her and take responsibility for them, the Ellis Island officials told Rifke that she would have to return to Russia. However, Josef explains that his mother was a very strong willed woman and, he says, "You didn't send my mother anywhere!" In those days, there was great confusion over the many "foreign" sounding and difficult to spell names of so many immigrants from so many different countries. Therefore, upon arriving, it was a common practice for the authorities to arbitrarily give newcomers new names which they could more easily spell and pronounce. Consequently, Hikel Dimeretz became Michael Diamond and Rifke Shiffrin Dimeretz acquired the name Ruby Diamond. After more than a month of searching for Michael, he was finally located in Los Angeles, and so they put Rifke (now Ruby) and her three small children on a train headed west so the family could be reunited. Other passengers on the train gave them oranges and bananas which the children tried to eat without peeling because they had never before seen such fruit. Josef always delights in recalling that his mother must not have been very angry with his father, because he was born the very next year, March 6, 1907, in Los Angeles, California, the fourth of six children of Russian-born parents, and the first of his family to be born in America. In 1909, when Josef was two years old, his father heard about the Alaska-Yukon Fair in Seattle, where it was said all the money was because of the Alaska Gold Rush. So Michael decided that the family should move north where he thought he might have a better opportunity to do something with his life. By that time, Josef's brother Leon had also been born, so there were now five children: Louis, Jennie, Sadie, Joe, and Leon. And so, their family of seven made the trip to Seattle with nothing but determination to make a better life for themselves. A sixth child, Rose, was born in Seattle. Over the ensuing 45-years, Michael Diamond became a prominent figure in the Pacific Northwest garment industry. This was a remarkable achievement; especially considering the fact that he never went to school a day in his life and never learned to read or write very much English. Even so, Michael did build a substantial business which he operated as the clothing designer, cutter, and manager. The business grew to employ 40 people, manufacturing clothing for retail stores throughout the Pacific Northwest, including the major department stores. Michael and Ruby Diamond worked very hard to raise their six children in their new country. Michael made beds for the children by taking doors off their hinges and setting the doors up on sawhorses so they could sleep off the floor on blankets. Josef grew up in the Madrona district, skipped the eighth grade, and entered a new school named East High School. After the first year, a new high school building was about to be constructed and during the summer he got a job tearing down the temporary buildings which had been East High to make room for the new school building. The students voted to name the new school Garfield High and they selected purple and white as the new school colors. Garfield became a prominent school in Seattle and Josef was one of its distinguished graduates, as a member of the first graduating class in 1924. Years later, he was nominated to the Garfield "Hall of Fame" as a "Garfield Golden Grad." After graduation from high school, at the inviolable insistence of his mother (another delightful story all its own, presented in chapter 11 of this book), Josef enrolled at the University of Washington, the first member of his family to enter college. After spending only his first two quarters at the University, Josef's father moved his business to Vancouver, Canada, where he formed a new business partnership. His father and mother and the younger members of the family all moved to Vancouver, and Josef was left behind in Seattle to close out the business which his father had established in the Bay Building on First Avenue and Seneca Street. The family business had grown to employ some fifteen people at this point, and now here was Josef at the ripe old age of 18, given the assignment of closing out the Seattle factory and selling off all of the woolens, machinery, and other equipment. After finishing his assignment, he then moved to Vancouver to rejoin his familiy, and he spent the rest of that year working in his father's new factory in Canada. Josef was put in charge of the fur section where he cut, sewed, and made fur collars and cuffs for cloth coats and suits which were now being manufactured by the new company his father had formed in Vancouver. But his mother was relentless in her determination that her Josef would return to the University. So, after being out of school for a year, she insisted that he return to the University. His course was now set. And he fondly remembers the most indelible lesson which his parents taught him: and work at it hard enough, you will get it."
And sure enough.
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