Nature AND Nurture: Frank Stein's The Union

First of all, a shout out to my first cousin Moose Alperin, who managed to dig this photo out of the archives. It’s an article about our maternal grandfather, Frank Stein and the dry-goods store he ran in Americus, Georgia. “Frank Stein’s The Union.” There’s a mystery embedded here: How do we account for one of only five Jewish families living in the deep South of Americus, Georgia at the height of the Jim Crow era (population 20,000) deciding to call its store “The Union.” No one in our family knows. The mystery deepens, when you consider the nature of our grandparents: kind, polite, respectful, gentle, non-confrontational, in short, the reverse of the type of person I would imagine would name its store “The Union” in the heart of the Confederacy.

I have a theory, of course. It has to do with the element of nurturing that seem to have run through my family for generations. Frank Stein’s The Union was all about inclusion, catering to a broad spectrum of the community. They sold working clothes to the local farming community. And also go-to-church Sunday outfits, mostly to the black community. Then there’s Moose’s mom, my Aunt Ann, who devoted much of her career to bringing art into the public schools of Atlanta. Or Moose’s dad, Herb, a beloved pediatrician in an era where medicine is viewed more as a paycheck. Or Moose, herself, a public health expert at Emory. And then “my” side of the family. My fraternal grandmother, who ran a corner grocer store in Savannah, Georgia and provided desperately needed credit to everyone in the community during the Depression. And her son, my dad Norton, who was boycotted for his unwavering promotion of racial justice. And my mom, Betty, who campaigned assiduously to stock our grocery store with healthy foodstuffs. All nurturers, every one of them. Some gentle, some tough, all caring in their own ways for the better health of their communities. Something worth celebrating this July 4th weekend.

What does all this have to do with my food business , operating halfway around the world? Something to ponder.