In the early years of the twentieth century, Winnipeg welcomed all four of my grandparents, Louis and Sonia Phomin from Russia, and Hyman and Reva Sandler from Libua, Latvia. Here, my grandfather Louis became one of the first teachers at the Talmud Torah, while my grandfather Hyman became one of the founders of the Chesed Shel Emes. Their children, Frank and Goldie, married in 1938. I was born in 1940 and my brother Jerome was born in 1947. My father worked as an electrician and a taxi dispatcher, and my mother ran the Israelite Press office for almost 25 years. In 1962, my father passed away at the age of 50 and my mother remarried and became Goldie Loffman.

I grew up in the North End where, for eight consecutive grades, I was one of only eight students in my Talmud Torah class. I then attended Machray School for grade nine, St. John's for grades ten and eleven, the University of Manitoba and the Manitoba Normal School where I received my teaching certificate. I also earned a sociology degree from the University of Manitoba. In my youth I was involved in many Zionist and Jewish organizations including the Y, BBG, Habonim, SZO and Hillel. As an adult I have continued my community involvement, serving on boards and committees for such organizations as the Chai Folk Ensemble, the Resource Centre, CJA and the Women's Endowment Fund.

In 1961 I married Lyle Smordin and we had three daughters, Jodi, Francyn and Marni. Currently Jodi lives in Winnipeg with her husband Israel Binnun and their two sons Gilad and Oren. Francyn also lives in Winnipeg with her husband Davelyn Delande and their daughter Lily, and Marni lives in Minneapolis with her husband Alex Tselos. They have just had their first child, Zoe.

Professionally, I taught for three years in Transcona and then, following in my grandfather's footsteps, accepted a job at Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate. I have now been teaching there for 36 years, many of those years as a Holocaust Studies teacher. I have immersed myself in that subject as it is a very important topic for us to try to understand. I also worked as an interviewer for the Steven Spielberg Shoah Foundation Oral History Project. Our generation is privileged to be exposed to Holocaust survivors, and it is our responsibility to pass their stories on to the next generation. The strongest impact on Jewish people in this century, in my opinion, is not the state of Israel, although that is very important, but the Holocaust.

I believe that Winnipeg is a great place to be a Jew, and hope that future generations will continue to have an awareness and understanding of what it means to be Jewish. In order for this to happen Jewish education must continue, for if you know who you are, you have a better understanding of others. I also think the Campus is a wonderful facility and believe that it will attract people who want to maintain their ties to the Jewish Community.

Those of us who have been active in the community, and care deeply about it, must realize that if we want the next generation to do likewise, we need to make room for them - bring them on to boards and committees, and allow them to find their own niche.