Himan Pelofsky

My parents, Sol and Mary Spiegel were married at 4036 Brooklyn also. One reason he was known as Little Grampa was because my father's father, Charles Spiegel, was close to 6 feet tall. So he was big grandpa.

As Wendy states he was always my Little Grampa - he used to give me silver dollars, and sit me on his lap and call me his little TierKite (apologize for the spelling) - I know it was something wonderful, but I have no idea what it meant. When I was was young, I even had a chance to go on his rounds delivering newspapers in KC

I remember him as, "little grampa." My daughter Katherine Hannah is named after him..I am named for his wife, Wendy Flora! Like said in another post, I remember him kissing me by holding my face and kissing me on the forehead. Isn't it interesting that it is the little things we remember! :)

Uncle Himan was sweet, kind, and had the most wonderful smile and twinkling eyes. I loved the way his mustache felt on my forehead when he would hold my face and give me a kiss. His home at 4036 Brooklyn was also where my grandma and grandpa, Sigmond Kritzler and Celia Pelofsky Kritzler were married. Uncle Himan was Grandma's big brother.

Himan was a cute little man. My favorite description of him was said by one of his customers after his funeral. "He was the man who always had a smile." Himan and Flora were first cousins. When Flora was a baby, Himan would wheel her in her baby carriage. When he came to America, he was about 18 years old. Flora was 8. According to his WWI draft registration, he had dark brown hair and brown eyes and was short. When I was little I want to be as tall as Grandma. Didn't take too long for me to realize that 4'10" wasn't very tall. Grandpa wasn't much taller at 5'. Grandpa owned a dry goods store in Kansas City. My mother, Mary Pelofsky, used to help in the store. When the debts became too much, he closed the store, but promised to pay back all his creditors. The job that I remember was he delivered "The Kansas City Star". I loved to go on the route with him. His hours were very strange. He got up at 12:00 am and delivered the newspapers to various corners where delivery boys would hand deliver them to customers. He would get home around 5:00 am and have a cup of tea. Even if I didn't go on the evening route, I would be up early to have tea with him. Then he would go to sleep for a while. When he got up there would be phone calls from customers who didn't receive their papers. I also loved to help him count the money. He would sit at the dining room table and put the coins in piles. Then we would roll them up in paper. All the quarters together, etc. I assume the rolls equaled a certain amount. When he kissed me, it was always on the forehead. He would take my face in his hands when he did it.