Shlafmitz Family
As with many immigrants, Jacob Shlafmitz arrived to Canada from Brok Poland several years ahead of his wife and children, sometime before 1918. His wife Adel Dyshka, and their children Shaika, Esther, Sarah and Rosie, joined him in Calgary in 1921, after arriving by ship into Halifax. Jacob worked as a second hand dealer until his retirement in 1933. In 1921 he was fined one dollar by Magistrate Sanders for leaving his goods scattered on the sidewalk, two years later he was again in trouble with the law but this time it was for allowing his chickens “to run at large.” Adel was a homemaker. She died in May 1949 and Jacob passed away a decade later.
Jacob and Adel’s four children (Shaika, Sarah, Esther and Rosie) all made Calgary their home. Shaika, a bachelor, was an active and respected member of the Jewish community. He served as a founding member and executive director of the Shaarey Tzedec Congregation. He was President of the Jewish Literary Society in Calgary from, 1929 to 1931, a founder of the Joint Jewish Administration office and the Sharon Men’s Zionist Club, co-chairman on three community-building campaigns 1944-45 and 1947 and Secretary –Treasurer of the Polish Loan Society. Shaika was honored by the community at a Negev Dinner where the main speaker was E.C. Manning, Premier of Alberta. In addition to his community work, Shaika also was the proprietor of the Western Clothing Company. Shaika died an untimely death in 1964.
Sarah briefly married Haskel Stravitz (later known as Jack Stone) in March 1927. She spent most of her life in Calgary, working as a seamstress. Sarah also spent eight years working in Vancouver. She died in 1991.
Esther (d. 1975) married Peter Bercovice (d. 1979) in March 1922 and they settled in Calgary raising 3 daughters: Rose (Jack) Lister (1925-2025), Fran (Danny) Bloomfield (1923-2017) and Lee/Lena (Joe) Moster (1928-2014). While Rose remained in Calgary her entire life, both Fran followed by Lee moved to Cleveland to start their married lives and raise their families. Fran’s husband was an American serviceman from Cleveland whom she had met while he was stationed in Calgary during the Second World War. Fran and Lee returned to Calgary in the late 1970s, remaining in Calgary until their latter years when they left Calgary to be closer to children.
Rose’s three children, Ardele, Bill (Lil) and Carolyn (Sandy) grew up in Calgary. After graduating high school Ardele moved to Vancouver and then to New York. Bill and Carolyn still live in Calgary. Bill and his wife, Lil, both active volunteers in the Jewish community, raised two children Sheena (Amelia) and Zack (Natalie) in Calgary. Sheena lives in San Francisco and Zack continues to reside in Calgary. Fran’s son, Barry Bloomfield (Sheila) is the only one of Fran’s three children to have lived in Calgary. A well-respected dentist in Calgary, Barry practiced for many years with his wife Sheila as his office manager before retiring to Las Vegas. Their two children, Sherry and Brian were raised in Calgary but left Calgary as young adults. Lee’s daughter Debbie Lazanik lived in Calgary for a few years but later moved to Edmonton where she passed away.
Rosie, the third daughter of Jacob and Adel was born in Brok Poland in 1905. She was 16 years old when she immigrated to Calgary in 1921. Initially she worked with her dad, Jacob, as a second hand dealer. Rosie also worked in a poultry factory where she learned the skill of grading eggs. Using this skill, she rented a stall in the City Hall Market where she sold and graded eggs for local customers and other wholesalers. She also sold butter and cheese that she sourced from local farmers.
Rosie’s future husband, Max Shalfmitz, immigrated to Calgary in 1928. Shortly after his arrival Max and Rosie were married. While watchmaking was the family occupation in Poland, Max worked with Rosie in her stall at the City Hall Market. Rosie was a successful businesswoman and for over a decade she and Max prospered from the business in the City Hall Market. Due to wartime rationing and other factors they left the market in 1942 and purchased a grocery store on 8 St SE (C & C Grocery) where they lived in the apartment above the store until they built a house next door in about 1950.
Max was Rose’s cousin and the only one of his immediate family to come to Calgary from Poland. Max had three brothers: Usher immigrated to Bronx, New York, Abraham went to Brazil and Moshe remained in Poland. He also had a sister Liba Chana who passed away in Poland sometime before 1932.. Max passed away on August 10, 1971, and Rosie died a few months later on June 2, 1972.
Max and Rosie had two children, Harry (Herschel) and Fran (Feigel). Harry was born September 16, 1929 and Fran was born, July 30, 1933. Harry and Fran grew up in Calgary attending Calgary Talmud Torah after their public school classes. After high school graduation, Harry left Calgary to attend Jewish Theological Seminary Teachers College in New York. He was part of a cohort of Calgary Hebrew School students who attended the Teachers College in the United States. Harry graduated from the College on June 3, 1951 with a Bachelor of Religious Studies. That summer, on July 18, 1951, Harry married Edmontonian Janet Estrin, who he had met through Young Judaea. Harry and Janet moved to Vancouver where he started his career in education; first as a teacher and then as an administrator at the Vancouver Talmud Torah. This was followed by a long-term appointment as the Principal of the Beth Israel Synagogue After –School program and then a short time as Principal of the Calgary Jewish Academy. He also served for 31 years as regional director for United Synagogue Youth Pacific Northwest Region. Harry followed up his occupation as an educator with a second career as a Travel Agent, returning to Vancouver to gain experience and then moving back to Calgary to set up a travel agency, Sherman Travel. This was followed by a third career as Executive Director of the Beth Tzedec Synagogue in Calgary from 1988-2002. Upon his return to Calgary in 1979, Harry became active in the Beth Israel Synagogue serving a term as President. He was also a very dedicated member of the Beth Tzedec minyan group. He was an avid sports fan and in the early 80s sponsored a team (Sherman Travel) in the Calgary Jewish Hockey League. Harry changed his last name to Sherman in the early 1950s. Harry passed away in Calgary in December 2017. Harry and Janet’s 3 children are Saundra (Harold Lipton), Barb (Ron Krell) and Gayle (Perry Sheinfeld divorced, Brian Shustack) and all live in Calgary. Saundra serves as the President of the Jewish Historical Society of Southern Alberta, Harold is the co-president of Calgary Chevra Kadisha and Barb and Ron are active in local Holocaust Remembrance organizations. While all Harry and Janet’s seven grandchildren (Michael (Tami) Lipton, Tevie (Alex) Lipton, Debra (Jonathan Besney), Marnie (Frank Eldridge), Lewis (Sam) Krell, Daniel (Chani) Sheinfeld and Rachel Sheinfeld were raised in Calgary, only four of the seven currently live in Calgary along with five of Harry and Janet’s 12 great-grandchildren
Max and Rosie’s daughter, Fran, after completing high school in 1950, moved to Vancouver to attend the University of British Columbia where she graduated with a Bachelor of Home Economics degree in 1953. After graduation Fran completed a dietetic internship at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton. During this year she met Alex Ritch from Edmonton, they married in September 1954 and settled in Edmonton.
Alex and Fran had four children: Adele (Dianne Liscumb), Ron (Cathy Paperny), Joel (Sarah Benedetto) and Lianne (Adam Diamond). Alex passed away from cancer in 1967 and Fran working as a dietician, raised her four children in Edmonton. In 1974 Fran and her younger children spent about a year in Calgary but moved to Vancouver in 1976.
Ron lived in Calgary from 1984 – 2000 working as an engineer specializing in ice loads research during which time he took three icebreaker voyages to the North Pole. His wife Cathy Paperny was born and raised in Calgary. Ron and Cathy live in Vancouver. Adele lives in Vancouver and Joel in Kentfield, California. Lianne lived in Vancouver until she died in 2022. Fran has six grandchildren living in Vancouver, Washington DC and Kentfield, California.
