Rene Lichtman - August 13, 1998
Father
What about your father as a role model?
My father. My father is this incredible, I mean, I know absolutely nothing about my father, absolutely nothing. And there's no one--I'm the last remaining Lichtman. There's no other Lichtmans from--and I've tried to look for them. I can't find any. I even, even went to Chicago for a reunion. And, and uh, it was the Lichtman-Jonas reunion. And uh, and I said, "Do you--can I go there? I'm, I, I, I'm not really," you know and this is the Jonases of Detroit. A lot of Jonases in Detroit. So I went to the Jonas Book Store on Woodward and Ed Jonas and I said, "Do you think, you think it would be all, all right, I'm, I'm just curious. I don't know any Lichtmans." He said, "Oh, okay." And um, so I put an add in the Jewish News, Lichtman-Jonas Reunion, "I'm interested, if you're a Lichtman, can you let me know?" And nobody responded. So I go off to Chicago. And my wife thinks I'm crazy. And I get there and um, sure enough, she says these people are--they're going to make fun of you. They feel sorry for you. They're going to, they're kind of, they're accepting you, but they know you're not one of theirs. And, and um...
What were you looking for?
I was looking for Lichtmans. I have no...
I, I mean, I understand you were looking for people, but, uh...
Like my uh...
© Board of Regents University of Michigan-Dearborn