October 24, 2024
By John Moskin John and Valerie Watson are a formidable pair. One of eight siblings, John grew up in the Ida B. Wells housing project on the south side of Chicago. His father, a postal service supervisor, often told him, “You have two strikes against you. You’re black, and you’re poor.” Accordingly, John learned early […]
March 14, 2024
Deborah Estreicher has become a familiar face on campus. Apart from an auto malfunction and two days of illness, she has driven here every day from Redwood City, to visit her 97-year-old father, Henry Estreicher. Deborah knows the nursing staff, the activities directors, the social workers, the physical therapists, the kitchen staff, the custodians, and […]
August 30, 2023
Art has always been an important part of Esther Mugar’s life. A native New Yorker, Esther grew up in the Bronx as an only child and remembers how artistically inclined her mother was. “My mother was a housewife because that was how it was back then, but she used to paint whenever she could,” says […]
July 24, 2023
We love when our very own residents fill our hallways with music! Meet Jewish Home resident Dora Balter. Dora emigrated to the United States in 1981 at the age of 61 and continued her life as a pianist in San Francisco’s Richmond district. She played professionally at the former Geary Street restaurant Russian Renaissance and […]
June 24, 2022
When Patti Navarro talks about her life, a word she often uses is proud. As the first transgender resident at the Jewish Home & Rehab Center (JHRC) on the San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living (SFCJL), she was instrumental in making its first PRIDE event happen. Working with staff to organize, she invited some of […]
