Shattered Dreams Vs. Her Will

This is a memoir written by Michael Marmer about growing up with his family in in the 1960's and 70's in Wheaton, Maryland.

Ruth Luberoff and Emil Marmer grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Emil served in World War Two as a war photographer in Italy. Ruth would lose her brother Harry due to the war.

Ruth contracted polio in high school. She survived, but it shortened one of her legs. Ruth was a classmate with Maurice Sendak, who went on to have a successful career in writing children's books. He did a drawing for Ruth's entry in their high school literary book.

After the war, Ruth and Emil met. Emil's sister Rita was dating a guy, Mel Feller, who lived in the same apartment building as Ruth. Ruth had a crush on Mel. Rita knew of Ruth then and hooked up Ruth and Emil for a date. The date was at Nathan's Hot Dogs at Coney Island where you could buy a 5-cent hot dog.

Ruth and Emil married, moved to the Washington, D.C. area and had 3 children. Emil opened a camera shop in Silver Spring, MD.

Then a new concept in shopping opened five miles away, a shopping mall. That caused the camera shop to close. Emil got a job in commissioned sales with Bankers Life Insurance. He either did very well (each March) or very poorly (the rest of the year). Financial issues followed. Ruth went to work to help make ends meet.

Soon the verbal and physical fighting over money started. Things got broken and Mike fixed what he could.

Ruth almost died in a fight. Mike broke it up and called 911. Later, Mike would be thrown out of the house by Emil.

Mike was a quiet shy person, and afraid of people, especially women. Mike overcame this in time as he met the lady of his dreams while on a sales call in food distribution.

Ruth would leave Emil and then come back to him. Finally, Ruth had enough of Emil at their daughter's wedding. She left him that night to bunk on a couch at the newlyweds' home.

Ruth met a man where she worked, Lt. Colonel William McReynolds, or just Bill. Bill would treat Ruth like a queen.

Ruth had many health issues during her life. Tragically, bone cancer took her away from the ones she loved.

Bill married Ruth as she was fading away. She is buried with Bill at the U.S. Naval Academy, forever.

Years later, Mike contacted Maurice Sendak. He sent Mike a professional copy of Ruth's story and his drawing from their high school literary book.

When Maurice passed away, Mike sent Ruth's story and Maurice's drawing to Brooklyn newspaper. They published it and it was picked up by the New York Times.

Mike went on to do some research about Ruth's brother Harry and the crash. Mike uncovered a lot about the plane that cost many lives to be taken away. Years later, Ruth was once so distressed about the death of her brother that she carved a message to him on a piece of furniture.

Emil probably had bipolar disorder and Ruth probably had post-traumatic stress disorder. Both needed professional help, but very little of that existed at the time.

As a family, they did have some good times, a full week vacation was Fenwick Island, Delaware and a long weekend in the Williamsburg, Virginia area. The kids also took trips to Brooklyn to visit their grandparents and to go to the New York World's Fair, an unforgettable experience.

Due in part to his traumatic childhood, Mike had his own personal problems but managed to overcome them. He had a successful career and has been happily married for nearly 44 years. His purpose in writing this book was to encourage others who may be going through similar tough times. It is possible to move on. It's hard work but it can be done.