Recollections of Zelda and Nat
/By Joyce C.
It all started when an athlete from Ruxton Ave. (Nat), met a model from Broadway Ave. (Zel). They got married and had Peck's Restaurant. There was a whirwind honeymoon in Miami, FL. followed by memorable summers in Camp Tamiment.
Some other facts: Zelda born Febrary 3, 1913; Nat born March 5, 1910 in Baltimore. Zelda went to Eastern HS, Nat to City College HS. Zelda ran track at HS. Zelda- Modeled fur coats and was pictured in ads in local Baltimore papers. Ran restaurant with Nat called Peck's. Moved to Portsmouth in 1948 to 505 Rockbridge Road. Nat worked at Peck Iron and Metal till his death in 1969. Zel - Hadassah, great cake baker, mashong player, cards, liked to dance and play one-arm bandits. Married 1/9/38 and honeymooned in Florida. Many vacations with Hawk and Rose. Many social affairs at Suburban Country Club. Lots of tennis for Dad with Hawk. Nat a great dancer. Trips to The Greenbrier in West Virgina. Visiting days at Camp Wohelo. Barbecue steaks at Uncle Howard's and crabs in the basement at Uncle Edel's. Both volunteered for charitable organizations and were active at Gomley Chesed Synagogue. As kids I will always remember piles of presents at Chanukah time and the zillions of family Bar and Bat Mitzvah and weddings we went to. I have a fond memory of Sylvia and Zelda dancing together.
One antedote is: Zel and Rose (who spoke to each other every day) would usually speak in Yiddush so the children couldn't understand them. So one day they are conversing in Yiddush and Zel says to Rose, "Are your children home?" and Rose says, "no, are your children home?" When they both realized that no one was home, they started talking in English! Rose and Zel would often be mistaken for each other when they walked down the street, especially in Baltimore. Zelda was the only parent not crying at the bus stop when the Camp Wohelo bus took off - Zelda couldn't wait for her vacation. Dad taught us tennis, took us to horseback riding lessons at Virginia Beach and took us bowling on Saturday nights. The owner of the bowling alley thought Zelda was our Mom and Nat was our grandfather!! At Joyce and Ralph's wedding, Nat wanted to dance with a friend of the Coplemans. So he told her husband there was a phone call for him in the lobby of the synangogue and started dancing with her! Rhona Peck lived with us for a while. Uncle Willy's family also lived on Rockbridge Road and they had a vacant field next to their house. We would all play ball there (yes, Ellen and I played football, too, when they were desparate for more people) and it was called Peck's field.
Joyce C.