Harold Darwin was my grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born in Brooklyn in 1921 to first generation immigrant parents from what is now Belarus. Those who knew him well would say he loved three things more than anything else in the world: his family, Yankees baseball, and being a dentist. Though perhaps not in that order, since family lore claims that he had to do an extra semester of Dentistry school after missing too many classes to go to games. Despite this, he grew to be well respected in his field, and served in the medical core of the Army during WWII. His family was well off in their home country, but they had to leave much of their belongings in Minsk. In the 1950s and 1960s, when Pa (as I used to call him) was practicing dentistry, however, it was common for fillings and crowns to be made out of small amounts of gold. Whenever Pa would replace or remove one of these fillings, he would ask the patient if they wanted to keep the gold. They almost always said no. This is a picture of Pa’s wedding ring, that he made from years of collecting gold fillings from patients. With this ring, I’m reminded of at least two of his favorite things, and the new family heirlooms he created in New York.

– Amanda

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more