I am one of only seven remaining grandchildren. A few corrections or comments are added based on Rvika's (Vera's) daughter's memoir (1956). Rivka and Peter (1873-1922, b. Odessa) were married in 1897 in Ekaterinislav. Contrary to what is stated above, it was the Schweitzers who were wealthy and not the Garbovitskys--the reason this is an important distinction is because the couple married inspite of threats of disownment by the Schweitzers. Peter left for Paris to study chemical engineering and then returned two years later and by 1906 the family settled briefly on the Lower east side and then moved to a small farm in Brooklyn. Lou was born in 1899, Bill was born in 1901, Sarah in 1905, Elizabeth in 1908 and Peter (M.) in 1910. Among their activites in Palestine, Rivka and Peter purchased a forest near Poriya which was later donated to the local community in the 1930's. They also helped with the construction of Kiryat Schmoel I have started a more elaborate memoir based on my mother's (Elizabeth z'l) extensive chronicles in Wikipedia. All of the Schweitzer children led remarkable lives including engineers, lawyers, concert pianists. All were philanthropically if not religiously connected to Jewish causes including the refurbishing of an ancient Jewish synagogue (XVI century) in Carpentras, completed ten years after Vera's death and rededicated in 1958 when Lou schweitzer was given an award in Vera's honor by the Grand Rabbi (Jakobovitz) of France.
I am one of only seven remaining grandchildren. A few corrections or comments are added based on Rvika's (Vera's) daughter's memoir (1956). Rivka and Peter (1873-1922, b. Odessa) were married in 1897 in Ekaterinislav. Contrary to what is stated above, it was the Schweitzers who were wealthy and not the Garbovitskys--the reason this is an important distinction is because the couple married inspite of threats of disownment by the Schweitzers. Peter left for Paris to study chemical engineering and then returned two years later and by 1906 the family settled briefly on the Lower east side and then moved to a small farm in Brooklyn. Lou was born in 1899, Bill was born in 1901, Sarah in 1905, Elizabeth in 1908 and Peter (M.) in 1910. Among their activites in Palestine, Rivka and Peter purchased a forest near Poriya which was later donated to the local community in the 1930's. They also helped with the construction of Kiryat Schmoel I have started a more elaborate memoir based on my mother's (Elizabeth z'l) extensive chronicles in Wikipedia. All of the Schweitzer children led remarkable lives including engineers, lawyers, concert pianists. All were philanthropically if not religiously connected to Jewish causes including the refurbishing of an ancient Jewish synagogue (XVI century) in Carpentras, completed ten years after Vera's death and rededicated in 1958 when Lou schweitzer was given an award in Vera's honor by the Grand Rabbi (Jakobovitz) of France.