Contributed by Beverly Frank- [email protected]
Meet Resident, Adele Bernstein
“If God gives you the years, you live.”
Adele’s devoted father, Oscar Shore, taught her to live by these enduring words. Born in Philadelphia in 1914, she’s a proud 102 years young. After losing her mother at the young age of 5, her father vowed to raise his only daughter with care, love and deeply rooted Jewish values. With the help of doting grandparents and Sadye, an older cousin mentor, Adele became a very smart, independent woman.
Adele and her father moved to the west side of Chicago. She graduated from Marshall High School and found an executive secretarial job in a real estate office. A friend introduced her to her future husband, Norman Bernstein, a fine man who sold dry goods. Adele stills recalls their first date with a twinkle in her eye. “We double dated, saw Bob Hope’s very first movie and met at Chicago’s Avalon Theatre (79th and Stony Island).” They married in 1940, raised two wonderful children and has 6 grandchildren and five great grandchildren. Adele feels grateful for the fulfilling life she’s lived with her late husband and family.
Adele believes she’s experienced both bad and good luck in her life. The bad luck was losing her mom at a tender, vulnerable age. Her good luck was in having a father, husband, and family who embraced her. She describes her thoughts, “My late husband, son, and daughter are my lucky dividends.” Adele truly lives each day, participating in art and poetry classes. She also enjoys meeting new people and has many visitors. She expressed her life today as part of the Selfhelp Home community: “I am fortunate to not live in an institution, but in a special place that truly feels like home. The staff is very caring, and I’m so very lucky to live at the Selfhelp Home.”