Sense of adventure sparks local seniors life
If the secret to enjoying life as you age is to keep busy doing things you love, Fern Feder comes by her vitality naturally. Or, it could be good genes. Feder, 78, and her husband, Edward, moved to Tucson in 1988 from Chicago; later Feders mother, Irene Bernberg, joined them. She was a very independent woman, says Feder. At 90, she says, Bernberg walked faster than Feder and her husband; and at 100, played poker as a resident of Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging.
The Feders were married in 1949. During her pregnancy two years later, Feder kept up with her studies at Chicagos Roosevelt College, instead of quitting as many women of that era did. I was a womens libber, she says, but you didnt call it that back then.
Feder switched from pre-law to sociology after the couples first son, Mark, was born deaf. Their second son, Mike, who was born in 1952, is known locally as the former general manager of the Tucson Sidewinders baseball team.
When her children were in school, Feder started her masters degree at DePaul University in deaf education for public schools. She completed the degree at night in a year and a half. She went on to teach in public schools for seven years, coordinate programs for the deaf and hard of hearing and train teachers at Northwestern and Northern Illinois Universities.
Early in their family life, she and Ed started to take vacations because he had never had one before, which, she says, was a good lesson for the kids on how to live, to spend what you can afford. When the children were young, the family went on camping trips. In 1972, the couple took off for Europe for the first time, traveling to England and Rome for one week each. Then it was on to Israel for two weeks. They were hooked: Feeling that the garbage men are Jewish, the tennis pros are Jewish, the police are Jewish, you get the feeling that you belong there, says Feder, who recalls that even as a kid in high school, I was always a Zionist.
The couple has returned to Israel more than 30 times. On one trip Feder was offered a position as principal at an Israeli school for the deaf. On another trip the Feders took their granddaughter for six weeks as a Bat Mitzvah present.
Feder says her involvement as a board member at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, the Jewish Community Foundation and the Desert Caucus stems from her love of Israel, the Jewish community and caring for other people around the world beyond the Jewish community.
When the couple isnt off on a trip they engage in constant mental and physical activity, says Feder, including playing tennis a few times a week. Surrounded in her living room by whimsical stuffed figures that she makes and her colorful needlepoint work, the former teacher explains, I have shpilkes (nervous energy); I cant sit still at night.
I hope to continue doing what Im doing for as long as I can, says Feder. More trips to Israel are on the horizon; she wishes more people would go, she says, but acknowledges that some people are afraid to travel there. More people are murdered in Chicago than are killed by suicide bombers, she says.
But Israel isnt her only planned destination. Having seen all of Europe, Feder wants to travel to Argentina and Costa Rica next. Its important to broaden your experience and see how other people live. Were the same in some ways, she says, different in other ways. How can we get along with other people in the world unless we understand them, and visit them?
SHEILA WILENSKY
AJP Assistant Editor
