It's Me!: A Memoir/ Autobiography

By Arnold Melnick DO MSc DHL(HON) FACOP

I have lived a wonderful lifeto me at least. Even though, like most people, I have had some setbacks and some negative events, overwhelmingly, I have enjoyed a great life full of all kinds of pleasures -and honors (for which I am extremely grateful). And I am now sharing them with you, my family and my readers, with the hope that you will also enjoy some of them, remembering that with everything you read . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Feb 25, 2015
• ISBN: 9781496971241

Arnold Melnick DO MSc DHL(HON) FACOP

Arnold Melnick, DO, began his professional career as a pediatrician in private practice and serving as Chairman of Pediatrics at two hospitals. After 30 years, he entered a second career – in medical education, first being appointed Founding Dean of the Southeastern College of Osteopathic Medicine in Miami, and then rising to Executive Chancellor and Provost of Nova Southeastern University Health Professions Division. Upon his retirement in 1998, he turned his life-long hobby of writing into a third career. Writing mostly during his career about Pediatrics and Medical Communication, he has published 13 books, 3 monographs and more than 240 professional articles, including over 150 medical columns for four professional publications. And he has been honored with 15 Distinguished Service Awards from professional/medical organizations.

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Acknowledgement and Dedication

I acknowledge, with loving thanks, the assistance of my son

Dr. Sandy D. Melnick

And my daughter-in-law

Nona S. Melnick

for their willingness to read this entire manuscript to check on my accuracy in reporting things they were aware of or experienced,

and

I also dedicate this book to them for their many years of being loyal and loving members of my immediate family and for always being ready to support and help me and my darling late wife, Anita, in everything we did. I love you both!

It's Me!

A Memoir/ Autobiography

Arnold Melnick, DO, MSc, DHL (Hon.), FACOP

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© 2015 Arnold Melnick, DO, MSc, DHL (Hon.), FACOP. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 02/23/2015

ISBN: 978-1-4969-7123-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-7124-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015902594

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Foreword

Birth and Childhood

628 and Growing Up

My Years at Temple University

The Medical School Years

Enter Anita — and the Early Days

Family Affairs

More Personal Stuff

My Professional Life

My Connections with CHOP

Birth and Growth of SECOM

I Wrote and I Spoke

Organizationally Yours

My Life and My Health

…And, Off into the Sunset

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Foreword

Although grammatically incorrect, however It’s Me! expresses best the theme of this book. It is a memoir/autobiography. It is the story of my life, told mainly through some autobiographical records and a number of anecdotes. I made no attempt to record every incident in my life (an impossibility) or refer to every person with whom I came in contact. Rather, it is my overall reaction to my feelings about my life, illustrated by what I feel are appropriate anecdotes. Most of my readers will recognize that older folks, when asked questions or recounting events will often reply with a story or an anecdote, instead of a direct answer. Faced with a simple question like When did you get your first car? elders will most often reply with a story about the car, its purchase or something in anecdotal form.

It’s also strange that I chose an error in grammar, when I have spent much of my life correcting others’ grammar or editing the grammar of papers submitted for publication or review. Not that I am any authority on English grammar, just sort of obsessive-compulsive about those rules I do know.

Further, I am 94 years old as I start this book, so I am blessed (?) with some of the foibles of senior life, so you will have to put up with seeing It’s Me! and accepting it as my personal choice in this situation. The title arose from my reactions after writing some trial pages– and after each page I read, I exclaimed or consciously thought It’s Me.

I tried not to color any events—either positively or negatively -- only to present everything as I remember it (or was told it), both bad and good. But you must realize that all our memories are unconsciously colored by our own thinking or distorted recollections or personal impressions. For any deviations from actual truths, even though unconscious, I deeply apologize. I assure you that any such instances are unintentional but very, very close to actual facts.

This memoir/autobiography had an interesting beginning. Some time ago, as a joke, I responded to a cousin who had just moved, giving her some old history she did not know about our family’s early connection to that new address. In return, she asked me to do a report on her mother, as I was the only one left who knew her well -- more history. After that, I had requests to write the history of several other family members. And several of them suggested that I write an autobiography including those relatives. I realized that what I had already done would make a splendid early history to introduce the rest of my life for my autobiography. So, after some delay, voila -- It’s Me.

To my best recall, this is an accurate account of my life, my relatives and my career. Some of the events and sequences may seem out of order because this is not an autobiography in the classic sense of date-place-activity but consists of my recollections (with illustrative anecdotes) and sometimes with things connected with those recollections. There are overlaps in time because the book covers different periods of my life (as closely as I could stick to those sequences) and many characters are important in several periods (or most) of my life. However, the facts and stories are presented as clearly as I remember them. But in something that covers over 90 years, I couldn’t report everything in my life, so there are bound to be errors in memory or reporting or omissions, so I apologize in advance for any that occur.

I have lived a wonderful life – to me at least. Even though, like most people, I have had some set-backs and some negative events, overwhelmingly I have enjoyed a great life full of all kinds of pleasures – and honors (for which I am extremely grateful) -- and I am now sharing them with you, my family and my readers, with the hope that you will also enjoy some of them, remembering that with everything you read…

It’s Me!

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Birth and Childhood

There were no shooting stars, no special newspaper notices or other surrounding fanfare. No, it was simply that on June 3, 1920, Sarah (Dobkin) Melnick, married to David Melnick, delivered their first child, a son to be named Arnold Melnick, at Northern Liberties Hospital in Philadelphia. The obstetrician was Rebecca Cornfield, MD, a name to occur again later in this new child’s life. There were no complications, but supposedly Baby Arnold would not lie still long enough for anyone to weigh him.

Maternal grandparents were Louis and Rebecca Dobkin, both relatively recent immigrants from the area of the Russian-Polish border. Louis spoke only Yiddish, Becky spoke Yiddish (her original language), and English understandably but with a partially-Yiddish accent. Sarah was their second child.

My associations were from my early childhood through my adolescence and so are not that clear.

Louis was a foreboding person, rarely smiled and generally was not friendly with non-Yiddish-speaking people. He was thin, almost skinny, cold, and to young children like Arnold, he could be a feared, threatening person. He owned a South Philadelphia grocery store with his brother and was not home most of the time. My only peaceful memory of him as a child was his sitting at the table drinking a glossel tay—a glass of tea. As was common among immigrants in that day, he always bit into a cube of sugar and with that in his mouth, he would sip the tea through it. Funny how such a personal habit made such an impression on a young child! I had little contact with him, maybe because he was not warm enough to play with me or I was too scared to go near him, or both. One major episode occurred a few years later on a Jewish holiday when the head of the household was supposed to bless a child by swinging over the child’s head a live (squawking, squirming) chicken while saying the necessary prayers. Other people used money instead of the live chicken which frightened me beyond belief; I guess I never let him do it again. He was not my favorite person, by far.

Becky, a widow for most of my childhood, was on the other hand a warm, outgoing, personable individual, especially friendly and lovable with children and I loved her. To me and subsequent grandchildren, she always was Bubs said with the greatest affection. She always looked to cater to the kids and to see that they were happy and satisfied. Originally, she operated a small dry goods store but after closing that, she opened a sundry store—ice cream, candy, cigarettes, and such. Imagine the joy of a growing, older child being allowed, no, encouraged, to go to the ice cream freezer and with the store scoop help himself to ice cream ad lib. She was always a business person, forever on the lookout for a good business venture, even though she was not prepared to set out anew – and really didn’t have the money to do so. Her businesses were not businesses in today’s sense; they were hand-to-mouth ventures, making a couple of extra dollars to help the family survive. Riding in our car along various streets, she would spot stores, usually empty, and she would remark, There’s a good place for a fruit store or a candy store or whatever struck a business chord with her.

They lived at 1401 North Front Street in Philadelphia. That was the Dobkin family residence, occupied in the 20s and 30s by Bubs and Zaida, Ann (their youngest child) and, I believe, Harry, their only son (part time).

Since I am the only living person who has memories of that abode, let me tell you about it. The house stood on the corner of Master Street, a half-block from a police station, a short walk to the synagogue, and facing the elevated train that ran along Front Street. The neighborhood was white, lower class, working people. It was