Missing Zelda

By Edwin B. Feldman

This is a response to my dying wifes question Will you miss me?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 30, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524511043

Edwin B. Feldman

Edwin Feldman is an industrial engineer and graduate from Georgia Tech, a registered professional engineer, and a certified member of the National Council of Engineering Examiners. After ten years of experience in a manufacturing firm, he founded a firm specializing in facilities, consulting, and training. He is the author of sixteen books and ten manuscripts and is also a contributing author of six other books. Ed has written over three hundred articles and magazines. His biography appears in ten “Who’s Who” publications. Mr. Feldman has been a frequent speaker for such organizations as American Institute of Plant Engineers, Association of Physical Plant Administrators, Cleaning & Maintenance Management Institute, International Association of Assembly Managers, International Facilities Management Association, Plant Engineering and Maintenance Conference and University Seminar Center. He had the distinguished Achievement Award of Educational Press Association and the Outstanding Award of the National Society of Professional Engineers. He is a member of the Cleaning & Maintenance Management Institute Hall of Fame for outstanding contributions to the cleaning and maintenance industry. He founded a consulting and training firm, Service Engineering Associates, and operated it for thirty years.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Edwin B. Feldman.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 12/06/2016

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

738101

Contents

Chapter 1 Beginning

Chapter 2 Husband

Chapter 3 Atlanta

Chapter 4 Travels

Chapter 5 Hospitals

Chapter 6 Memories

Chapter 7 Endings

Books by Edwin B. Feldman

Nightmare on the Alice Hall. MS, 1946.

Industrial Housekeeping. Macmillan, 1963.

How to Use Your Time to Get Things Done. Fell, 1968.

The Supervisor’s Handbook. Fell, 1982.

Programmed Cleaning Guide. Soap & Detergent Association, 1984.

1,000 Ways to Save Energy & Money. Fell, 1979.

Como Approvechar El Tiempo. Editorial Diana, Mexico, 1975.

Building Design for Maintainability. McGraw-Hill, 1975.

Energy Saving Handbook. Fell, 1979.

Supervisor’s Guide to Maintenance Operations. Cleaning Management lnst., 1987.

Managing Housekeeping & Custodial Operations. Prentice Hall, 1992.

The Supervisor’s Guide to ... Maintenance Operations. Harris, 1982.

How to Save ... Maintenance Management. National Trade, 1992.

Custodial Supervisor Service, 3 Vols. Cleaning Management Inst., 2004.

Custodial Staffing & Standards. University Seminar Center, 1980.

Can America Survive? MS, 2010.

Mistakes of World War II. MS, 1997.

Great Ideas of World War II. MS, 2001.

Multiple Decorations: Highest Military Honors of World War II. MS, 2002.

A Remembrance: Thirty-three Months in the Army. MS, 1999.

Battlefield Commissions. MS, 2011.

CHAPTER ONE

Beginning

She was born in Baltimore on June 25, 1928. She was named Zelda Ruth Coplan. Her father was Samuel Coplan and her mother Helen Stottlemeyer.

Sam was involved with his family in the clothing industry, Coplan Ties becoming well known. He was comfortable, but not rich.

Helen was from a large Maryland family. She came to Baltimore to learn manicuring. She met Sam by giving him a manicure in a shop. After marriage they moved into a classy apartment in the Druid Hills area of the city.

It was into this happy marriage that Zelda was born. Sam’s work was on an evening shift, but he always woke baby Zelda to hold her when he came home. In time he named her Bunky.

Helen worked in the beauty shop in their apartment building which Sam eventually bought for her.

Sam died before the discovery of penicillin which would have saved him. Zelda was just five years old. She grew up as a happy tomboy. Helen would answer angry telephone calls about neighbors being doused by Zelda with a water bomb, a bag of water dropped on a victim from above. Zel dearly loved Helen.

As Zelda grew older, making girlfriends, she became interested in the big Druid Hills Park nearby, especially for swimming and horseback riding.

She was tall for her age, (eventually five feet seven) and initially skinny. In a later photograph she was all legs. Growing up, she was slender and never had an overweight problem, just the opposite. In time she took to eating weight-gaining foods and drinks.

In dress she avoided frills and hats. She enjoyed wearing wide belts with large metal buckles.

She was totally uninterested in jewelry and wore only her wedding ring and a simple necklace usually with the family heirloom of a golden coin and plain earrings. As an animal lover she completely avoided any garment made of or containing animal fur.

I was always proud of the way she looked in every respect even when pregnant, whether we were together in London, Montreal, Anchorage, Amsterdam or Atlanta. She always fit right in, never overdressed.

She reminded people of Lauren Bacall. No, she was not a raving beauty, but rather had a striking and memorable beauty. Her face was somewhat narrow, with nearly white skin set off by long, straight, straw-blond hair. At times I called her slim. She was always beautifully attired.

My favorite photograph was taken in Saint Augustine, Florida with her adjusting what little makeup she wore, using a square compact I had given her for her eighteenth birthday. It was inscribed With More Than Love.

This morning I work up at five o’clock