June Salander - To Life! A Celebration of Vermont Jewish Women

About this film

June Keller Salander was born in Rus, Poland in 1908. In 1920, her family emigrated from their small town to New York City. Upon docking at Ellis Island, her mother said, “See that tall man with the hat? That’s your father.” He had rented an apartment in Harlem where the neighbors welcomed them. They gave the children presents, taught them a little bit of English and eventually the family felt Americanized. Every day after school, June would take the subway for a nickel downtown to the Lower East Side to attend Hebrew School. During the depression, June went to Eastern Business School and then out to work at Woolworth’s on 116th Street. A girl friend’s uncle introduced June to Lew Salander. He periodically traveled to New York on buying trips for the Combination Store that he owned in Rutland. The two dated for a while and on a vacation trip to Vermont, Lew proposed to June. After marrying in1941, June set up housekeeping in Rutland. Shortly after their first son was born, June volunteered as a Red Cross grey lady at the Rutland hospital during World War II. June taught Hebrew School three afternoons a week at the Rutland Jewish Center and was a lifetime member of Hadassah, the Wom…

Directors & creators

DAVAR: The Vermont Jewish Women's History Project

Subjects

Vermont, Jewish women, immigration, Red Cross, Jewish food

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