David Saper with his sisters Reizl and Dvoira

This is my father's brother David Saper, who came to Kishinev for a visit in 1939 from the USA,  his sisters Reizl (to the left) and Dvoira (to the right). 

All of my grandfather's sons were very religious and the army service would have been a kind of moral ordeal for them. Three sons - David, Monya and Isaac found a solution - immigration to the USA. 

In America, my father's brothers David, Monya and Isaac changed their last name to Saper. The eldest brother David married a rich American lady, the owner of a large store, shortly after immigration to America. David got acclimatized very swiftly - soon he became proficient in English and was able to merge in his wife's business and make it even much more prosperous. He had a good and worthy life. He never forgot where he came from and he sent money to Grandfather on a regular basis, and Grandfather in turn helped out the rest of the children. In 1939 David managed to come over to Kishinev to visit his kin. I remember how I was rapt by foreign chic - David, dressed in a morning robe, was sipping coffee from a demitasse. It was the last time I saw David. I never saw either his wife or any of his four children. David passed away in the mid-1950s. He died of cancer. 

Father's elder sisters Reizl and Dvoira had fiances before leaving for Kishinev from Medzhibozh. They didn’t want to walk away from their fiances and soon got back to Medzhibozh. They got married there. I don’t remember the name of Reizl's husband. He was killed by gangsters during the Civil War. Reizl remained with two sons - Solomon and Natan. Reizl, who was a housewife before her husband's death, became a seamstress. During the Great Patriotic War she was in evacuation with her children, somewhere in Central Asia, but she didn’t live long after coming back to her native city. Reizl died in the early 1950s, she was buried at the Jewish cemetery in Medzhibozh. 

Dvoira's life was more or less prosperous. Her husband Veiner was a successful vendor and lived with Dvoira until his old age.  Dvoira didn’t have to work. She died in 1970 and was buried next to Reizl; the funeral of my father's sister was carried out in accordance with the Jewish rites. I don’t know what happened with Dvoira's daughters. They don’t keep in touch, and I forgot their names.