Iosif Tets with his wife Yelena Tets and sister Ida Wolpe

This photo was taken in our apartment in Riga. My father is in the center. On the left is Mama (Yelena Tets), and on the right is my father's younger sister and my mother's closest friend, Ida Wolpe. This photo was taken in 1925.

My father moved to Riga where there were more job opportunities for him. He found a job and rented an apartment. His sister Ida followed him to Riga. She graduated from University in 1909. After finishing her studies Ida married a doctor in Riga. His surname was Wolpe. She moved in with her husband. Ida worked as a dentist. She had her own dentist's office. Her older daughter Margarita was born in the late 1910s, and her son Mikhail was born in 1920.

My parents met at my father’s sister Ida's place. My father often visited her. Mama also visited her best friend in Riga. My parents met and fell in love with each other. They got married in 1913. They had a traditional Jewish wedding in Jekabpils. The town's rabbinate issued their marriage certificate.

After the wedding my parents settled in Riga. They rented an apartment in the center of the town. Mama made one room her dental office. Also, Mama worked as a dentist in the clinic of the Russian doctors' society. Most of the members of this society were Jewish doctors. They were very good doctors. Once or twice a week Mama received her patients, sent to her by the clinic's receptionist. My father was a pharmacist.