According to Grandma Sally, it was about 1915 when her father Hyman beg an to call himself Herman to sound more American. He spoke Polish, Germ an, Yiddish, a little Hungarian and some rather "atrocious" English (00 4).

Grandma said Hyman was very artistic. Grandma, a professional cellist h erself, says Hyman played the violin very well even though he could not r ead music. Sally said Hyman could hear something by Jascha Heifetz just o nce and play it well. He could paint any object so that it looked like w ood, grains and all, and could make it look like walnut or cherry or wh atever they wanted. Apparently his house painting could be rather artis tic as well. He was once hired to paint a ceiling and spontaneously pai nted a flying bluebird in the comer, then another and another until he h ad covered the whole ceiling with flying bluebirds. When the lady who h ired him saw what he had done, she screamed, so he promised to paint th e ceiling over but she liked it and would not let him. She showed off h er ceiling to the neighborhood. The woman had been very lonely. Her cei ling became a neighborhood attraction. Herman's phone did not stop ring ing that night because all of the people who visited the lady's house t o view the ceiling then wanted their ceiling painted, but Hyman would n ot do it again. Grandma says her father did more than simply paint a ce iling. He brought a lonely woman friends and changed her whole life.

Hyman's had a fondness for animals and would bring many home, especiall y birds. He liked to sketch flying bluebirds while talking on the phone . Hyman owned a minorbird and also bred and sold canaries (he owned ove r 30 of them). Grandma once said he was sent out to buy an overcoat and c ame home with a parrot. My mother remembers that the bird liked to slee p with a blanket over its cage to make it dark. If you forgot to put hi s blanket on, he would whisper, "Goodnight, goodnight ..." until you di d. Hyman loved to play practical jokes and Clap ladies' asses." Grandma s aid Jennie told her that Hyman had threatened to kill himself unless Je nnie married him.

Grandma says her father was a very uneducated man but very artistic. He d id not know who Michelangelo was, but loved birds and painted beautiful c eilings. He remarried two years after Jennie died, but was "alone soon a fter." Grandma was not specific as to what happened.

Grandma said Hyman remarried two years after Jennie died, but he was so on living alone again.

• Married: 5 JUL 1902 in New York, New York, NY
• Note: The date is an estimate. Grandma Sally says her father Hyman met Scheid el in NYC, and did not know her in Austria. She says that they married o n July 5 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan a year after Jennie came o ver. The 1915 New York State Census reports Jennie had been in the US f or 14 years. This would likely make the year of her emigration 1901 and , if Sally was right, they were married 5 July 1902. ^{8 7}

1. Anna KEMPLER b: 29 APR 1904 in New York, New York, NY
2. Sadie Gertrude (Sally) KEMPLER b: 29 MAR 1906 in New York, New York, NY
3. Joseph KEMPLER b: 2 APR 1908 in New York, New York, NY
4. Eve KEMPLER b: 26 APR 1910 in New York, New York, NY

1. Abbrev: 0030 Declaration of Intention: Hyman Kempler
   Title: Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, 6 Jul 1907, Declaration of In tention for Hyman Kempler
2. Abbrev: 0064 CB: Hyman Kempler
   Title: City of New York Department of Health, Certificate of Birth for Hyman K empler (9 Feb 1959)
3. Abbrev: 0032 Certificate Natualization: Hyman Kempler
   Title: City of New York., Certificate of Naturalization for Hyman Kempler (25 F eb 1915)
4. Abbrev: 0882 1920 Census of Manhattan
   Title: Bureau of the Census, 1920 Census for New York, New York, NY (16 Jan 19 20)
   Page: 13
5. Abbrev: 0845 1910 Census of New York
   Title: Bureau of the Census, 1910 Census for 19th Ward of New York, New Yor, N Y. ED #1036. (17 Apr 1910)
   Page: 166
6. Abbrev: 0883 1930 Census of da Bronx
   Title: Bureau of the Census, 1930 Census for Bronx, Bronx, NY (Apr 1930)
   Page: 11
7. Abbrev: 0004 Interviews with Sally DAMESEK
   Title: Sally DAMESEK, Interviews with Sally DAMESEK (16 Dec 1996 and 29 Mar 19 97)
8. Abbrev: 0009 1915 NYS Census
   Title: New York State Census 1915
9. Abbrev: 0087 1904 NYC Telephone Directory
   Title: New York City Telephone Directory (1904/1905)
10. Abbrev: 0088 1905 NYC Telephone directory
    Title: New York City Telephone directory (1905/1906)
11. Abbrev: 0089 1910 NYC Telephone directory
    Title: New York City Telephone directory (1910/1911)
12. Abbrev: 0090 1915 NYC Telephone directory
    Title: New York City Telephone directory (1915/1916)
13. Abbrev: 0091 1920 NYC Telephone directory
    Title: New York City Telephone directory (1920/1921)
14. Abbrev: 0053 DC: Jennie Kempler
    Title: City of New York Department of Health, Certificate of Death for Jennie K empler (10 Aug 1946)
15. Abbrev: 0031 Petition For Naturalization: Hyman Kempler
    Title: Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization., Petition For Naturalization f or Hyman Kempler (12 Mar 1914)