Here I am loving my father who deceived, betrayed, and hurt me   

I wrote a speech to give at the Ethical Culture Society in New York City on July  19, 2008 at a memorial service for my father, Ira Gollobin.   It was a difficult speech for me to write - and a very difficult speech to consider delivering, as telling the truth can sometimes be. 

I tried bravely to give my speech - but I was repeatedly stopped by my sister, Ruth Gollobin-Basta, her two children, and a few others making noise and shouting insults at me to interrupt me and keep everyone else from hearing what I had to say.  Neither truth nor manners were high on their agenda.  

Given my mother's and father's life-long commitment to free speech and their fight against censorship of ideas (however unpopular), I believe that my sister's behavior dishonored my mother and father - and reflects poorly on her.

That said, I  want to thank all those in the audience who felt I should have been allowed to speak.

I want to thank the numerous people who came up to me and showed great compassion and sensitivity, who wanted to hear what I had come there to say, and who wanted to know even more.  I am deeply grateful for the kindness each of you showed me, the compliments you gave me, and for your strength of character. 

I am also very appreciative of how all my relatives (with the exception of my sister and her two children) treated me.  You all showed yourselves to be open-minded, caring, intelligent, and supportive.  I don't think any of you liked what my father did to me and my family - and I am so glad that none of you ever had your mother or father do to you what my father did to me.

I hope that all of you will read my speech.  

Click Here to
Go to My Speech

I hope you will also read the section about my father's obituary; it will explain a lot.  And I hope you will also read what my husband has written.