Today's Featured Biography

 
Ann Orr Klein

    After I left Aruba in 1959 and my father retired at the same time, I went for a short time to the University of Houston. I decided to leave Houston for personal reasons and return to Miami. I enrolled at the Miami Junior College and left there with an Associate's degree in Liberal Arts. Sororities and fraternities were not allowed but we formed them anyway. Our sorority was Kappa Omega and our chapter is in existence to this day at the college. I am still best friends with several of my sisters after all these years.
    Following that, I worked for the well known law firm of Mershon, Sawyer, Johnston, Dunwody and Cole for about five years in downtown Miami.
    In November of 1964 I married Josef Karl Klein from Wetzlar, Germany and our first home was an apartment in Coral Gables. I decided to change jobs and work down the street from our apartment at Hayden, Stone, stock brokers.
    On the afternoon of February 4, 1969, just after we had purchased our first house, a really cute little person came into our lives. Joe and I named him Paul Josef. Paul and I looked each other over for a few moments and knew we were going to get along just fine. He was a pleasure to raise and has a hilarious sense of humor.
    Joe and I visited Germany quite often and his parents came to stay with us every couple of years. Paul spoke German fluently by that time. We had a lot of German visitors and I was kept quite busy running my little "hotel" here in Miami Lakes.
    Joe owned a foreign car repair shop in Miami Springs. One day I was walking into the shop, holding toddler Paul by the hand when Myer Lansky, the Miami mobster was walking out. His bodyguards were surrounding him and the gun bulges in their suits were obvious. He smiled at me and I smiled back. Then I told Joe to be sure and fix his car REALLY good!!! Joe was also called to Haiti from time to time to service Baby Doc's fleet of automobiles until around 1986 when the dictator fled to France.
    Al (Bruce) Clark and his wife stopped by our first apartment in Coral Gables on their way home with their first child, their beautiful son Dean. Bruce spotted a picture of Joe and was shocked that he was my husband. He told me this story. He had been having car trouble for a very long time but no one could find and fix the problem. He happened to drive by Joe's shop one day and thought, "Well, what the heck! I've tried everywhere else, why not here." Joe asked what he could do for him, they spoke for a while, then Joe jumped into his car and took off down the street, screeched to a halt, (he was a maniac driver), raised the hood and adjusted something with the little screwdriver he always carried in his shirt pocket. He got back in, raced off again, stopped and repeated it. He fixed it, no charge, and Bruce told me he never had any trouble with it again.
    I was a school volunteer all through Paul's elementary and middle school years. But every Wednesday morning, I helped at the Miami Lakes Congregational Church, making sandwiches for the homeless. It was also an excellent opportunity for a weekly hen party. After the sandwiches were made and ready to go, we would go to lunch.
    Paul was a member of the National Honor Society in high school and then attended and graduated from Florida State University in Tallahassee. He decided to come home and work in his father's shop. Joe and his partner soon put Paul in charge of running the business.
    Joe and I separated and our divorce became final in 1989.
    My mother became ill in the early 90's and I closed up my house and moved in with her to look after her. As Christmas approached in 1994, we were somewhat down in the dumps and not much in the mood for celebrating the holidays. Paul arrived unexpectedly one evening and insisted that we decorate. Despite our objections, he got out the boxes of decorations and we began while Mother watched. When we finished, our spirits were lifted and we enjoyed Christmas that year after all. Mom died three days after Christmas on the 28th. I was grateful that Paul had not taken no for an answer, making Mom's last Christmas a very happy and colorful one.
    These days, conversations lean toward the latest purchase on eBay, amnesty for illegal immigrants, the great shoes on sale at Sears, cholesterol, and whether a medical test is positive or negative. That's life, I guess! I was warned it would fly by, but I never really believed it. But...it's been a very busy and interesting time and I'm always wondering what's around that next corner.     

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