December 1, Supplemental: Jacki Bush

Jacqueline S. Bush, the mother of Jewish Currents editor Lawrence Bush and his brother Russ, was born in New York on this date in 1920. She was a speech therapist with the New York Board of Education, had notably handsome penmanship, won awards for ballroom dancing, had an uncanny sense of direction, and was considered a beautiful woman by many. Jacki was an especially devoted daughter to her mother, Bessie Sayet, who lost her first husband in the civil war that followed the Russian Revolution and escaped to the U.S. pregnant with her. Jacki and her husband Morrie followed Bessie into the Communist Party, USA, then left it in 1958 after the FBI showed up at their apartment and questioned their sons about their grandmother. The Bushes traveled to many parts of the globe together, and were active in the founding of Local 1199, the Drug and Hospital Workers Union. They lived in Queens for their entire married life (Morrie died in 1981). Jacki was also a volunteer mediator, a seamstress, an interior designer, a good cook, and a very social woman who loved to speak with people. “Know with whom you’re dealing,” she liked to say, “and you’ll do fine.” She died at 3:30 a.m. on November 30th, 2012 one day shy of her 92nd birthday. “I love you and I like you.” —Jacki Bush