Shortly after moving to San Diego in 1970 we began our now forty-five-year membership at Congregation Beth Israel, where our daughters Lori, Judith and Dara became B’Nai Mitzvot and continued on to confirmation. Now we have had the joy of seeing their children become B’nai Mitzvot as well!

Our connections to the Jewish Community began even earlier. Marcia was the Youth Representative when the JCC in Southern New Jersey was being built, and Don was active in The Hillel Foundation at Queen’s University while attending medical school there in the 1950s. Growing up in Ottawa, Canada, Don remembers his parents’ deep involvement in Hadassah and The Technion. Marcia, from Camden, NJ, was introduced to Hadassah by her mother, and she is a lifetime member of both Hadassah and ORT.

Marcia joined the staff of the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, Jacobs Family Campus at its inception in 1982, beginning as Founding Membership Director and later Assistant Executive Director, helping create a JCC that is serving the social, cultural, physical and Jewish program needs for all ages in the San Diego Community. After retirement we both served in various capacities as JCC volunteers, as well as helping support the various cultural programs such as the Film Festival and Book Fair.

We feel blessed to be part of and contributors to a growing and thriving Jewish Community.