Stop that taxi! It is rolling down the hill with passengers inside and no driver.
Harry Leber / Laber / Leiber
Harry was born about 1905 in New York to Taube and Max Leber. He was their youngest child and only boy.
He liked to vacation in Florida as can be seen by the fun he was having in Miami Beach in 1940.
He served in the Army in WWII. He enlisted on July 23, 1942 and was released on August, 30, 1943.
Harry in the Army, 01/01/1943
He died on Dec. 23, 1984 in Broward County, FL, at age 79.
Harry remained a bachelor and drove a taxi cab in NYC and Brooklyn.
I remember fondly all the taxi rides we took in his cab. I also remember how generous he was when he saw us. When he was ready to leave, he always pulled out a big roll of dollar bills and pealed one off to give to each one of us.
I remember one specific ride very clearly. Uncle Harry was parked at the top of a big hill. He got the whole family into the cab by using the fold-down seats in the back. He then started to walk to the driver’s side only the cab started rolling down the hill without him in it. I remember him chasing the cab and luckily he caught up to it and got it to stop. Whew!
Of all his sisters, Harry was the closest to Minnie. He lived with her in 1930, probably until my parents got married and moved in. After we moved out of Minnie’s apartment when I was 5, he moved back in and continued living there until he moved to FL.
After we moved to NJ, he would pick up all of his sisters and bring them to visit. They were always there for all of our special occasions.
Gussie Abramowitz, Harry, Goldie, Ray, Rose, Hilloh, Helen (a family friend)
In later years, he got closer to his sister, Ray. Once she moved to LI, she and her daughter, Millie, often invited Harry to come and visit.
Millie Pollay’s brother, Max, owned a single-engine plane and flew the family down to FL to help Harry look for a place to live there. He settled on a condo in Century Village in Del Ray Beach. He was very depressed about giving up his Brooklyn apartment and moving to FL. However, Millie tried to make his transition easier and took him grocery shopping and on other errands in FL. To her dismay, he let her pay for all of his groceries even though he was well off. After that, they mostly lost touch since Harry did not accept invitations to see his family that had helped him.
In about 1984, we took our first trip to FL and made sure to stop to visit Uncle Harry so he could meet my children. Although he was delighted to see us, he was also embarrassed since his girlfriend had sent his teeth out to be cleaned and he was toothless for our visit! We still had a great time and he insisted on taking us to his favorite Jewish Deli for lunch.
Harry with May’s grandsons’ Matt and Brad, circa 1984
He always told Millie that he would not leave her any money in his will since her husband liked to gamble (he only did very occasionally but Harry did not take that into account). He told Hannah’s daughters (Millie and Mollie) the same thing. We knew nothing about those conversations. However, my siblings and I were extremely touched when we found out that Uncle Harry left us each $5000 in his will.
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