Gretel Gates: Generous, Involved, Optimistic

Born into a well-to-do Jewish family in Stuttgart, Germany, where her father ran a dress factory, Gretel Gates, now 88, emigrated with her parents to the United States in 1937 when she was 14, shortly before the worst of the Nazi persecution of the Jews began.

Once in the United States, Gates' parents found work managing a factory in New York, while Gretel went to school, learned English, cooked and took care of the household. When the factory job did not last, Gates’ father decided to buy a chicken farm in New Jersey.

In 1952, Gates moved to Alameda after she married Gunther Gates, who served as the rabbi of  for 34 years, until his death in 1981. Many Alamedans know Gretel Gates through the temple and her years of community service.

Do you recall listening to Hitler speak? Oh yes. He was loud and scary. Intimidating. Ugly.

What were you interested in at 14? I was a typical 14-year-old. I was particularly interested in swimming. I had friends. I had fun.

How did you get to the United States? We took a boat. It took 11 days and I was seasick from the time we got into the English Channel until we landed in Hoboken, NJ. I couldn’t wait to get off that ship!

What were your first impressions of America? My mother’s brother came to meet us. I was so thrilled to see my uncle. We got into a cab and he took us to a furnished apartment he had rented for us in Manhattan. It was lunch time, so he took me by the hand and said,"Let’s get some lunch." So I was introduced to my first delicatessen in the United States. I was shocked. They had bread that was sliced!

What was so shocking about that? We always got the whole loaf and sliced it ourselves. We didn’t know from sliced bread.

How did you learn English? We arrived in New York City on a Tuesday. I enrolled in school on Friday and started the following Monday at P.S. 93. Because I didn’t speak English, they put me in seventh grade.

You were 14 and they put you in seventh grade? Oh no. Oh yes! By the end of the first year, I was pretty darned fluent.

What was the first presidential election you voted in? I could not vote until I became a citizen at age 21. When I went to vote in 1944, I found out they lost all my paperwork. I was furious! I had to start all over again and voted in the local election the next year. I never miss voting, never. Local, state, national, I always vote.

How did you and Rabbi Gunther Gates meet? My first husband passed away soon after my second daughter was born. Two years or so after, a friend said, “You’ve got to get married again.” She said, “I think I know just who you need to marry!” Then she told me about Gunther and told me to write to him. I said, “If he’s interested, let him write to me!” That fall, after I had forgotten about that whole conversation, I got a letter from Alameda, Californa. I thought, "Who the heck is from Alameda, California? Where is Alameda, California?"

We had a nice correspondence. Then we met in person in 1951 when Gunther came out to the East Coast. We spent time together exploring Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Then, in 1952, he proposed over the telephone. We were married April 6, 1952, which is also Gunther’s birthday. Then, after a honeymoon of one night in Atlantic City, we packed up and moved to California.

What was Alameda like in 1952? It was a small town. Bay Farm was all farms and a couple of roads.

How did your husband wind up in Alameda? Gunther came to Alameda from China in 1947. He lived in Shanghai for nine years. There were 20,000 German and Austrian refugees who lived in Shanghai. That was about the only place they could get to where you didn’t have to have a visa.

Gunther had no intention of staying here, but a good friend introduced him to the head of the Jewish Federation in Oakland who got him an interview at Temple Israel in Alameda. And that’s how it happened.

You were married to Rabbi Gates a long time. Not really. 29 years.

But 29 years is a long time. It’s not really long when you have a wonderful marriage.

After my husband died, we got a lot of donations. I decided not to have a speaker series. People are very tired of listening to speakers! My husband loved music so I said, why don’t we have a music series instead? This year, Emil Miland, the cellist, will play at the temple on April 23.

You’ve been honored for your many volunteer activities in the community. What are you doing these days? I still try to do a few things. I’m involved in the mayor’s committee for the . I do some things for the synagogue. And I go three times a week to water aerobics at the .

For years, I was involved with Children’s Hospital, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Hadassah, and on and on.

What are the lessons you’ve learned in life? Keep going! You can’t let things get you down. You can’t complain every time you break your nail. You have to make yourself keep going. I had a lift put in last week to help me get up and down the stairs, but I think I’ve used it only once for myself. But I’ve used it several times for the laundry!

My daughter wants me to move to Denver. While my daughter has many lovely friends, they’re her friends, they’re not mine. My friends are here.

Are there places you still want to visit? I’ve been to all seven continents. Antarctica was fascinating and very beautiful. There are lots of countries I haven’t been to that I would love to go. I’m hoping to do the Panama Canal. The other thing I’d like to do is take a train trip across Canada.