Connie and Al
Title
Connie and Al
Creator
Jacob Schlitt
Description
"I read the NY Times every day. I start with the front page, then skip to the Op-Ed."
Date
2016-06-02
Format
application/pdf
Type
text
Language
en
Coverage
1956/2016
Identifier
DIFFERENT_STROKES_FOR_DIFFERENT_FOLKS
Text
CONNIE AND AL
I read the NY Times every day. I start with the front page, then skip to the Op-Ed. By the time I finish the last op and the last ed, breakfast is over, and I lay the paper aside, getting back to it later in the day. Yesterday, when I returned to the paper, I flipped over to the obituaries, and I was shocked to see, in the featured obit, the name of an old friend. The headline read, “Connie Kopelov 90; Marriage Broke Barriers.”
I knew Connie when I worked for the JLC beginning in 1956. We became close when I moved on to the Amalgamated Laundry Workers in 1962, as Education Director. Connie was Assistant Education Director for the international union, The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. We worked on many projects together, including a union summer school. We both were members of the AFT’s Workers Education Local 189. We both were committed to the labor movement, to civil rights, to social and economic justice. I was married and had three children. Connie was not married. I never gave it any thought. The issue of sexual orientation was never an issue.
So what did the obituary focus on? Her 2011 same sex marriage. Connie and her partner of 23 years, Phyllis Siegel, were the first lesbian couple to be married in New York City. It was July 24, 2011, the day that the State law took effect, allowing same sex couples to wed. Connie was 85. The following year, Connie and her wife were honored as grand marshals of NYC’s Gay Pride Parade. She was a good friend. I am sorry I missed her wedding and the parade.
I finished reading the obit, and as I was thinking about Connie, I was startled to see that the paid obituary in the adjoining column was of another old labor friend, Al Bilik, who died at 93. Thanks to the JLC, I knew, and corresponded, with practically every Jewish labor leader in the US, so I was aware that Al was the AFSCME Cincinnati District Council Director. He later became the President of the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Central Labor Council.
We connected when I was the AFSCME Education Director in 1965. He later came to DC to serve as AFSCME’s Director of Organization. We maintained a friendship after I moved on to the US Civil Rights Commission. Another connection was his first wife, Dorothy, who taught Yiddish at the University of Maryland. I was holding the fort for Yiddish with the DC Workmen’s Circle. Al returned to New York to work with Vic Gotbaum at District Council 37, remarried, moved back to Washington, and became the head of the AFL-CIO’s Public Employees Department. Al finally retired in 2011 at the age of 89.
Between Connie and Al, that takes care of about 30 years of my working life: the JLC, the Amalgamated Laundry Workers, AFSCME and the US Civil Rights Commission. They were good, productive years, and I had the good fortune to work with some wonderful people. Connie and Al were two of them. Their memories are a blessing.
6-2-16
I read the NY Times every day. I start with the front page, then skip to the Op-Ed. By the time I finish the last op and the last ed, breakfast is over, and I lay the paper aside, getting back to it later in the day. Yesterday, when I returned to the paper, I flipped over to the obituaries, and I was shocked to see, in the featured obit, the name of an old friend. The headline read, “Connie Kopelov 90; Marriage Broke Barriers.”
I knew Connie when I worked for the JLC beginning in 1956. We became close when I moved on to the Amalgamated Laundry Workers in 1962, as Education Director. Connie was Assistant Education Director for the international union, The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. We worked on many projects together, including a union summer school. We both were members of the AFT’s Workers Education Local 189. We both were committed to the labor movement, to civil rights, to social and economic justice. I was married and had three children. Connie was not married. I never gave it any thought. The issue of sexual orientation was never an issue.
So what did the obituary focus on? Her 2011 same sex marriage. Connie and her partner of 23 years, Phyllis Siegel, were the first lesbian couple to be married in New York City. It was July 24, 2011, the day that the State law took effect, allowing same sex couples to wed. Connie was 85. The following year, Connie and her wife were honored as grand marshals of NYC’s Gay Pride Parade. She was a good friend. I am sorry I missed her wedding and the parade.
I finished reading the obit, and as I was thinking about Connie, I was startled to see that the paid obituary in the adjoining column was of another old labor friend, Al Bilik, who died at 93. Thanks to the JLC, I knew, and corresponded, with practically every Jewish labor leader in the US, so I was aware that Al was the AFSCME Cincinnati District Council Director. He later became the President of the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Central Labor Council.
We connected when I was the AFSCME Education Director in 1965. He later came to DC to serve as AFSCME’s Director of Organization. We maintained a friendship after I moved on to the US Civil Rights Commission. Another connection was his first wife, Dorothy, who taught Yiddish at the University of Maryland. I was holding the fort for Yiddish with the DC Workmen’s Circle. Al returned to New York to work with Vic Gotbaum at District Council 37, remarried, moved back to Washington, and became the head of the AFL-CIO’s Public Employees Department. Al finally retired in 2011 at the age of 89.
Between Connie and Al, that takes care of about 30 years of my working life: the JLC, the Amalgamated Laundry Workers, AFSCME and the US Civil Rights Commission. They were good, productive years, and I had the good fortune to work with some wonderful people. Connie and Al were two of them. Their memories are a blessing.
6-2-16
Original Format
application/msword
Collection
Citation
Jacob Schlitt, “Connie and Al,” Autobiographical stories & other writing by Jacob Schlitt, accessed September 11, 2024, https://tsirlson.omeka.net/items/show/381.