In 1915 Calgarian Tillie Block went to Chicago to visit her parents, who had moved there after several years in Alberta. During the trip she married Simon Shulman,22, who had immigrated to Chicago from Krutche, Russia, four years earlier.

      The Shulmans moved to Three Oaks , Michigan, opened a tailor shop, and in 1916 welcomed their first daughter, Emily. In 1917 the young fam- ily moved to Calgary, settling next to the Eisenstadt home on 4th Avenue East.

      Simon opened 25 Cent Tailors, named for his one-price policy, on 2nd Street East, between 7th and 8th Avenues.

      Daughter Jean was born in 1919. During the 20's the Shulmans moved to 9th Street and 18th Avenue West, where in 1927 their daughter Nettie was born.

      Buisness changes and rising prices prompted a name change in 1939 to Shulman Tailors.

      During the war years Jean Shulman took over the family shop and operated it as an all-women business - and became the first woman in Alberta with certification to operate boiler plants.

      In 1938 Emily Shulman married Sam Finkleman in Calgary;they had nine children. Jean married Sidney Libin (1917-1986) in 1940 and had three children. Nettie married Maynard Sarvas of Laguna Hills, California; they had three children.

      Simon and Tillie Shulman made sure they had their daughters were involved in Jewish community activities, and were among the founders of the I.L. Peretz School. The very first meeting of the Pioneer Women organization in Calgary was held in the Shulman home;Golda Meir was guest speaker.

      Simon passed away in 1942 at 48 years of age. Tillie enjoyed a close relationship with 15 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren before passing away at age 83 in 1977.

      Judah Shumiatcher had been a farm manager in Russia. He and his son Morris came to Canada (c.1910) and homesteaded in the Rumsey area. The eldest son, Abraham, had remained in Gomel to prepare for the immigration of his mother and nine brothers and sisters.

      Before long, Judah and Morris moved to Calgary and sent for the rest of the family. Confusion arose when a government offical found the sur- name too difficult and changed it to "Smith."

      Judah brought the first Torah to Calgary. Many years later it was restored by Rabbi Heyman and celebrated in a ceremony at the Glenbow Institute. It now resides at Beth Jacob Synagogue.

      Abe became a teacher at Talmud Torah, and later was involved with I.L. Peretz Institute. He married his childhood sweetheart Luba Lubinsky. He was called to the Bar in 1930 and eventually became a King's Counsel.

      Morris Shumiatcher hitch-hiked to California to pursue his acting ambitions. He landed a part as an extra in a silent film with Mary Pickford but soon returned and founded Calgary Hat Works (which later became Smithbilt Hats and is still in operation). His white felt cowboy hats were introduced by the Herron family at the 1946 Stampede parade and became a symbol of Calgary.

      Six of Judah's children decided to make Calgary their permanent home: they were Abraham, Morris, Eva(Busheikin), Annie(Paperny), Bessie(Shapiro) and Billy Smith.

      The other children of Judah and Chasa Shumiatcher were Harry Smith, who ran Harry's News in Calgary before moving with his family to Vancouver;Esther(Ethyl), who married Peretz Hirschbein, a famous Yiddish poet, while he was teaching at the Calgary I.L. Peretz School, and who became a well-known author in her own right;and three remaining sisters, Fanny Ziskin, Bella Abbey and Sarah Wiener, who all pursued professional musical careers in New York.

      Judah Shumiatcher died in Calgary in 1923;his wife Chasa died much later.

      Their descendants are a vibrant part of our Jewish life today.

      Bella Singer was born in 1880 in Radom, Poland, the eighth of eleven children of Wolf Baer Switzer. In 1905 she married Abraham Singer the couple soon left to seek a better life in Canada.

      They first settled in Toronto, where their oldest son, Hymie Singer, was born. Bella and the baby returned briefly to Poland, while Abraham worked as a railway labourer, reaching Calgary in 1907. In 1910 the Singers were reunited in Calgary, where they stayed to form the base for the city's largest extended Jewish family.

      Bella first worked at the Palliser Hotel, and then ran rooming houses during the early years, while Abraham began a number of successful busi- ness ventures. He was a scrap dealer, a second-hand store operator, a Banff hotelier, and later owned a number of farming and commercial realty operations.

      Bella devoted her efforts to bringing the rest of the Switzer family from the Radom area to the safety and prosperity of Canada. She first sent tick- ets to her nephews Charlie Switzer and Saul Bleviss, who came to Calgary as a teenagers in 1912.

      Other relatives, financed and "guaranteed" by Bella Singer, followed during the post-World War I years. Each was expected to repay "Meema" Singer by bringing over other family members. Over two hundred came to Calgary during the twenties.

      Six of Bella's siblings came to Calgary: Mendel Switzer(1923);Mindell Bleviss(1927);Rifka Belzberg(1928);Jacob Switzer(1929);Meyer Switzer (1920);and Gershon Switzer(1920). Most of their children came to Calgary, as did those of Bella's sisters Sarah Aizenman and Jessie Fishman.

      The families of two of Bella's sisters, Faiga Cyngiser and Noma Farber, were largely lost in the Holocaust.

      In all, the descendants of Wolf Baer Switzer now number well over fourteen hundred, about a third still living in Calgary. All cherish the helping hand of Bella Singer, the first Switzer to come to Canada, and who in turn enabled them to reach this land of freedom and plenty.

      Bella Singer made major contributions to the Calgary Mizrachi organi- zation, and to the building of the Shaarey Tzedec Synagogue. Her son Jack and grandson Stephen Singer continue as major Calgary Philanthropists, having endowed the Jack Singer Concert Hall at the Calgary Centre for the Performing Arts.

      Abraham and Bella had four children, three were born in Calgary. They are Hymie Singer(Estelle Labelle, Ruthe Cohen) of Los Angeles;Diane