05-02 Nathan Halter

Grandpa Halter was born Nathan Halter on March 21st, 1889 in Warsaw, Poland. His father was Gershom Halter, a rabbi, and his mother’s name was Bella. Bella or Belle was our mother’s name. He had an older brother Jack. When grandpa was seven, his mother died and Gershom took his two boys back to London, England (where he was born) and opened his own orthodox synagogue.
He married again and had eleven children with his second wife. He died at age 90 from a fall down stairs.
At age 14 grandpa Halter and his brother Jack emigrated to Canada, with their passage funded by the Rothschild Foundation. Both brothers found employment as busboys at the Albany Club in Toronto. Grandpa later went to work with Canada Railway News, called CARA today, selling sandwiches and coffee and whatever to travellers on the Toronto-Winnipeg run.
He married our grandmother Mille Littman in 1910, and a year later our mother Bella was born. The following year, came her sister Ray. And when mother was only three years of age, her father Nathan volunteered to fight in Europe in World War I. He became a sergeant in less than a year and was a physical education instructor.
The postcard he sent to his brother Jack from France in 1916 demonstrated the love between the two brothers and was addressed “To My Loving Brother Jack from your Loving Brother Nathan”. They were given cards by the army, and he wrote several and sent them to Canada in batches.
In another photo from France, you can see grandpa Halter kneeling in front of three of his buddies. Mother always thought Peter looked like his grandfather when he was a young man. Surprisingly when he came home in 1917 with severe disabilities, he had grown a bushy red moustache.
Grandfather did not speak Yiddish but spoke Hebrew and studied it all his life. Grandma Halter spoke Yiddish, and mother and Aunty Rae always spoke Yiddish when they were together. Grandfather was a cantor in an orthodox synagogue whereas Grandmother Halter was an atheist. The photo of grandpa taken when he was in his 40s shows him as being very handsome.
As a child, I loved going to the Shriner's Circus with my grandfather, and in Maple Leaf Gardens, you could see hundreds of other Shriners with their funny hats. "Look, Grandpa, seven elephants."
It was always a source of family joy as a child to hear Grandpa call mother and Aunty Rae his girls. Mother and Rae were inseparable until Rae was killed on New Year’s Eve, 1942. Belle and Rae had their father’s build and temperament. From the photo where mother was 18 and Aunty Rae 17, you can see they how much alike they all were.
To make extra money, our grandfather sang at weddings, and his favourite song was, "Because you come to me with not save love." To Ian and I as children, during the war, this song sounded like, "Nazi love." And whenever we picked Grandpa up in our car, Ian and I would shout out, “Grandpa, Grandpa, sing Nazi love.” That deep baritone voice was something I will never forget.