My mother, Roula Matarasso, was born in 1940 in Volos Greece. She was the only child born to Simon and Ketty (Riketta) Cohen.
After World War II began. the whole family had to go into hiding in the mountains of Volos. This was a sparsely populated area about 4 hours away from each of the two largest cities of Greece, Athens and Thessaloniki. While the family was in hiding during the war, my grandmother gave birth to my mother, Roula.
When the war was over, the family returned from hiding, back to Volos, only to find that the family business, the family home, and everything they owned was heartbreakingly gone. The family was strong, though, and started to rebuild their lives. At this time, my mom was a very young girl, less than 5 years old.
Back after the war, my mom went to a French day school, where she learned to speak and read fluently in French, already speaking Greek and Ladino Spanish in the home.
In the early 1950’s, my grandmother’s sister, Alegra, and her husband Joseph moved to Los Angeles. So, in 1955, my grandmother and grandfather decided to follow them and move with Roula – all the way from Greece – over to Los Angeles to start a new life. Shortly thereafter, the family became a member of the Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel and established roots here in Los Angeles and were members for nearly 70 years.
My mother, Roula Matarasso, was born in 1940 in Volos Greece. She was the only child born to Simon and Ketty (Riketta) Cohen.
After World War II began. the whole family had to go into hiding in the mountains of Volos. This was a sparsely populated area about 4 hours away from each of the two largest cities of Greece, Athens and Thessaloniki. While the family was in hiding during the war, my grandmother gave birth to my mother, Roula.
When the war was over, the family returned from hiding, back to Volos, only to find that the family business, the family home, and everything they owned was heartbreakingly gone. The family was strong, though, and started to rebuild their lives. At this time, my mom was a very young girl, less than 5 years old.
Back after the war, my mom went to a French day school, where she learned to speak and read fluently in French, already speaking Greek and Ladino Spanish in the home.
In the early 1950’s, my grandmother’s sister, Alegra, and her husband Joseph moved to Los Angeles. So, in 1955, my grandmother and grandfather decided to follow them and move with Roula – all the way from Greece – over to Los Angeles to start a new life. Shortly thereafter, the family became a member of the Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel and established roots here in Los Angeles and were members for nearly 70 years.
My mother, Roula Matarasso, was born in 1940 in Volos Greece. She was the only child born to Simon and Ketty (Riketta) Cohen.
After World War II began. the whole family had to go into hiding in the mountains of Volos. This was a sparsely populated area about 4 hours away from each of the two largest cities of Greece, Athens and Thessaloniki. While the family was in hiding during the war, my grandmother gave birth to my mother, Roula.
When the war was over, the family returned from hiding, back to Volos, only to find that the family business, the family home, and everything they owned was heartbreakingly gone. The family was strong, though, and started to rebuild their lives. At this time, my mom was a very young girl, less than 5 years old.
Back after the war, my mom went to a French day school, where she learned to speak and read fluently in French, already speaking Greek and Ladino Spanish in the home.
In the early 1950’s, my grandmother’s sister, Alegra, and her husband Joseph moved to Los Angeles. So, in 1955, my grandmother and grandfather decided to follow them and move with Roula – all the way from Greece – over to Los Angeles to start a new life. Shortly thereafter, the family became a member of the Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel and established roots here in Los Angeles and were members for nearly 70 years.
As a teenager, my mom went to high school here in LA and began to learn her fourth language, English. She was a standout student and was even accepted to attend UCLA, but unlike today, going to university was not the normal. In the meantime, in 1957, my mom met my father, Simon Matarasso at temple services, and they dated for several years before scheduling their wedding for March 1960.
Unfortunately, just a week before the scheduled wedding, Roula’s father died. The wedding ended up being a very subdued affair.
After getting married, my mom worked for several years at the Broadway Department stores in Downtown LA, taking the bus to work every day. My dad started to teach my mom how to drive (well, my dad taught everyone in the family how to drive!). It was part of my mom’s fierce independence, being able to get around town and take care of whatever things she needed to do, be it pick me up from school, take care of chores, or one of her favorite pastimes – shopping for clothes!
Soon my parents wanted to have a family and my mom became pregnant, but unfortunately my mom lost a child at birth. That was very difficult for my mom and dad, but thankfully, my parents tried to have a baby again and their son, Isaac (me), was born in 1967. It was at this time, my mom stopped working at The Broadway to be home full-time.
In the 1970’s, my mom took on a new hobby – needlepointing – and made dozens of intricate, beautiful hand-crafted pieces that adorned my parent’s house or that my mom made and gave as gifts to others, including a very special frame for Tio and Tia’s special surprise 25th wedding anniversary. Before the party, my mom worked on the frame every night for nearly a year’s time. I remember very clearly many times when Tio and Tia popped over to the house and my mom having to scuffle to hide all the supplies, threads and canvas before they saw the surprise! When it was all finished, it was a source of pride and joy for many, many years.
Indeed, my mom was very close with her Tia Allegra and they spoke at length EVERY day! They were best friends and so very close. They had a special relationship and could talk up a storm about anything and everything. In those years before call-waiting, you knew that if you called and there was a busy signal, it probably was because they were talking to each other. This was before cordless phones and my mom would get a very, very long phone cord so she could be on the phone with my Tia or one of her close friends while she ironed the clothes, put away paperwork, or cooked dinner.
Speaking of dinner, my mom was a great cook. She also had a great passion for making Greek and Sephardic delicacies and took great joy when others enjoyed them. She’d cook for parties, various Holidays, and family meals. One of my favorites from years back was an intricate merengue lemon cake she used to make with ladyfingers sponge biscuits.
If you grew up in my family, you also knew about her Eggplant dishes that everyone loved so much. Of course, during Passover, she’d wake up at the crack of dawn to make hundreds of Boomuelos and invite the whole extended family to come over for breakfast and partake. These later years, she’d always make pastichio and bourekas for her grandchildren Dacy and Asher, to enjoy all the time. She would have been a great Food Network star.
My mom was also very proud of her home. She learned the traditions and customs of Jewish life from her parents and grandparents, especially her grandfather, who was a moel and a shohet. She loved to prepare the home for the Jewish holidays. She continued that love for the holidays and traditions of Judaism throughout her life. For my mom, the house really was her kingdom, enjoying her ritualistic cleaning as a calming force in her life. Her home was spotless and clean no matter what!
My mom also was a special caring caretaker. For many years, making sure my Nona (Ketty) was eating right and cared for properly.
In the later years of my dad’s life, my mom would make sure he was taken care of completely as well, making sure that he followed his required diet, taking his medicines and making sure he followed any doctor’s orders.
When my dad died, a big part of my mom left as well. My parents had a very special, loving relationship that lasted nearly 60 years. They found a way to have an amazing love and care for each other. They made a very special f
Every Saturday evening, they’d join their group of friends for a nice dinner out or a poker night at one of the houses. My mom was always happy if she ended up winning a few dollars with their penny-stake poker games.
Indeed, my mom loved to go to Las Vegas with my dad and often with friends – they would enjoy walking up and down the Las Vegas strip looking for $2 blackjack tables, enjoying a nice dinner and live concert, like a Julio Iglesias performance or maybe a show like Jubilee at Bally’s.
My mom’s favorite place to vacation, though, was Hawaii. She loved to go swimming. I can’t emphasize how much she enjoyed swimming in the calm, warm ocean waters in Hawaii that reminded her of Greece. She would wake up at 6am, before the crowds and while the shoreline was calm, to go for a morning swim outside the Royal Hawaiian. My dad would often take pictures of her swimming on these early mornings. Late in the day, my mom would indulge in shopping at the ABC stores and eating a nice relaxing dinner, finished off with a Hula Pie, her favorite dessert!
She was very proud to see me have my Bar Mitzvah, graduate from UCLA and Pepperdine and be happy with my jobs. She had great joy to see me married to Deana, enjoyed our wonderful homes and was so happy to become a Nona, with the birth her two grandchildren, Dacy and Asher.
She was so proud of them, and we had regular get-togethers nearly every other weekend, like visiting Papa Cristo’s Greek Bakali, wandering around the UCLA campus for a day walk, driving up for a quick trip to Santa Barbara, going to the Factor’s Deli for sandwiches or walking around the Grove at Fairfax, enjoying the fresh air at the ocean in Santa Monica, Huntington Beach, Malibu or Redondo Beach.
As a family, we spent all the Jewish Holidays and special occasions together. My mom would always cook up a delicious meal – the holidays were festive and special.
I am also so happy she got to be part of both of their respective Bat and Bar- Mitzvahs. Dacy and Asher were a constant source of pride to her.
I also had a very special relationship with my mom. She was always willing to speak and spend time with me. Although I may have received my technical genes from my dad, from my mom I learned the value of strong negotiations, finding the best deals and making sure someone received what they deserved. While she was applying those skills to small deals at the supermarket, store or bank, I was able to use those same skills to negotiate contracts or procure equipment, positively impacting thousands of employees or sometimes even millions of customers.
From both my parents, I learned to treat people fairly and compassionately. I learned to value faith, education, family; to embrace hard work and to always be curious.
My mom was a very strong independent woman; very smart and persistent in her ways, sometimes could be really stubborn, but she always cared greatly and wanted only the best me and for everybody in the family. I could always count on her being on my side. I was very lucky to have her as my mom and will always have a special place in my heart for her. I will miss her every day.
I love you, Mom.