Short autobiography of Joseph Press

The autobiography

• Ten years in Bay Minette
• School and early work in Pasadena
• World War II
• Community service and work at a unique underground warehouse in Kansas City
• Retirement in Palm Springs.

The warehouse was underground in a quarry. The quarry was run by "Scotty" Scott,
left, and Ted Barbon, right, was the refrigeration engineer.

Ohio State University Hillel Faculty Appreciation Tribute for Professor Louis Nemzer

On May 4, 1970, National Guard troops opened fire on demonstrators protesting the Vietnam war at Kent State University, killing four and wounding nine students. Demonstrations spread and the Ohio State University campus was shut down From May 7th to 18th, Ohio. These photos are of Luis Nemzer, a beloved professor and campus leader calming demonstrators later in the month. They are from a tribute written by his grandson and namesake who was a graduate student at Ohio State in 2008. 

(A personal note -- he was my uncle and a wise, kind man. Larry)

Bay Minette

Census pages from 1920 and 1930, short notes on the Press and Plotka families, and records from the Industrial Removal Office which moved urban Jews to rural areas of the country. The Presses and Plotkas went to Bay Minette, Alabama.

Census pages (from John Press)

• 1920
• 1930 page 1
• 1930 page 2

Notes (from Dan Nemzer)

• Press family
• Plotka family

Industrial Removal Office (IRO) record at the Center for Jewish History (from John Press)

Press, Is. 

Spouse's Name: Rivka 

Date of Relocation: 3/24/1913

Relocated to: Bay Minette, AL Box: 11

Ledger Page: 202, Entry: 35948 

There is no entry for the Plotka family.

1913 IRO ledger record (from John Press)

• Press record
• Ledger page left
• Ledger page, right

Notes from Edie and others

• The Press Family in Alabama
• Notes by Dan, John and Larry
• Notes from the Press family tree
• The Plotka Family in Alabama
• Memories of Morris Plotka

Press family 1923

Plotka-Press reunion in Mobile AL, May 2008

One afternoon, many of us drove (on a new highway) to Bay Minette. We did find the original house (on North Hand Avenue) and carefully walked inside it. (Loose floorboards). It seemed like a cabin to me. The house was not occupied then. Since then, it was torn down. Dan