From Ariel Garten (Granddaughter):
Chaja was born in the small town of Wielovisz, Poland 1917.
Mayer was born the same year, some miles down the road, in Plavo (now annexed to Stelova Vola).
As children they'd go to visit one another every now and again, for the holidays or otherwise. Chaja's mother was Mayer's mother's sister. Mayer recalled visiting Chaja for the holiday as her mother would be cooking and preparing for it. He once had a hole in his pants that ripped on his bicycle, and recalls his aunt chastising him for it, and probably sew it up.
Meyer would regularly recall the flavour of a candy that Chaja gave him when they were young, it seemed to be a memory of the sweetness between them.
World War 2 broke out in Poland, and wreaked havoc among the jews, killing much of the Jewish population. By chance and force of will, both Chaja and Mayer survived, Mayer in labour camp in freezing Siberia, Chaja on the opposite end of the USSR, living in a hut with 15 people in labour in Uzbekestan.
From Rosalie Farb (nee Garten, Chaja and Meyer's daughter):
After the war Chaja and Mayer went back home to Poland.
The Poles had taken over their farms and homes, and were killing the returning Jews.
Mayer and Chaja found each other and were married On July 12, 1946
Chaja and Mayer, Sam and Saul were smuggled into Germany in a truck. (not sure who else,) as American troops were stationed there.
They ended up in Tempelhof, the airport in Berlin, that became a displaced persons' camp, and that is where I was born on May 27, 1947.
I have seen pictures of Saul and Anna, my mother's brother and sister in law in the photos, so they must have been there, too, along with Esther and Max, my dad's sister and brother in law who moved to Israel.
My parents applied to go to Israel, USA and Canada. They needed tailors in Canada, so my dad said he was a tailor, and when the supervisors changed shifts, he cut off the pocket he was sewing, unsuccessfully, and showed the replacing supervisor, the pocket above, that was sewn by a real tailor , and that is how we got into Canada.
We came by boat ,The Battory, arriving in Halifax around March of 1949. All they had with them was me and two diamonds.
The Frosts, were sponsored by Moishe (Moses) Frost's relatives, and were already in Toronto.
We first were sponsored by JIAS and lived in an apartment.
Later My dad and the Frosts bought a house together on 54 or 56 ? Major Street, just north of College. Shifrah Frost was my dad's sister. They owned 2/3 and we owned 1/3 of the house. That was where we lived when Irving was born at the Mt. Sinai Hospital on Yorkville on Jan. 3, 1951. Aunt Betty Goldfarb gave birth to her daughter, Rosalie on that very same day.
My dad used to take my baby carriage and fill it with products to repair and paint houses, and went up and down the street knocking on people's doors asking for work.
He attended night school to learn English.
My mother used to work in a factory.
After a while, Mayer bought a truck and a home we owned on our own on 349 Clinton. We had borders who lived upstairs, the Korals and another time the Markins. Both families were always very close to my parents.
Later we moved across the street, north of Bloor to 372 Clinton, where Irving used to go to Christie Pitts and climb up the trees. It was my job to find him.
In 1955 Mayer had a heart attack and was hospitalized for 3 months. He was 38.
After he recovered, we moved to a butcher shop on Dupont at Ossington, and Chaja and Mayer sold meat and we lived upstairs.
That venture was unsuccessful and shortly after we moved to a bungalow on 318 Whitmore Avenue when I was in grade 3, in 1955, and I attended John R. Wilcox.
Around that time Mayer and John Sustaczek and Frank Rak became partners, their business known as SRG Construction. They would renovate houses and eventually built 2 and 4 Superior, on the Lakeshore.
John and Frank each had 36% of the company and Mayer had 34%. (When Frank died they bought out his widow, Anna Rak and John and Mayer became equal partners in S&G Construction.)
They built two triplexes at 404 and 406 Whitmore. We owned and lived in 406 and had tenants living upstairs and downstairs, and 404 Whitmore was sold.
We lived there till around 1962, when my dad and John built a bungalow on 72 Prue Avenue, on a lot my parents had purchased for about $16,500. a year earlier. Chaja and Mayer lived there with Rosalie and Irving.
Chaja passed on Dec. 9, 2009 and Mayer on Jan 26, 2012. The house was sold by Mayer and was probated after his death.
They spawned 2 children, Rosalie Farb and Irving Garten (named after Chaja's parents), 4 Grandchildren (Ariel and Joel Garten, Matthew and Daniel Farb) and 7 (soon to be 8) great-grandchildren.