Nothing Could Stop Her: The Courageous Life of Ruth Gruber

Nothing Could Stop Her: The Courageous Life of Ruth Gruber — page 5
Chapter 1 Brooklyn Ruth Gruber was born in 1911 in what she called a shtetl a village the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn New York Her parents David and Gussie were from Russia Ruth was the fourth of their five children She had two older brothers Bob and Harry and an older sister Betty Her youngest brother Irving was born in 1916 when Ruth was five and a half years old The family lived in a small apartment above the liquor store that her father owned Ruth was a curious child who wanted to learn as much as possible about everything she saw and heard She would sit on the curb watching tired horses pull wagons filled with fruit and vegetables She'd listen to the calls of street peddlers Every day a tall man carried blocks of ice in huge iron claws up the stairs for the icebox in the Grubers apartment On his way down he would give little Ruth a piece of ice which she sucked as she watched the people on Moore Street go about their business NOTHING COULD STOP HER 8