When the gravediggers realized who was in the casket in front of them, they cried harder than we did

Beth Perkel, as told by Shira Gold

My mother knew firsthand what it meant for a child to do without. Born in a DP camp, she grew up as an only child, and lost her father at the tender age of 13. From that point on, her mother had to constantly scrimp to get by.

This experience made my mother extra sensitive to the needs of children; she never wanted them to feel hungry or unsafe. And it was because of this empathy that she made a weekly kiddush Hashem, helping a group of burly Irish veterans put food on the table and feed their children over the course of many years.

The story began at a literal crossroads. That crossroads was Boston’s South Station during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the setting was a branch of a major Boston bank located on the train station’s upper level. Back then, the Gravediggers Union of Boston gave out its paychecks on Thursdays. This left the hard-working, often downtrodden workers with minimal opportunity to cash their checks in time for the weekend. Debit cards and ATMs were just coming out, and credit cards weren’t in everyone’s wallets back then. Bank branches were the only way for these workers to get cash to put food on the table for their families.

Because South Station was the heart of the local train route, almost all trains passed through it, so the bank branch on its upper level was the ideal location for the gravediggers to cash their checks. Many of them raced to make it there after work on Thursday or before work on Friday. Thursday evening was challenging because they had to commute from outside the city and didn’t always get to the bank before closing time, and Friday morning was stressful because they needed to be out of the bank and on their way quickly so they wouldn’t be late for work.

My mother, the head bank teller, realized that unless she kept the branch open longer just for them on Thursday nights, many of the men wouldn’t be able to cash their paychecks and would struggle to feed their children over the weekend.