'Wonderful journey' out West

Since moving from the East Coast in 1984, Sylvia Farber has become a star in lives of S.F. kids

Ana Pacheco | For The New Mexican

9/29/2008 - 9/1/08

In 1984, Sylvia Farber, 90, was busy commuting from her hometown in Philadelphia to her bookkeeping job in Boston when she decided it was time to become a bobeleh, the Yiddish word for grandmother. So she moved to Santa Fe to care for the young children of her son, Steven Farber, a local attorney who represented District 2 on the Santa Fe City Council from 1992 to 1996.

Having lived her entire life back East, coming to Santa Fe has been quite an adventure for Farber. "My move from East to West has been a wonderful journey, just like a Zane Grey story," she says.

Farber's presence in Santa Fe has been a blessing not only for her son and his children but also for hundreds of other children as well. Since 1995, Farber has participated as a foster grandparent in the Santa Fe Public Schools in a program sponsored by the city. For the past 13 years, she has assisted Dolores Valdez Pong with her second-grade class at Carlos Gilbert Elementary. "Each day for four hours in the morning, I read to the children, I make costumes for their performances and I do whatever I can to help out," she says.

Farber was also on hand when the Santa Fe Children's Museum opened in 1989, volunteering her time one afternoon a week in the museum's store. During that time, she also worked as a bookkeeper for the Speedway chain store and later the Original Trading Post on San Francisco Street.

Farber was born July 26, 1918, in Philadelphia to Sophie Goldberg and Phillip Galperin. Her parents emigrated from Russia in 1914. She married Isadore Farber in 1944 and had two sons, Stephen and Jeffrey. For 17 years, the couple operated the Irving Market in Philadelphia, a block from Temple University. In 1961, her husband died of a heart attack, and Farber continued to run the store for six more years. During that time, her sister-in-law also died, so she took in the woman's three sons and raised them as well.

In addition to her work as a foster grandparent, Farber has been an avid hiker for many years. When she lived in Philadelphia, she was a member of the Horseshoe Club. "We were responsible for maintaining 10 miles on the Appalachian Trail," she says.

Since she's been in New Mexico, she has been a member of the Sierra Club and has hiked many of the state's numerous trails, as well as the Grand Canyon. In 1988, while hiking in Abiquiú, she took a terrific fall. "I didn't break any bones, but I was black-and-blue for weeks," she says. It was around that time that Farber decided she needed to curtail her hiking activities. "I began to notice that the younger ones were leaving me behind and I was walking alone," she says.

Although Farber no longer hikes, she walks twice a day for 20 minutes. Between her daily exercise and working at Carlos Gilbert, she spends as much time as she can with her six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. A member of Temple Beth Shalom, Farber is busy making honey-apple cake and other treats for her family for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which began at sundown Monday.

When asked how long Santa Fe's children will continue to be blessed by Farber's mentoring as a foster grandparent, she replies, "As long as God gives me another day. I take it one day at a time."

Ana Pacheco is the founder and publisher of La Herencia, a culture and history magazine (www.herencia.com, 505-474-2800). Her weekly tribute to our community elders appears every Tuesday.