Freda Kaminer

In May 1959 my husband, children and I arrived in Woods Hole on the one carriage train from New York, having disembarked there after weeks on steamships. Our journey began from our home in Johannesburg, South Africa -- our destination, this quiet little village. My late husband, Benjamin Kaminer, on a one-year sabbatical from his teaching position at a medical school, would be working with Dr. Albert "Prof" Szent-Gyorgyi in the Institute for Muscle Research at the MBL. We had been planning to make a permanent move from South Africa after returning from the States. Our opposition to the apartheid government made remaining there untenable. Leaving family and friends would be difficult. South Africa is my country of birth. We were ready though to decide on a place and a country, perhaps England, after the year in Woods Hole. We did not conceive as we stepped off the train that we would not leave Woods Hole as planned.

As the year came to an end, it became clear we had already made the permanent move. The community, MBL and the wonderful environment our children, Brian and Lauren, had at the Woods Hole School -- the beauty and sea, all answered the question of where. My husband remained on at the MBL, which in winter during that period consisted of a relatively small, close group of scientists, technicians and dedicated support staff that would maintain the institution for decades to come. Everyone's children from the interwoven community were together in the school. We lived here year-round for about ten years until my husband took a position at Boston University School of Medicine. I commuted to Woods Hole as needed for my work and we enjoyed weekends here often. We returned in the summers. My husband continued with research at the MBL. My work remained based here.

I had obtained an architectural degree at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. In those days it was a struggle within the profession for women architects. I found employment with an architect in Woods Hole soon after we arrived. I then developed my own practice designing houses in Woods Hole; doing alterations on residences and of a few Woods Hole buildings. I was also working over a period of time at a firm in Falmouth concentrating on commercial projects located in Massachusetts. Designing and modifying homes for clients in Woods Hole and the surrounding area continued until I retired at seventy-eight. My husband also retired around that time and we returned to Woods Hole to live year-round.

Watching the village change and grow -- looking back, so much has remained the same. The fascinating work and creativity throughout the community; decades long friendships and the many pleasures of the surrounding ocean.