Hi today I want to talk about one of my favorite people to ever live. Clara Knopfler, my foreign grandmother.

I met Clara at a Hillel event on campus because I was the only French major at the time and she used to be a French teacher, so we were introduced immediately

My senior year, I started helping her out in her apartment once every two weeks. During this time I got to know her and she became a huge part of my life. I would help her go through her things, closets, books, and letters

I knew she was a Holocaust survivor and had written a book about her story, but most of our conversations were about learning/teaching French, the boys in my life, and my plans after graduation.

I was never allowed to leave her place without her feeding me plenty of snacks. As she told me multiple times “I went hungry once, and now no one will go hungry around me.” While I ate, she would share stories about moving from Romania to NYC

We discovered that she happened to be teaching French at a high school about 45 mins away from where my parents went to college, at the time they were students there.

At the time of this picture, I had broken my foot two days earlier and when she saw me, she yelled at me for hurting myself. This was also the time I told her I was moving to France to teach English. She was being remembered at a Holocaust Rememberance Day event

I don’t know where I’m going with this thread but I’m so lucky to have meet Clara and get to know her the way that I did, as a wonderful woman who helped me pick out my formal dress and who celebrated all my accomplishments. I love her with my whole heart