Marion Arvedon
Marion Arvedon (née Levine) was born and raised in Malden, Massachusetts, the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who settled in the Boston area after arriving through Ellis Island in the early twentieth century. Her father, a resourceful entrepreneur, worked in a cigar factory as a child laborer before building a series of businesses in milk delivery, bicycles, radios, and televisions, and also helped found Congregation Beth Israel in Malden; her mother maintained a close-knit household and remained active in community and religious life. Arvedon attended Malden public schools and later studied in the Practical Arts and Letters program at Boston University. She married Arthur Arvedon during the early years of World War II and experienced a prolonged separation while he served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Theater. After the war, the couple settled in the Boston area, eventually making their home in Newton, where they raised two sons. Throughout her life, Arvedon was active in volunteer and civic organizations, including Hadassah, the Brandeis University Women’s Committee, and Temple Reyim.
Marion Arvedon documents her family’s immigration from Eastern Europe to the United States in the early twentieth century, including detailed accounts of her parents’ upbringing in Poland/Russia, their journeys through Ellis Island, and early settlement experiences in the Boston area. Arvedon describes her father’s progression from child labor in a cigar factory to entrepreneurship in milk delivery, bicycles, radios, and televisions, and her parents’ role in founding Congregation Beth Israel in Malden. She describes her childhood in Malden, education in local schools and at Boston University’s Practical Arts and Letters program, and reflections on family life, religion, and community values during the interwar and Depression periods. Arvedon also recounts her marriage to Arthur Arvedon, the wartime separation during his naval service in World War II, and the postwar life of raising a family in Newton, Massachusetts. Additional topics include women’s volunteerism through organizations such as Hadassah and the Brandeis University Women’s Committee, intergenerational family relationships, travel and connections to relatives in Israel, and reflections on aging, technological change, and shifting community dynamics within religious institutions.
The views expressed in these interviews are solely those of the speakers and do not reflect the positions of JWA or its affiliates.
