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Jessica and Mike Sharkey
Mike was born and raised in Albany, New York. His education and career took him from Albany to Easton, Pennsylvania (Lafayette College), Washington D.C., Tucson Arizona (U. of Arizona), Los Angeles (where Mike and Jessica met) and finally Scottsdale. Mike currently works for the University of Phoenix as the Director of Academic Analytics. Basically, he tries to help students by playing with data, numbers, and computers. Mike has a brother who lives in South Pasadena and his parents are both remarried and living in Scottsdale.
Jessica moved from New York to Scottsdale when she was four, so she considers herself a native of the area. She graduated from Arcadia HS and attended the University of Arizona. After working in business for a year, she realized her true passion was education and completed her M.Ed at the University of Texas at Austin. After graduate school, Jessica moved to Los Angeles to become the Program Director of UCLA Hillel. However within a year she found the position of Regional Director of Admissions for the University of Arizona and her love of helping students with the college admissions process. In 2005, Jessica became an independent educational consultant and founded College Pathways of Arizona. She loves guiding high school students through their college search and application process. Jessica has a brother who lives in Phoenix, and her mom still lives in Scottsdale.
Jessica and Mike met at a University of Arizona College of Business alumni function in Los Angeles. There was a bit of destiny working for them. At the time they met, Jessica’s mother and Mike’s father were both living in Scottsdale. On their third date in L.A., they were having dinner with Mike’s mother who was visiting from New York. She said she had big news – her husband got a job in Arizona, and they were moving to Scottsdale! That just about did it. They were engaged eight months later, moved to Scottsdale, and married in November 2000.
Mike and Jessica are the proud parents of 9-year old identical twins Amanda and Danielle. They are (sort of) best friends. Amanda loves to dance and Danielle is an avid tennis player. They also inherited a nerdy love for math and science which is fostered with computer programming and Lego robots.
The Sharkey’s joined Or Chadash about a year ago – the same time that Rabbi Caplan came to the congregation. They were looking for a stronger sense of community and Or Chadash met that need in spades.
Mike wanted to let everyone know how lucky he is to have met Jessica. In addition to the whole love, family, and friendship thing…Jessica is a great partner when it comes to sports and gambling. Whether it’s watching the NCAA basketball tournament, managing their fantasy football and baseball teams, or sitting at the Pai Gow poker table in Vegas, Mike and Jessica have made a lot of great sporting memories together. Oh yeah…don’t forget to sign up for the Or Chadash Fantasy Football league that Mike commissions (if the NFL has a football season this year!).
Susi and Len Wolin
Susi and Len Wolin not only grew up in different countries, but in different decades. Susi from Montreal, Canada is a baby boomer, Len from Brooklyn, New York a pre-war child.
Susi’s parents were from Vienna, Austria and immigrated to Canada via England and Scotland. Susi’s brother, born in Glasgow, still lives in Montreal with his family. Len’s parents were second generation Americans descended from Russian Jews who made their way to America, one small village at a time. Len has a brother, who although born in Brooklyn as well, now resides in Dallas, Texas.
Len studied at Trinity College in Hartford, CT and traveled to Basel, Switzerland to attend medical school. He settled in Ann Arbor, Michigan and opened his own practice. In the meantime, Susi was exploring Canada and in 1982 was offered a position with a firm in Arizona. The choice to be weighed – “winters in Toronto or summers in Phoenix”! It was an easy decision and she has been here ever since.
In 2003, Susi and Len found themselves single and interested in finding serious relationship partners. Len was still living in Ann Arbor. They filed their profiles on J-Date, the Jewish computer social network and somehow, through all those listings, Len found Susi and a romance began. They were married in March 2004.
Susi has two children from a previous marriage. Her son, “Lenny“, is a securities broker living in Chicago and her daughter, Toni, will be graduating with a business degree from the University of Arizona this coming May. Len has three married children living across the country. David an attorney in Miami, Eric a museum installation chair at the Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem and Sara coordinates an after school children’s program in Park City. Together Susi and Len share the joys of 6 grandchildren.
Len is now retired and keeps himself busy playing golf and puttering. In addition, he is a certified desert landscaper and often responds to queries from his friends at Terravita. Susi is still working managing a branch of Edward Jones. To relax, she practices yoga and enjoys crocheting baby blankets.
Susi and Len joined Or Chadash in 2010. They are quoted as saying that “finding Or Chadash has been a true blessing in their lives. It is the total package; i.e. Rabbi Caplan, Cantor Ruth, the services and each and every member they have met has added a new dimension to their celebration of Yiddishkeit.”
Billie and Marvin Racowsky
Billie was born and raised in Chicago and, in her teen years, Kansas City, MO. She was one of four children born to Shirley and Julius Cohen. Billie has two brothers, Harvey and Alan, who currently reside in Texas and a sister Eileen living in Palm Desert, CA. Marvin was born to Lottie and Sam Racowsky and raised in St. Louis along with his sister Judy.
Billie went to nursing school at Jewish Hospital School of Nursing in St. Louis and met Marvin at Hillel on the Washington niversity campus. Marvin, who had joined the Air Force after his first year of college at the University of Missouri, had just returned and rejoined university life. It was not love at first sight, but when they kept running into each other they decided that destiny had other plans.
Only six months after returning from military service, Marvin lost his father to a heart attack. After Billie graduated from nursing school in 1969 she started working as an RN in the first ICU in St. Louis, MO. Later that year Billie and Marvin married, and two months later Marvin’s mother passed away. From there the newly married couple went to Duke University and the University of Alabama where Marvin completed his Physician Assistant degree while Billie worked in Coronary ICU and ER as well as on hypertension and heart research programs. After Marvin graduated and took a position in Des Moines, IA, Billie transferred to the University of Iowa where she also completed her Physician Assistant degree.
Because physician assistants were not widely accepted in the early 1970s, Marvin and Billie worked in predominantly smaller communities. First was Chariton, IA (population 5000), then two years and one child later they moved to Portales, NM (population 12,000) where their second child was born. During their stay in Portales, Marvin and Billie also acted as crisis foster care parents and, interestingly, recently reconnected to one of them on Facebook. In 1984, an opportunity to practice in Arizona opened, and Billie took a staff position in the ER of Maricopa County Hospital while Marvin continued in private Family Practice.
Billie’s parents followed her to Arizona in the mid-1980s and lived in Leisure World until her dad’s death in 1999. Her mom now lives in an assisted living center in Scottsdale.
Marvin and Billie raised two children. Sandon, 35, lives in Chandler and writes computer programs and trades stocks and commodities. Layne, 32, has a Master’s degree in theater and directing; she is currently teaching for a performing arts school and serving as educational director for the Arizona Jewish Theater Company. Neither are married, so there are no grandchildren yet.
In 1991, Billie saw an opportunity to open her own ER staffing company, and Emergency Care Resource Inc. was born. In 1997, another opportunity arose, and the Racowskys and a couple of partners opened their first urgent care center which has since grown to six locations throughout the Phoenix area. Billie and Marvin are still working both in clinical and administrative positions at Advanced Urgent Care as well as assisting with training and mentoring PA students and new graduates.
Billie and Marvin had been 20-year members of Temple Beth Sholom in Mesa where Billie served in many board positions. But when the Rabbi was asked to leave abruptly, they expressed their dissatisfaction by resigning their membership. Several years later they were feeling lonely and looking for other empty nesters when Allen and Judy Silberman introduced them to the Socialites and Or Chadash. The warmth and community enticed them to join three years ago, and since then they have tried to assist with synagogue projects as much as time allows. They also enjoy cruises, spending time with family and friends, theater, movies and playing cards–especially Skipo.
Tricia and Andy Beran
Tricia grew up in White Plains, NY. Andy grew up in Ardmore, PA and moved to Israel during High School. They both attended Dartmouth College where they met, didn’t like each other, eventually saw the light, moved in together, and got married right after graduation. They were married in Harrison, NY and lived for a while in Manhattan and Chicago. Tricia studied briefly at JTS in NYC, and both Tricia and Andy have MBA degrees.
Tricia’s Mom lives in Rye. Her dad passed away in 1999. Andy’s folks live in Rockville, MD. They have two daughters—both living in Connecticut—at least for now. Miriam (22) is a Volvo automotive technician in Hartford, CT. Shana (27) is a doctor of clinical psychology working at the Child Guidance Center in Stamford, CT. Andy’s sisters live in Rockville and Ra’anana, Israel, and Tricia’s siblings live in Los Angeles, Seattle and New York.
Tricia and Andy both ended up working for Intel—Tricia in Purchasing and IT for 10 years and Andy in Finance and Operations for over 20 years. While working for Intel they lived in Chandler, Albuquerque, Sacramento and Israel. After leaving the good life at Intel, they started their own business making signs. In 2008, they sold their business and, just this summer, Andy and Ken Fuller bought Quality Transport Services of Arizona, a non-emergency medical transport company. The Berans love to travel and on one trip literally traveled around the world with both children over the course of three months. They “have a restless nature” and are always looking for their next travel adventure.
Tricia and Andy attended their first service at Congregation Or Chadash about five years ago and immediately felt welcomed into the Or Chadash family. Andy has chaired the facilities committee and currently serves on the Board as Ritual VP. Tricia has served on the education committee and now serves on the hospitality committee as well as co-chairing the ritual committee with Andy. Since becoming involved at the congregation, they have developed many of their closest friendships with Or Chadash congregants and, with their increased involvement in synagogue life, they have enjoyed themselves even more. Andy and Tricia also vounteer with SCORE (organization providing free mentoring and training for small businesses), Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and AIPAC.
