The Family of Efroim and Malka Koonin
Malka Koonin and Family
Here is the family in a portrait of the family, probably dating from the 1920s. On the left is Harry followed by Malka, Rhoda, Jesse, Sadie and Abram (“Ted”)
Efroim and Malka's children
Jesse Koonin Silverstone
Jessie was the eldest daughter of Alfred and Malka Koonin. She was born shortly after they arrived in Cape Town. Her proud mother would write to her relatives in Belarus about the achievements of Jessie in beauty competitions. Jessie married Lou Silverstone and they had two sons, Conrad and Alfred.
Harry Koonin
Harry was born in 1906. He was a dentist and practiced in Maitland for most of his working life. He married Bea Kravitz and had two children: Alfred and Pamela.
Rhoda Koonin von Arb
Rhoda was the second daughter of Alfred and Malka. She went to Normal College, a school on Roeland Street, in Cape Town, South Africa. She married Arnold von Arb in 1945. She worked at Cape Town’s Morning Market for a firm called Fine Brothers where she held a senior position. Sadly, she died in 1954 when a car she was riding in skidded into the harbor on a rainy night. She died with a coworker, Mr. K.T. Gittins.
Sadie Koonin Levin
Sadie was the third daughter of Alfred and Malka. She was married to Cecil Levin who ran a store near the gold mines in Johannesburg South Africa. She and Cecil had three children: Isa, Arlene and Lenore “Lee”. Sadly Arlene died as a child from meningitis.
Abram "Ted" Koonin
Ted was the youngest of Alfred and Malka’s children. He was a mischievous child known for spying on his sisters and their boyfriends. He married Hester (“Joy”) Bartlett and they had three children: Keith, Clifford and Eugene.