Nurtured by Community: The Zislas’ Legacy of Relationships & Art
Nurtured by Community: The Zislas’ Legacy of Relationships & Art
Paul Zisla Reflects on His Parents’ Life in South Bend in Anticipation of Federation’s Fall Art Show
Save the date for the opening reception of the Jewish Federation of St. Joseph Valley’s Fall Art Exhibit, HAROLD ZISLA: ARTISTIC EXPLORATIONS, on Sunday, September 15, 2-4 PM. Click here for more info.
As soon as my parents, the irrepressible extroverts Harold and Doreen Zisla, moved to the South Bend area in the early 1950s, they began developing the vast and deep network of relationships that nurtured them for the remainder of their lives.
People were drawn to Harold, and he to them—people he worked with at the old Ball Band (Uniroyal) factory in Mishawaka. Staff, visitors, teachers, students, and exhibitors at the Art Center. This list also includes artists in the community, students, staff, faculty, and administrators at Indiana University South Bend, and the greens’ keeping crew and fellow golfers at Erskine, the check-out line clerks at the neighborhood grocery store, nurses, aides, and medical staff at the dialysis unit where Harold received treatment for a short period before his death. Plus, there’s a long list of others throughout the community.
It was much the same for Doreen. I could not go to a restaurant with my parents without someone—whether a customer or a server—greeting them as friends with warmth and affection.
My parents joined Temple Beth-El early on. Friendships established there provided the foundation for their vibrant social life and the social network that contributed to making South Bend a wonderful home. It was through Temple that they began gaining acceptance in South Bend, a place that at that time too often treated Jews as outsiders. These relationships established through Temple lasted, as did my parents’ sense of belonging to the Jewish community and the importance of their Jewish identity.
Harold’s place in the community, and his art, grew exponentially from those early years. The Federation exhibition honors his extraordinary and captivating work and helps place it in the context of a community that supported his unending creative production and contributed significantly to my parents having lives well-lived.
Paul Zisla
Community Contributor