L'Dor V'dor: Dave Derrow is Patriarch
of Four Generations of JCC Members

He remembers the exact date very clearly - June 24, 1963.

The newspapers were heralding Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space who had just returned to earth five days earlier aboard the Vostok 6. Coca-Cola had just introduced its first diet drink, Tab; Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique was on bookstands; Tony Bennett's newest hit, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," was on the car radio; and Dr. No, the first James Bond movie was playing in theaters. The Cold War was raging, and a special "hot line" communications link between Washington and Moscow was opened to reduce the risk of accidental nuclear war. ZIP (Zone Improvement Plan) Codes were being introduced in the U.S. to speed up mail deliveries. Dr. Martin Luther King was preparing to deliver his "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in two months; President John F. Kennedy would be assassinated in Dallas within five months; and by the end of the year, Beatlemania was to hit the U.S., when the "Fab Four" released I Wanna Hold Your Hand.

But for David Derrow, the date June 24, 1963 sticks in his mind as the day on which his wife, Muriel, and their five children joined him in Columbus after packing up their home in Fairlawn, New Jersey. In February, Dave had purchased the Ohio Transmission Company in Columbus, which sold and serviced mechanical and electrical power transmission equipment for factories. Muriel stayed behind in Fairlawn until their children finished the school year and their home had sold.

The Derrows had a lot to do. They had to settle into their new house on Spartan Drive in Berwick, and had to get their children - ages 3 1/2 to 14 - ready to start Summer Camp at the JCC the following week. It was important to them that they connect with the Columbus Jewish community as quickly as possible.

"The fact that we had five children, we were preparing for Bar and Bat Mitzvot for the next 10 years," he said.

"Growing up, the town my family and I lived in - Ridgefield Park, New Jersey - had virtually no Jewish people," said Dave. "I had to be taken to Passaic, N.J., to go to a cheder for my Bar Mitzvah - and that was only for six months before I was Bar Mitzvahed."

"When we moved to Berwick, we were living a mile away from the JCC," he said. "I had made arrangements for the kids to be enrolled in the Summer Camp. So they arrived on the 24th and the next week, the camps opened. So the kids went right to camp. They didn't come in as strangers into a school, because the school was closed. But they got to know the kids who would be their classmates during the summer."

Derrow said the result was that the Center became key to the family being introduced and accepted into the community. "Because of what the Center did for us, I decided that whatever free time I would have, I would devote to the JCC," he said. "I volunteered for committees, and then became the Board's Vice President of Programming, and in 1971, became JCC President."

At the time, the JCC was housed in the "old" building (built in the late 1940s). "During the time I was Board President, we began drawing up plans for the new Center. We needed to try and create a Center that could answer the needs of the Jewish community, which was growing steadily," said Dave.

"One of the first hurdles we faced was that the JCC was closed on Shabbat," he said. "In response to calls from the community, we wanted to open the center on Shabbat, but we still needed to make sure that - as a Jewish institution - it remained Jewish in its intent and purpose."

"We needed to get approval from the rabbinate, but they were opposed to the Center being opened on Shabbat. We even had picketers in front of the Center," he said. "I understood their basic reasoning, and that was by having the Center open, it would be one more avenue for children and families not to go to services."

"But, eventually we came to a consensus where we could open and still be a meaningful Jewish institution while lessening the affect on the rabbinate," said Dave. That decision holds true today, as the JCC is open on Saturdays from 1:30 to 6 p.m. Then, as now, there is no exchange of money taking place during Shabbat.

The second major challenge, he said, was deciding where the new JCC should be located. "Because the Jewish community was moving further East, we had a fight over whether to move the Center to the Eastern suburbs as well," he said. "So, we gathered all of the data we could, and found that the largest concentration of Jews remained in Bexley and Berwick - and, at that time - Driving Park. So, we overcame that and decided to keep the Center at the College Avenue location."

Perhaps the biggest challenge Dave faced while Board President was the beginning of the fundraising process for the new building (which was completed in 1983). And it wasn't the usual challenges that fundraisers confront. The 1973 oil crisis, followed by the 1979 energy crisis and the economic recession from 1980-82, made fundraising even more difficult.

"However, those recessions were not anywhere near the depth of what is going on today," said Dave. "In today's economy, we have a situation where a portion of retirement funds are disappearing. And that portion is usually the portion that can be used for donations."

"Over the years, though, we always have been able to raise funds one way or another - either through major gifts or appealing to the general community," he said. "The question is what kind of funding is available. The recession - as far as employment - is still with us, and waiting until it's over won't help."

"What I've discovered is that waiting produces virtually nothing. When the need is there, you need to capitalize on that need and make the ability to contribute available to everyone. That is what produces results," said Dave.

"All agency executives have the same problem, and that is trying to create the feeling that the institution is worth backing," he said. "If truth be told, most of the institutions we have are worth backing."

During his tenure, the Center capitalized on the fact that "we were the only after-school and weekend institution for Jewish children. That is still the case," he said.

"The JCC is worth backing for many reasons," said Dave. "It is the only institution in the city which focuses its services on preschool through retirement. There are programs at the JCC for every group within the Jewish community. That's what makes it worthwhile, and those things haven't changed at all. Where else are you going to have that kind of situation?"

Over the years, Dave also has served on the Board of the Columbus Jewish Federation, was Board Vice President at Jewish Family Services, and is a Past President of the Columbus Jewish Historical Society.

"The most gratifying part of being the JCC President was to see that the Center continued to grow in terms of its services to both the Jewish community and the community at large," he said. "At the time, about 15 percent of the members were non-Jewish, but again, where else could people of moderate means have a place that was safe for their children on afternoons and weekends? The parents became members, and that's how the Center came to be known in the non-Jewish community."

Dave is the patriarch of four generations of Derrows to be members at the JCC. His son, Charles (one of the five siblings who moved from New Jersey in 1963), was the second generation, followed by his son, Solomon.

Solomon and his wife, Catherine, have had two of their children - Dovra and Gabrielle - attend the JCC Preschools. They soon will be followed by their little brother, Rafael. Despite their now living in Powell, the Derrows make the drive each day to New Albany to make sure their children receive a Judaic education.

"The best thing about the JCC Preschools is its Judaic curriculum. The kids have learned a lot about Judaism, and everyone at the preschool is so welcoming. It is very endearing," said Sol. "Now that our eldest daughter is attending the Columbus Jewish Day School, she is literally right down the hall from her little sister in the JCC New Albany preschool."

Sol said that his father, Charles, worked at Camp Hoover as the Water Sports Coordinator when he was growing up. Today, Charles continues to work out at the JCC on a regular basis.

"When I was a kid, we used to spend all day Sunday at the JCC, with sports and art classes," he said. "That was our gym, and we appreciated the community aspect of it. Today, we still come to the JCC for events, such as the recent Community Hanukkah Hop."

"The JCC is the community hub," said Sol. "And you really see it at events such as the Hanukkah Hop, where you have members of the Orthodox community coming together with those who have more liberal views on Judaism, and everyone is having a great time. You see everyone coming together at one community event - and that can only happen at the JCC."