Most of us like a mystery. It gives us a chance to stretch mentally as we try to find answers to questions. Some mysteries can be solved quickly; others can take years. The Great Chicken Mystery of 1945 took more than 60 years for us to solve.

Marilynn has always been an observer, even as a little girl. It was not a surprise to family and friends when she decided to become a journalist. She has the ability to remember events from long ago; what people said, what they wore, what food was served, and how it tasted. Sometimes, people are intrigued when she tells them that they wore My Sin perfume at a bar mitzvah, held at the Southern House, in 1952. Other times, they want to run and hide when she relates her impressions of their escort, who wore a tie-dyed tuxedo to their sister-in-law’s wedding in 1971. Marilynn has learned to spare the feelings of family and friends by carefully selecting the memories she chooses to trot out.

The Great Chicken Mystery was solved in 2007 when we did a talk and book signing at Temple Teferith Israel, in Winthrop, the town where we grew up …

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