Sunday Dinner At Berman’s

Above ad from the 1937 Delmar, Maryland high school newsletter

In the 1930s and 1940s Berman’s Service Station and Restaurant was in operation.  Located at the intersection of Elizabeth street and Bi-State Blvd in Delmar, Maryland it was operated by two brothers; Theodore and Sidney Berman.   It was one of many gas station/diners that were on Bi-State Blvd in that time period.  They were the sons of Mr. and Mrs.  Morris Berman and had come from Russia in 1911.  Theodore would arrive in Delmar before 1930 and start the operation of the gas station and diner.  He was married to Clara Budefsky Berman and they had three children; Leon, Ronald, and Audrey.  The three children went to Delmar Maryland High School so no doubt that is the reason for the 1937 ad in the school newsletter “The Booster”.  Ronald being the last born (1940) went to Wi Hi in Salisbury.  

Sidney Berman was the younger brother and about 1935 he would marry Maggie May Mears from Crisfield. Maggie had an older sister, Mary Susan Mears, who worked in Delmar at a sewing factory.  She would marry William H Nock.   Both girls were the daughters of Gordon Henry Mears and Maria Sterling Mears.  Sidney and Maggie would have a son, Julius Leon, in 1936. 

Theodore would run the gas station and Sidney would run the diner.  Sidney would run the restaurant from 1938 to 1941 before moving to Middletown, Delaware to run another restaurant.  Theodore would move into the plumbing supply business in Salisbury owning Eastern Plumbing Supply Company.  He would remain living in Delmar.  Both brothers died young; Theodore died in 1947 at age 51 and Sidney died in 1949 at age 44.

Maggie would die in 1995 and is buried in Crisfield.  Clara would die in 1960 and is buried in Philadelphia.

Both Theodore and Sidney were Jewish.  They identified with the Jewish community in Philadelphia and Wilmington.  Both are buried in Jewish cemeteries in Wilmington (Sidney) or Philadelphia (Theodore).   In the November 1943 school newsletter it was mentioned that  “Audrey Berman spent the Jewish New Year in Philadelphia visiting her grandmother.”