They’re not twins, but sisters Barbara Nieder and Joyce Persky sure are wired alike. One lives in Cherry Hills Village and the other in Highland Park, Ill., but the days when they’ve bought the same dress, cooked the same meal or told the same joke happen more often than not.
This they discover in the phone calls they place to each other several times a day.
So when Barbara was nominated for Rocky Mountain chapter of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America’s Woman of Distinction award, the selection committee instinctively knew she’d never accept unless her sister was included.
Barbara’s son, Brian, was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 1993, and the minute Barbara connected with the CCFA, Joyce did, too. Whenever there was a chapter fundraiser, Joyce would fly to Denver from Illinois to attend. And, as a fifth-generation life member of Hadassah, she became a major benefactor of the Crohn’s disease/ulcerative colitis research conducted at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem.
“Mom gives where her heart feels connected,” explained Joyce’s daughter, Laura Immergluck, one of the “Illinois delegation” that came in for the presentation ceremony emceed by Stephanie Riggs and held at Denver Country Club. Riggs, a former CBS4 anchor now producing her own television specials, has a sister with Crohn’s.
Also in from the Chicago area were Joyce’s partner, Alan Miller, and friends Rochelle Lichterman and Deanna Mendietta. Barb’s husband, Bob; sons, Brian and Brad and their wives, Sara and Robyn, were there, too, along with her friend of 40-plus years, Lois Crelman of Scottsdale.
Barb also is a longtime performer with the National Council of Jewish Women Children’s Traveling Theatre that has entertained in the Denver Public Schools for more than 50 years, and members Evelyn Barash, Betty Jaffee, Bernice Coggan, Glenda Kaufman, Iris Zucker, Merrily Wallach, Sheila Bluestein, Toots Siegal, Flo Lesser and Norma Sierota were there to congratulate their friend.
Others on hand for the celebration were Cynthia Wax, president of the CCFA board; Marlene Siegel and her mom, Zelda Gutman; Arlene Hirschfeld; Debi Tepper and her mother, Goldie Ellensweig; Mary Sue Hawk; Doug and Lisa Granat (he was president of CCFA’s Carol Fisher chapter in Chicago, and the couple now lives in Niwot with their three children); Joanne Cohen; Andy and Susie Linkow; Rachelle Gross; Harriet Saper; Rose Saper; Marilyn Kopelman; Peggy Nance; Ricky Safer; Lisa Hamilton and her 15-year-old daughter, Megan, a CCFA Youth Ambassador; and the chapter’s executive director, Matt Yeingst.
Society editor Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com; also,
