From Fonda Sera:

I think that house on montgomery place was the one owned by cyril
golodner who, with her husband, raised their family there.i met cyril
quite a while ago, right after her husband passed away.

Her daughter
from way out of town had ordered flowers from me for mothers day and Cyril made her way down to the shop to tell me…in a really unpleasant
way…. just how much she didn’t like them.

I don’t know how i did it
but instead of getting all defensive and bent out of shape, i was able
to see how lonely she was and whatever i did, she left smiling. over
the next 10 years we became pretty familiar. she’d come to the shop and
ask me to fill a small vase when one of her kids was coming to visit.we
always had long conversations while i put the flowers together. she was
smart, funny, tough. i liked her alot. when she decided to put the
house on the market we had a long talk about how that felt for
her…..hard, and sad.

i heard she died recently, she’d moved away and
lost touch. so i am thinking of her right now and can just see her face
and hear that bark of a laugh she had…."6 million plus". yeah…you
go girl.

If it’s not cyril’s house then, gilda ratner it…."never mind"

From Bob Apfel

Fonda is right. It was Cyril’s and Harry Golodner’s house one owner before the most recent one.

When my wife and I moved to the Slope we knocked on heir door and
asked if we might purchase the house, since it had an elevator (and we
physically couldn’t handle the stairs in a brownstone).

Harry was a quasi-retired cardiologist who was in his late 70’s or early 80’s at the time (this was back in the mid-1990’s). 

He and Cyril had lived in the house for about 30-40 years. They
raised their kids in the house…In fact, the childrens’ rooms were
still decorated just as they had been when the kids went off to college.

We visited the elderly couple about half-a-dozen times, to both
"size up" the house…and perhaps convince the Golodners that they
should sell the house to us….take the money…and travel to Spain and
other destinations that they said they’d like to spend some time in.

During our visits to the Golodners we dragged along our daughters
hoping that the elderly couple would conclude that our "traditional
looking family" would be well housed in their abode. These visits
turned into pleasant social calls that we enjoyed (as did Harry,
especially). He was proud of his house and enjoyed showing it off.

Harry loved the house and despite Cyril’s desire to "see the world"
or perhaps move to an apartment near Lincoln Center (they loved
attending concerts) Harry …. with a smile….finally concluded that he
would have to die in the house. Yes, he concluded that this was to be
his destiny.

"Come back when I’m dead….and the house will be yours," he joked.   

In the spirit of humourous conversation with an old "trickster heart surgeon" I asked, "When will be that be Harry?"

With a smile, he responded, "Four years."

I am not sure when Harry passed on….but it might have been just
about four years after the date of that conversation in the beautful
vestibule of his house.

We had an immediate need for a house, so we bought a house around
the corner on Garfield Place where we have lived happily ever after.

I am sad to learn of Cyril’s passing.

I hope that she did have a chance to get out and see the world
beyond that which was visible from her bedroom on the second floor of
45 Montgomery.