Interview transcript
Ms. PRIYA MORGENSTERN: I’m Priya Morgenstern.
Mr. KEN MORGENSTERN: Excuse me. Can you raise the volume?
Ms. MORGANSTERN: I can raise my volume.
Mr. MORGANSTERN: Yes, louder. Yeah.
Ms. MORGANSTERN: Okay, let me turn the dial. I’m going to be interviewing my father today, and I’ll be interviewing him with my sister, Bhavani.
Ms. MORGANSTERN: Dad, why don’t you say your name and how old you are?
Mr. MORGANSTERN: I’m Ken Morgenstern. I’m - I think 81.
Ms. MORGANSTERN: That’s right.
Mr. MORGANSTERN: Is that right?
Ms. MORGANSTERN: Yes.
Mr. MORGANSTERN: Okay.
Ms. JAROFF: All right, dad, I’m going to ask you a bunch of questions.
Mr. MORGANSTERN: All right.
Ms. JAROFF: And you’ll answer them the best you can from your memory. You came out here to New York and then somehow you met mom.
Mr. MORGANSTERN: I’m met her in New York?
Ms. JAROFF: Yup. You did.
Mr. MORGANSTERN: Don’t remember how, when. Mom would have remembered.
Ms. JAROFF: She would have remembered, yeah.
Ms. MORGANSTERN: Our mom passed away about four and a half years ago. Do you recall dating her?
Mr. MORGANSTERN: Oh yeah. I remember dating her. She was a sexy gal.
Ms. JAROFF: She was. Let’s talk about your kids a little bit.
Mr. MORGANSTERN: We had four kids. Is that the right number?
Ms. MORGANSTERN: Yes, it is.
Mr. MORGANSTERN: Good. They were great.
Ms. JAROFF: Who are they?
Mr. MORGANSTERN: You, who else?
Ms. JAROFF: Priya, Bhavani…
Ms. JAROFF: Priya, Bhavani, and there’s a man in there.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. JAROFF: David, Dad.
Mr. MORGANSTERN: David, yeah.
Ms. JAROFF: David is not going to be too happy with you when he listens to this, Dad?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. JAROFF: Who was the best kid?
Mr. MORGANSTERN: David.
Ms. JAROFF: He was actually the best kid. No, he definitely was.
Mr. MORGANSTERN: He was.
Ms. MORGANSTERN: And you see us all a lot still, right, Dad? Dad?
Mr. MORGANSTERN: What?
Ms. JAROFF: Priya was asking if you still see us a lot?
Mr. MORGANSTERN: See you a lot?
Ms. JAROFF: Yeah. Are we in your life?
Mr. MORGANSTERN: Sure. What are you talking about?
Ms. JAROFF: We’re just asking you a question. You know, what’s your life like now, Dad?
Mr. MORGANSTERN: Oh, it’s a wonderful life. I get up in the morning. Go to sleep at night. And in between - three meals.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. MORGANSTERN: What’s wrong with that?
Ms. MORGANSTERN: It’s a nice thing that is so easy to make you happy, Dad.
Mr. MORGANSTERN: I’m very much like I think my father.
Ms. MORGANSTERN: Mm-hmm.
Mr. MORGANSTERN: He was an easygoing guy. People used to call him Happy Harry. And I had a lot of his characteristics, I think.
Ms. MORGANSTERN: Dad, was there anything that you wish you had gotten in life that you didn’t get?
Mr. MORGANSTERN: Anything that I wish I have gotten in life?
Ms. MORGANSTERN: Yeah.
Mr. MORGANSTERN: I’m sitting here thinking I have no regrets on anything. The important thing is I have a family that I love. And they’re loving people. That’s the biggest thing that you leave as a…
Ms. JAROFF: Legacy.
Mr. MORGANSTERN: Legacy, yeah.
Ms. JAROFF: I want to tell you, Dad, that I’ve always considered you my guru and teacher.
Mr. MORGANSTERN: Well, thank you.
Ms. MORGANSTERN: I would say the same.
Ms. JAROFF: You’ve been a role model for all of your family. People are constantly saying to us how lucky you are to have all of us, and I turn to them and say we are because of him. You’ve created such love around you and we want to be with you.
Mr. MORGANSTERN: Thank you, honey. That’s awfully nice to hear.
Ms. JAROFF: It’s the truth.
Ms. MORGANSTERN: I love you, Dad.