On August 21, Trudy Goldstein celebrated her 45th year as a valued member of the Connecticut Jewish Ledger staff, granting her exclusive elder-stateswoman status as the longest-employed associate of the organization.

“Trudy is still a very valuable part of our team,” says Ledger Associate Publisher Leslie Iarusso, who has worked with Trudy for close to 25 years. “She is sharp, well-organized, and professional with a wealth of information from her many years in the community. We’re so happy she is still part of the Ledger family – with no signs of slowing down!”

A native of Hartford’s North End, Trudy Goldstein is the daughter of the late Julius and Sadie Weiner – owners of Weiner’s Men’s Clothes, a Hartford business chronicled in the 2013 book, Revisiting Our Neighborhoods: Stories from Hartford’s Past (Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford).

She and her husband, Alex Goldstein z”l, raised their three daughters in West Hartford. It was when their youngest daughter was entering high school that she decided to find a job.

“I played Mah Jongg with three other women and they all worked,” she recalls. “When I’d say, ‘Let’s play another hand,’ they would say, ‘You don’t have to work tomorrow.’”

When she began her career at the Ledger – which was then owned and operated by Bert Gaster z”l and Shirley Bunis z”l – the newspaper was housed above The Crown supermarket at West Hartford’s Bishops Corner, within walking distance from the Goldsteins’ home. The job was clerical and Goldstein did everything, from ad design to label-printing to newspaper layout.

“I even took out the garbage,” she laughs.

Today, Trudy is one of the Ledger’s top advertising sales representatives. She has an uncanny ability to recite addresses and/or phone off the top of her head – a great help to her co-coworkers. 

Above all else, she still finds satisfaction in her work and her Ledger “family.”

“The Ledger is like a second home to me,” she says. “It’s so nice to be appreciated by our publisher and staff. I’m surrounded at the office by good company and close friends. I’m so grateful!”

Main Photo: After more than a year of working virtually, the Ledger staff recently reconvened at the newspaper’s office for a special lunch.