Hedy (Pagremanski) Page found goodness in everyone she met, even a Nazi soldier.
It was May 5th when I met artist Hedy on our Long Beach, NY boardwalk. She spoke of her husband, Eric: “You know today, May 5th, is his day, liberation day; he always said that he considered it his birthday, his real birthday, the day he was liberated from Dachau.”
From behind his boardwalk counter, Gregg LaPenna pointed out Hedy to me as a Long Beach artist, so I walked over to her.
The first thing you notice about Hedy is her eyes; they are happy eyes, merry eyes; you just need to look into them. It’s not fair she has such a hold over us.
And when you hear what she says, you want to know this lady. When she told me about this day, May 5th, and more, I wanted to hear everything she had to say, to capture it and let you hear it.
Hedy is in her nineties, and her thinning white hair creates a wispy halo above her face. Her words and actions justify that halo; Hedy is a good woman who hears and sees the goodness in others, then paints those people onto her canvasses. Once a renowned Manhattan street artist, NY Times Hedy is now a Long Beach sand, sea and, boardwalk artist.
Born in Vienna, Hedy lived as a child under Nazi fear. When she was eight, stormtroopers bashed in the family’s apartment door and took away her dad. But a Nazi soldier who had befriended teen girls Hedy knew retrieved her dad and, under cover of night, brought Jacob Kellman home.
Hedy uses this brave act to show the good there is in everyone, even this Nazi soldier who risked severe consequences for his action. Hedy and her family escaped Vienna via Panama to finally arrive at New York’s Lower East Side.
When Hedy began her New York work, she penciled the homeless as models. She said, “The homeless stayed still for me; models wouldn’t.”
When Hedy painted the Green Market at 17th St and Broadway, she said a plane flew close overhead. Among those watching her was a woman who sensed something was wrong and said, “Planes don’t fly here; I live here.”
It was Sept 11, 2001.
Hedy said, “Then somebody’s cell phone rang, and they said into the phone, ‘Oh my God.’ Then, ‘Hedy, go home; something bad has happened.'” A doorman who had always helped Hedy said, “Hedy go home; this is serious.” She went to her daughter Joanie’s Fortune Society office, then took the railroad home. Hedy said, that day she was afraid for the world.
Hedy had finished the painting of the Green Market and a drawing of it. She said, “The World Trade Center was in the background” of both.
But after the destruction, Hedy erased the buildings and penciled in towers of smoke in their place. I had to do it “because they were gone,” she told me. She added to the drawing people with signs in search of loved ones.
Hedy invited me and my girlfriend, Cheryl, to her home. A mutual friend, former NY Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg, joined us.
Hedy’s modest home is rich in beauty and love; the walls are bejeweled with many-peopled canvasses. Love flows from Hedy’s every word.
To bring more good to the world, Hedy, in the 1970s, learned inmate counseling from a former prison inmate, now PH.D., and Threshold’s founder, Milton (Mickey) Burglass:
Hedy took that training to Sing Sing to counsel inmates. On Long Island, she went to the Nassau County jail to teach inmates to draw and to use them as models.
Hedy knew the people you see in her paintings; she can recall the stories of many of them.
Hedy continues to paint, but her subjects are now Long Beach people.
Watching Hedy work is to witness kinetic joy.
Today, Hedy wants to continue to bring more goodness to the world. She is working with former Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg to soon sell prints of her paintings, with the proceeds going to help people with disabilities. Harvey has a long and even recent history of effective dedication. We’ll be hearing from him soon, I hope—and I’ll be among the first to order.
Unstoppable, Hedy uses her walker for the half-mile trip from her home to Gregg LaPenna’s shack, often chatting with others along the way.
Hedy asked me to take a photo of Alexander, with whom she chatted; he’ll be in her painting too.
On Mother’s Day, Hedy’s son Ken, and his husband, Gregg, drove her to the boardwalk to paint.
I watched Hedy sit in the sun; her frail arm extended to her 93rd multi-peopled canvas—at age 93.
This painting will include the large boardwalk sign, LAZAR, which honors Gregg LaPenna’s ten-year-old son.
Lazar died last year at a Little League game.
Gregg said an anonymous person put the sign up directly across from his shack. Others placed the bat, the glove, and the baseball. Those items were taken, probably by immature teens. The items have since been replaced—twice.
As she drew Cheryl Hedy said, “You are not what you look like; nobody is.” I think Hedy sees beyond the face. I think she sees what the person is in their eyes.
Hedy welcomed me to watch her draw Cheryl. She encouraged me to comment, but when I told her, “I hesitate to say something,” she said, “you can always say, then I’ll ignore you completely.” Cheryl and I laughed, then Hedy added, “But a part of me will hear you and think about it.”
Hedy will continue to paint in Long Beach as she did on the streets of Manhattan. She credits her deceased husband, Eric, with the motivation to show how much kindness there is in the world.
She said Eric told her he would not let his anger and hatred for the guards at Dachau continue in him; it would become part of him, and he couldn’t afford to carry that. He said he refused to let that period of his life define it. She said, “We went back to Germany a couple of times, and he said, ‘I grew up in Germany and had a wonderful childhood; why should I let one period of time determine my whole life’.”
Hedy said, “I wanted him to cry; he never cried. He couldn’t talk about Dachau.” She said, “He’s the reason for these paintings; he said, ‘When people look back on our period, they will think we are monsters, we had slavery, we had holocaust, every newspaper article talks about death.’ He said, ‘You need to do paintings of people we know; we need people to know that kindness exists.’”
Sometimes when Hedy draws, she pauses and pleased with her progress, bursts out, “Oh, I’m so excited,” or “Oh, I’m so happy.” Cheryl and I are so amused by it.
When I hear her, I think, “Oh, if we all could find our work so rewarding.” Or, “Oh, if we could all show such joy to the world.”
Maybe we just need to develop the goodness that is in us but is sometimes dormant. Hedy’s isn’t. It’s active, and it’s the source of her halo.
Hedy tells me she sees goodness in all others. But in my view, it’s not just seeing it; she activates it—by reaching out—and acknowledging others—fully.
But again, there’s also those beautiful eyes—that joyful countenance.
Even the wisps in the blue can’t beat Hedy’s halo
Hedy still signs her work, Pagremanski. “But,” she said, “When Eric proposed to me, he was Eric Pagremanski, and I became Hedy Pagremanski. But he came home one day when he became a citizen and said, ‘Hedy, you are no longer Hedy Pagremanksi, you’re Hedy Page; I circumcised the name.’”
Be well,
Leebythesea
Please see Hedy’s four minute talk to us—and visit Hedy’s site with her paintings.
Categories: Artists
leebythesea 
Malka, you are blessed to have had them in your life. So much to like. Thank you for your comment.
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my parents were close friends of Eric and hedy. They were at my wedding. I always like them a lot
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Mary, I’m glad you shared Hedy’s work, yes, hopefully you might meet her someday. She has had her paintings exhibited in numerous places. https://www.hedypagremanski.com/about she also had a gallery and framing shop in Long Beach. thank you for your comment and share.
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Lee,
I just sent this to our cousin Veronica because she’s an artist too. Hedy is the goddess of art. She is super outstanding and should have an art show to put her pieces on display. Her work is so detailed and intricate. Maybe someday I will meet her on the boardwalk.
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Mary,
Thank you. Yes she is incredible.And we need more Hedys in this world for sure.
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What a painting! Incredible. Kind people like Hedy is just what the world needs right now. Nice blog, Lee.
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thank you for letting Hedy know what an impact she made on me.
Please let me know if you hear anything regarding the purchasing of a Hedy print.
stay well
Bonnie
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Bonnie,
Yes, I’d love to buy a print too, let’s hope Harvey Weisenberg gets it launched soon. He’s always busy with acts of incredible kindness but I’m eager for one too, so let’s hope we hear something soon.
I’ll make sure Hedy hears about you paying it forward. l’m sure she’ll be glad to hear it. That’s what causes change in the world, people like Hedy who bestow such kindness, and people like you, who pay it forward.
Be well,
Lee
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Please let Hedy know that I pay her words forward with people I meet who appear to be struggling.
Would love to purchase one of her prints.
I swear my friend was in her Wall Street series
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Bonnie, I’m glad Hedy was able to help you in your personal life, I suspect you are among multitudes of those who received her love and assistance.
(I had to stop just now as the phone rang, it was Hedy. She had so much to tell me about my essay, she loved it, but said today she opened the link I included to Mickey Burglas, the ex convict, now Ph.D. She was so happy to where the link took her. His words are profound and she told me some of them. So you readers would do well to click the link too.)
Bonnie, the fact that Hedy called me just as I was starting to answer your comment tells me we are all connected in the universe, Hedy thinks so too. She’ll be reading this soon.
I’m so glad, Bonnie, that you are doing what you love and have found a mate so like you. So have I.
I just copied Mickey Burglas’ words from the link:
“There is no greater teacher than the jailhouse. I wouldn’t want to go back for a hundred million dollars, but I wouldn’t trade my years in prison for all the money in the world. If I hadn’t gone to prison I would have lived in one of my own making for the rest of my life. To remain a human being in the midst of this is the toughest task anyone ever undertakes. I feel for people who have never had the good fortune to hit bottom, as a result of their own doing, and recreate themselves from the dust.
All the things I have, and all I do, came with the realization that I could decide about my life. I’m still intoxicated with the thought that I am unique, important, and irreplaceable, and that I have the power to decide. The deepest level of what it means to decide, and not react, is that you are not a bit player in someone else ‘s movie. . . not just a passenger, but an active participant. . . hooked up to something that has no beginning and no end. . . part of the process. . . able to create the future.
Thresholds came out of my experience in the jail, but I don’t want to own it. It belongs to you; not from me but through me, and through you as a teacher, so that finding life can happen to others as it did to me. The way to say ‘thank you’ is to pass it on.”
Hedy’s call to me, just now, was a call from the universe to add that message here. Someone out there, maybe many someone’s needs to hear it—right now
Be well,
Lee
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To this day, I still tell people, especially those who feel disconnected, what Hefy once said to me. Do what you love and you will meet others that that love the same things. I never would have opened my eyes to my husband had I not heeded her advice.
Loved your article and love Hedy.
Bonnie
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Bernie, Thank you. So glad you enjoyed the essay and that it brightened your day. Hedy brightens a lot of our days.
Be well,
Lee
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Wow! What an incredible Lady and story. So enjoyed this piece. Thanks for sharing your story Lee. It warmed my heart and brought a smile on an otherwise grey day.
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Michael, thank you so much. I appreciate your comment, as usual.
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Wonderful, as usual!!! Thank you, Lee
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Hi Carol,
Yes Hedy is a very interesting woman. We are gifted to have her in Long Beach. So many of us, I’ve learned have seen, own, or are even in her paintings. I enjoyed writing about her but also simply her presence. Her urging to humankind is the same as yours, “Be kind to one another.” Somehow that rings familiar to me. Click link:
Thank you, Carol.
The original:
Be well,
Lee
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Hi Lee,
Isn’t she fascinating!!! I met her in the early 2000s when I was a dental assistant at a local periodontist. This dentist had a picture of her’s on his office wall. When I wasn’t busy, I would stand and examine it. There was so much going on! What an amazing piece of art.
Fast forward to 2022….I was on board a flight from LAX to JFK and was watching a documentary titled, “Three Identical Strangers,” and who did I see….but Hedy. I can’t even remember why she was in the documentary. (Now I’m going to have to figure that out.) But I know she was in it. THEN……Shortly thereafter, I was walking up the boardwalk ramp at Neptune, and who was going down…..but Hedy. I smiled and said hello……like I knew her, and she said hello (with those smiling eyes) right back.
Quite frankly, I was surprised that she was still around, and happy that she was!
So that’s my little memory. I am happy that you were able to meet with her. I enjoyed your story, and happy that I was able to reminisce and share.
Be kind to one another,
Carol Mejia
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Kath, she sure is. It was my absolute pleasure to have met her and write about her.
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Oh how I love this piece! Hedy is an absolute gem!
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Susan, glad you liked it. We’re lucky to have such a wonderful woman in our midst.
Be well,
Lee
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Thank you Lee for Another Wonderful story !!!
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Diane, yes, Hedy brightens our boardwalk sun or clouds. The world needs more Hedys. And yes, I’m looking forward to Harvey’s go ahead on the print sale project.
Thank you, Diane.
Be well,
Lee
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Lee this blog is magnificent! Hedy is an amazing artist! I close my eyes and see her happy eyes just beaming! Now she is selling her paintings with the proceeds going to people with disabilities. What an awesome woman! God bless her and her happy eyes!
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