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Community Corner

Arnold Couple Celebrates America

On this past Independence Day, Joe and Bronka Taler celebrate patriotism and love of their adopted country's freedoms.

The Fourth of July is our most patriotic American holiday and one that we have shared over the last 15 years with our friends Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Taler – Joe and Bronka - who have a spectacular fireworks view from their Pendennis Mount home overlooking the Severn River and Annapolis skyline, and where the World War II Memorial Monument is also within view from their patio.

Friends for more than 20 years, we share many interests including enjoying continuing education courses at . We are contemporaries who share World War II memories – my husband Bud is a veteran who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in the South Pacific and Joe and Bronka have great admiration for U.S. WW II veterans. As Holocaust survivors who are U.S. citizens by choice, the Talers have generously contributed their talents to Anne Arundel County and beyond for over 60 years. 

Both native Poles of the Jewish faith, Bronka as a teenager escaped from a train bound for Auschwitz although her parents were less fortunate and perished. As detailed in his book “In Search of Heroes,” Joe survived under a false identity and was able to hide his father for two years and helped protect his mother.

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Joe and Bronka cherish their U.S. citizenship, which they sought from their post-war student days in Marburg, Germany, a location chosen because it was in the American sector of occupied Germany. It was in Marburg that Joe and Bronka were married June 20, 1948, where their son George was born and from which they emigrated for America in 1950.

After their arrival with their 16 month-old son in December 1950, Joe and Bronka soon settled in Baltimore where Joe completed his medical education at Sinai Hospital and Bronka was trained as a lab technician. Having started a practice in family medicine in Glen Burnie, Joe soon moved with his wife and son to Glen Burnie Park in 1954 where daughter Gusty was born two years later. In 1967, they moved to their Pendennis Mount address.

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The Talers’ son George is now a physician specializing in geriatric care. Gusty now serves as the Legal Aid Society’s chief operating officer. Bronka and Joe have two adult grandsons and one great-grandson.

One of the many blessings shared in their rich full life together is their deep abiding love of America.

On this July 4, Joe said, “I am proud to be an American, and my hope now is rather than bickering, our politicians should be united as they concentrate on what is good for America. As a doctor in Glen Burnie, I had many patients who were skilled workers at Westinghouse, Bethlehem Steel, and General Electric. Now these companies have disappeared locally or have been reduced in size to no longer offer similar employment opportunities.”

Although she is aware of our current national challenges, Bronka prefers to concentrate on the positive aspects of being an American by choice.

On this 2011 Independence Day, Bronka said, “I am proud to be an American. This country means everything to me. America has been very good to me, and it is where I have loved watching my children and grandchildren grow up. Now I hope to watch my great-grandson as he grows up in the U.S.A.”

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