From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:
A telegram came from my father this morning. He is coming to see me next week, Sunday, June thirtieth. Aunt Tillie says that now I must stop biting my nails so they will be pretty by the time he arrives here. Grandmother says that I must learn a new piece on the piano so that I can play for him, and Alma wants me to learn a poem to recite. Grandfather says, “Let the child alone.”
Hilda was born in New York to Solomon and Hilda Goldberg. She originally was to be named Claire (her mother’s middle name), but after her mother died a few days after she was born, she was named Hilda Claire Goldberg. It was decided that Hilda would be raised by her maternal grandparents Jacob and Sarah Levy in San Francisco. I don’t know how often she saw her father. He appears as a member of the Levy household in the 1910 census — he and 6-year old Hilda are listed as “lodgers.”
Hilda became quite an accomplished pianist.