Charles Sumner Plotkin

He was 98 years old. The longtime owner of Plotkin Furniture Co. in Athol, Mass., he

enjoyed his retirement years in southern Florida with his wife Natalie after spending

most of his life in Athol.

Charlie, as he was called by family and friends, was a pillar of the region’s

Jewish community and had been president of Temple Israel in Athol. The Plotkins

resided for decades in a brick house at the intersection of Exchange Street and

Pequoig Avenue in Athol, where they raised a family and hosted a multitude of social

gatherings for friends and family.

He was born July 3, 1926, in Winchendon, the son of Isadore and Lillian

(Nove) Plotkin. His mother was born in the United States, while his father was an

immigrant from Belarus who traveled in the region as an itinerant peddler before

opening Plotkin Furniture in Athol’s business district and purchasing a home on Ridge

Avenue. Charlie attended elementary and secondary school in Athol, graduating from

Athol High School in 1943.

Upon graduation from high school at age 17, with World War Two raging in

Europe and Asia, Charlie enlisted in the U.S. Army. He was chosen by the Army to

learn Japanese and he served as an interpreter in the Pacific theater.

After the war, he attended Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, receiving a

bachelor of arts degree in 1949. He contemplated going to graduate school and won a

national competition granting him a four-year Master’s level scholarship from the

monthly Atlantic magazine for an essay he wrote entitled “Here’s to Dear Old…”

However, he declined to attend graduate school and decided to marry the love

of his life, Natalie Steinberg. They were wed on March 27, 1949, and began their

family life, having six children over the years. Around the same time, upon the death

of Isadore Plotkin, Charlie took over the furniture business. Charlie’s younger brother

Sherman joined him shortly thereafter and they operated the business together for

decades. Together, aided by a loyal staff, the brothers obtained the respect and

appreciation of customers -- often by extending credit to working class families in

Athol, essentially a factory town with the nickname of Tooltown. Plotkin Furniture

stores were also opened in Leominster, Mass., and Keene, New Hampshire.

Charlie served on the Athol-Royalston Regional School Committee, was a

member of the Athol-Orange Lodge of Elks and participated in other aspects of

community life. He was one of the earliest financial backers of the spectacularly

successful Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, founded in 1980. In 2014, the Yiddish

Book Center was awarded a National Medal for Museums and Libraries, the nation’s

highest medal conferred on a museum or library, at a White House ceremony. An avid

reader, Charlie coordinated a book group, focusing on Jewish authors, out of his

home for many years.

Charlie was a Master Level bridge player. He enjoyed tennis, swimming,

walking and bicycling – sometimes pedaling with his wife along the Cape Cod Canal.

He played piano and was an aficionado of opera and other forms of classical music, as

well as movies, especially foreign-language films. He was adept at learning

languages, becoming especially fluent in French. Before a trip with Natalie to Spain,

he learned Spanish. As an observant Jew, he also knew Hebrew as well as some Yiddish.

An article co-authored by Charlie about Temple Israel in Athol can be easily found

on the internet and read to gain more insights. The link is

https://www.templeisraelathol.org/history.

When Charlie decided to retire from the furniture business, the couple sold their

Athol home and relocated to Bourne, Mass., with a winter second home in Delray Beach,

Fla.

Their son Jeffrey took over and ran the Athol store until its closing in 2012, while

son John took over the store in Keene.

Despite the distance to the Sunshine State, family members visited Charlie often.

In recent years, family members met by Zoom with Charlie weekly at sundown on Friday

evenings – the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath – and all joined in the traditional Sabbath

prayer and the drinking of sacramental wine.

Charlie is survived by four sons, Jeffrey Plotkin and his wife Deborah

(Sweatman), of Prescott, Arizona; Bruce Plotkin and his partner Lynn Myers of

Denver, Colorado; John Plotkin of Lenox, Mass.; and Michael Plotkin of Orange, Mass. In

addition to his parents, he is predeceased by his wife of 70 years, Natalie

Plotkin; brother Sherman Plotkin; sister Sylvia Jaffee; son Alan Plotkin; daughter

Abbey Plotkin; and daughter-in-law Karen (Cannavino) Plotkin.

He is also survived by his grandchildren, Derrick, Joshua, Andrew, Danielle

Kya, Matthew and Lilly; great-grandchildren Avalon, Saylor and Avery; as well as

many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

In his final days, Charlie declared that he wanted to “be with Natalie,” who

died in 2020, and indeed he will be buried alongside her on what would have been

their 76th wedding anniversary.

The funeral service will take place Thursday, March 27th at 10 AM at Stanetsky Memorial Chapel, 475

Washington Street, Canton, Mass., followed by interment at Sharon Memorial

Park, 40 Dedham Street, Sharon, Mass. The ceremonies will be conducted by James

Levinson, former spiritual leader of Temple Israel. A luncheon will follow at the Blue

Hill Country Club, 23 Pecunit Street, Canton.

Memorial donations may be made to the Yiddish Book Center, 1021 West Street,

Amherst, MA 01002.