Audrey Mandell
Audrey Eichenbaum Mandel
Age 78
Audrey was born in Jersey City, NJ, in March, 1933 to Marie (nee Fitzgerald) and William Eichenbaum and was an only child. The family moved to Teaneck, NJ, and Audrey went to high school there. She attended New York University, but did not graduate because she married Manley in 1952 and moved with him to Amherst, MA.
They had a great life in Amherst and had three children there. Jeff was born in 1954 followed by Jill in 1956, then Bill in 1961. The children had the opportunity to interact with Robert Frost and the author of the Uncle Wiggly stories. Jill rode to school on the back of Manley's motor scooter, which made her the envy of her classmates.
The family moved to Houston in 1963 when Manley joined the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. When the youngest child, Bill, went to high school (around 1978), Audrey took a job as a salesperson at Palais Royal in better dresses and furs. She worked there for 17 years before retiring.
Audrey enjoys playing bridge, travel and going to the theater and ballet. She goes to lectures at the Museum of Fine Arts and exercises regularly. Her exercise includes aqua-jogging, swimming, walking and the recumbent bike. Audrey is also a gourmet cook and enjoys cooking meals for friends.
Audrey recounted one of her most traumatic experiences when her father died prematurely at age 53. Another was when she had breast cancer in 1978 and required surgery and radiation treatment. She says that experience altered her outlook on life.
Audrey provided updates on her three children:
Jeff is an anesthesiologist at the Univ. of Pennsylvania and is married (2nd time). He has two children by his first wife and one by the second.
Jill lives in Annapolis, MD, is unmarried and formerly worked as a bank examiner and then as an officer. She is now in business with her brother, Bill.
Bill also lives in Annapolis with his wife. Although he trained to be a stockbroker, he ended up as a contractor doing office renovations. His wife has a deaf child from her previous marriage who lives with them.
