Out of adversity Isaac Leinwand created a dynasty

ELIZABETHTOWN – From a young Austrian dreamer who fueled the fire of his passion for a new world over the Atlantic Ocean, Isaac Leinwand made his way to his destiny in North Carolina and began a legacy in 1935.

A legacy that he believed in his heart would be a safe harbor and lucrative venture for his generations that he would never live to see.

It is an old Greek Proverb that speaks to the heart of the man who helped to grow Elizabethtown for his family and for his community - “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”

Here in the year 2024, the third and fourth generations of Leinwands are working under the banner that bears their name. Ricky Leinwand was born in Bladen County Hospital in 1952. At that point the hospital just newly constructed and it welcomed a new generation of servant leaders into the community.

“I was the ninth baby born in that hospital,” Leinwand said. “My mom and dad had gotten married in 1947. My mom was from New York City and my daddy was in the Air Force and joined after Pearl Harbor.”

The meeting of Leinwand’s parents almost seem scripted and quite properly arranged. Wallace was from a retail background, and his mother, Shirley (who this year just turned 100 years old) was working at Gimbles in New York. The story gets better though when you realize that the couple didn’t meet in North Carolina or in New York, but in a hotel in Florida, on the beach where soldiers were stationed during World War II and where they trained on the sand for the impending invasions at Normandy. when the couple met, she was a front-desk manager of sorts at her Uncle’s hotel where the troops were. Wallace came in one day to see his unknknown betrothed working behind the desk and she had a Star of David around her neck. Suffice to say, he took that as a sign, knowing that his desire was to marry within the faith. God worked in a mysterious way indeed.

“Of course, he wanted to marry someone Jewish and my mom’s Jewish,” Leinwand said. “They fell in love and then my dad wondered how in the world his wife would do in little Elizabethtown. So, he had a plan.”

He had to show her where they were going to live and where they would be working, but he wondered how his New York girl would do in 1947 when the sidewalks were rolled up and the streetlights came on early.

His plan took his new bride by automobile down the winding roads (pre interstate highways) on that long trip… “home.”

“My granddaddy was running the store during the war,” he said. “My daddy gets in the car and they didn’t have I-95 back then, and they came down to New Jersey, to Maryland, to D.C., to Virginia, got into North Carolina and he said, ‘I got a plan.’ So he stopped in Tar Heel.”

Tar Heel back in the mid-‘40s was not what you’d call a growing concern.

“This was before they had the pigs,” he said. “He said, ‘honey, this is it.’ And my mother said, ‘TAKE MY YOU-KNOW-WHAT BACK TO NEW YORK.’

After he assured her that he was kidding, he drove on to Elizabethtown and the legacy that his grandfather started 12 years before that was able to continue.

“My dad used to say after driving the last 14 miles to Elizabethtown, ‘my wife thought she was living in a metropolis after that.’”

Leinwand is not shy nor afraid of his Jewish heritage, but embraces it. He speaks of tradition as it is a high badge of honor and is proud of not only his upbringing in the Jewish religion, but the families that have faithfully accompanied him on his journey.

Now, when Leinwand sits down and tells you, “It’s a long story” he is true to his word. To sit with him is similar to sitting with a master craftsman who carefully builds his story with multiple rabbit trails, antidotes and a fresh breeze of humor. To not be able to sit and listen to his stories should be under the definition of “a shame” in Webster’s Dictionary. Hours pass like moments and it’s easy to see why the store is as successful as it is.

In the interview with Leinwand, we circled back to true north a few times and such history was explored concerning the family.

Leinwand graduated with the final class from the old Elizabethtown High School in 1971, a school that his father graduated from also in 1941. That building originally sat where the town hall is. The new school eventually became East Bladen High School.

When asked if he was more like his dad or his mom, he sits back, reflects and says that it’s a little of both. He had a father who was larger than life and could light up a room with just his presence. His mother was his filter. He confides in these facts with a smile on his face as he remembers them.

Leinwand comes from a very interesting family including his grandmother who came to this country as a baby and in her prime, became a millinery and created hats to the stars, including selling hats to Betty Davis.

His grandfather who immigrated to America came from Austria and his name can be found on the rolls of immigrants at Ellis Island.

“They couldn’t even speak English back then,” he said. “My grandfather came over by himself at a very when he was 20 years old without much money. Alone, couldn’t speak English, had no possessions and from nothing he created a life for all of us. Unbelievable.”

The family became peddlers at that time. One of his grandfather’s first jobs was in Charleston at Dumas Brothers and those who moved south instead of staying in New York became clothing store owners, jewelry store owners and furniture store owners. His grandfather then opened his own store in Orangeburg County.

“The great depression then hit in 1933-34,” Leinwand said. “He had money in the bank and he was doing very well and then the banks went bankrupt. He went in there to get his money. It was locked up, there was no insurance and he lost everything he had.”

His grandfather had a brother, Philip Leinwand who owned a store in Whiteville. That brother set him up with a store in Elizabethtown in 1935. Isaac married Flora who remained faithfully at his side working the store through thick and thin.

“So, the great depression brought my granddaddy to Elizabethtown,” Leinwand said.

When people walk down Broad Street and they look up and see the Leinwand sign, they cannot fathom what it took to just get here much less thrive for 89 years. It’s hard to believe how it came out of such adversity and how it managed to go through World Wars, American tragedies and infamous times.

“Can you imagine him coming here with a funny accent, in a different religion?” Leinwand asked. “But people liked him, he was honest and he gave a lot of people credit who were on hard times. Granddaddy was a workaholic and worked until 1970 and almost until he died. He died at 83 years old. The editor at the paper at the time said he didn’t know anything but work – and I don’t think he ever took a vacation.”

Part one of this story speaks to tradition. It speaks about hard work and labor to ensure its success in coming years. Isaac Leinwand was where it started for those who look up at the sign and didn’t know. He faced tremendous odds to make something out of nothing. He gained a lot of wisdom in his 83 years on this earth and the story to his son that really sums up just a part of that wisdom is a story that happened right after the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Leinwand’s dad, Wallace was crushed by the death of the president and feared for the country at that time.

He came to Isaac and was quite distraught. “What are we going to do?” young Wallace asked in a panic.

Isaac paused and said these words to calm a young son who was to be the next heir to the legacy.

“Do you see that clock on the wall?”

Without missing a beat, he told his son that time nor events could prevent that clock from taking another tick.

That is a statement that comes from years of climbing out of adversity. Lacing up your boots. And facing another day, no matter what it brings. That. That is the character that started a legacy that people enjoy today in Elizabethtown. Wisdom is what kept a candle burning through the dark nights.

In part two of the interview with Ricky Leinwand, the history of the store continues after the patriarch departs. Also included will be some insights from the fourth generation in the canvass that is still being painted from Leinwand’s son, Michael.