PA PA - Elizabethtown, 'Masonic Homes Hunchback', WhtMale 30-60, UP10751, humpback, clothes, Nov'12

[Susikatze]

How sad that he went from a newspaper columnist to a UID with a rather undignified nickname in the course of less than 20 years. I wonder if he had a spinal injury that contributed to his withdrawal from those around him. Kyphosis can be caused by spinal injury. It doesn't look congenital from the few photos we have of him.

Yes, what happened? How did he get estranged from his brother? Was he ever married, had kids or community ties? heartbreaking to see how he fell off the radar

 

[djanga]

Yes, what happened? How did he get estranged from his brother? Was he ever married, had kids or community ties? heartbreaking to see how he fell off the radar

He was married twice and had a step daughter, both of his ex-wifes are deceased. Also here it is described how the got estranged:

By the time Abby Mendelson was at college, the two were no longer as tight — Abby Mendelson was an older, more distant brother to his younger sibling who was busy playing sports and working on cars.

That physical distance soon became emotional. The brothers saw each other infrequently during their adult years. The last time Abby Mendelson shared space with his brother was in 1996. He last communicated with him in 2009.

It wasn’t simply his family with which Mitchell Mendelson frayed and tore the bonds of relationship…

…
Perhaps the first signs of trouble appeared when Mitchell Mendelson quit college and found a job working at a shoe factory stitching shoes.
Soon after, he found a job in radio playing records and giving commentary.

Mitchell Mendelson eventually ended up in Birmingham, Alabama, writing a well-read column, “The Alabama Experience,” by Vine Boy.

“He invented this whole persona,” Abby Mendelson said. “He became a Southern gentleman, the Vine Boy, who talked about Southern life. You would have thought he was a sixth-generation Alabamian, but he was a Jewish kid from Long Island.”

Mitchell Mendelson moved his father to live near him and then left when he quit his job at the newspaper. Abby Mendelson then moved his father to Pittsburgh to care for him in his twilight years.

https://jewishchronicle.timesofisrael.com/dna-discovers-identity-of-jewish-man-missing-for-more-than-a-decade/

 

[Susikatze]

He was married twice and had a step daughter, both of his ex-wifes are deceased. Also here it is described how the got estranged:

By the time Abby Mendelson was at college, the two were no longer as tight — Abby Mendelson was an older, more distant brother to his younger sibling who was busy playing sports and working on cars.

That physical distance soon became emotional. The brothers saw each other infrequently during their adult years. The last time Abby Mendelson shared space with his brother was in 1996. He last communicated with him in 2009.

It wasn’t simply his family with which Mitchell Mendelson frayed and tore the bonds of relationship…

…
Perhaps the first signs of trouble appeared when Mitchell Mendelson quit college and found a job working at a shoe factory stitching shoes.
Soon after, he found a job in radio playing records and giving commentary.

Mitchell Mendelson eventually ended up in Birmingham, Alabama, writing a well-read column, “The Alabama Experience,” by Vine Boy.

“He invented this whole persona,” Abby Mendelson said. “He became a Southern gentleman, the Vine Boy, who talked about Southern life. You would have thought he was a sixth-generation Alabamian, but he was a Jewish kid from Long Island.”

Mitchell Mendelson moved his father to live near him and then left when he quit his job at the newspaper. Abby Mendelson then moved his father to Pittsburgh to care for him in his twilight years.

https://jewishchronicle.timesofisrael.com/dna-discovers-identity-of-jewish-man-missing-for-more-than-a-decade/

What a beautiful article! Seems Mitch was a character.