Archives West Finding Aid

Marianne Lilli Katz Weingarten was born in Germany in 1921, and at 14, was sent to Spain to live with an uncle and aunt. Four months after she arrived, the Spanish Civil War broke out, and she was sent back to Germany. A few weeks later, her father left for the United States, encouraged to move to Seattle by one of the Zellerbach family. Marianne and her mother sailed to the U.S. a year and half later; her life in Seattle starting on January 15, 1938. She graduated from Broadway High School in 1939, went to business school for a year; then worked four or five years for the Washington Emigre Bureau helping settle the various refugees who ended up in Seattle. She married Morty Weingarten, from North Dakota, in March of 1942. Morty worked for Boeing, and the family lived in Seattle. When her children were in school Marianne worked part-time for her father at the Katz Paper, Foil and Cordage Corporation. After Morty retired from Boeing, he joined the company as well.