Joseph W. Michels

Gaby Joseph W. Michels

GABY tells the extraordinary story of a proud woman building a life across three continents. The adored only daughter of secular Jewish industrialists, she was born in 1936 Berlin at the height of the Nazi rise to power. Her family fled to relative poverty in British occupied Palestine. Gaby became a patriot for the nascent state of Israel, serving in the military during the 1956 Sinai campaign. But a fierce academic ambition drove her to California to pursue an education. In America, Gaby found relative happiness as a mathematician, wife, and mother of two. She was a pioneer and talented innovator in the use of computers, and often brought that expertise into play while accompanying her widely traveled archaeologist husband. But like so many women of her time, she struggled to balance professional goals with family responsibilities. Though her talents were recognized in everything she undertook, Gaby herself never felt she fully realized her early promise and expectations. This vivid life history traces a path through political disruption, personal ambition, painful loss, and family loyalty. It offers glimpses of the rich traditions of pre-War Germany and the Israeli pioneer spirit within a modern American life.