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The Whitaker-Rosen Family - Family Tree

The Whitaker-Rosen Family is a Baltimore-based multigenerational Jewish family whose lineage traces, on the maternal side, through Holocaust survival and the rescue of two Deaf Polish Jewish infants by the Żegota network, and whose contemporary configuration centers on the Whitaker-Rosen Family Home in Mt. Washington, Baltimore. The family’s defining characteristics include: the intergenerational presence of Usher Syndrome Type I (carried through the maternal line; manifest in three generations—the grandparents, unaffected-carrier middle generation, and affected grandchild); multigenerational ASL and Pro-Tactile ASL fluency; sustained Jewish Reform-cultural observance anchored by Friday shabbat dinners; and a specific ethos of sustained presence and mutual care that has shaped every generation of the family.

Quick Reference

Whitaker-Rosen Family Tree

Three documented generations of a Baltimore Jewish family whose maternal Rosen line traces through the Żegota rescue of two Deaf Polish Jewish infants. Saul and Miri Rosen, both USH1F-affected, through their daughter Annie's marriage to Robbie Whitaker, to the twins Lindsay and Leslie (unaffected carriers) and RJ (affected, deafblind). Usher Syndrome Type I runs through three generations.

graph TD
    saul["Saul Rosen<br/>1944-10-2044-10<br/>Age 100"]
    miri["Miriam &quot;Miri&quot; Rosen (née Goldfarb)<br/>1944-2044-10<br/>Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, within 36 hours of Saul"]
    annie["Dr. Annette Miriam Whitaker (née Rosen)<br/>b. 1978-03<br/>Trauma therapist (Johns Hopkins PsyD), foster-youth specialty"]
    robbie["Robbie Whitaker<br/>b. c. 1975<br/>Architect, accessibility specialty"]
    lindsay["Lindsay Whitaker<br/>b. 2007"]
    leslie["Leslie Whitaker<br/>b. 2007"]
    rj["Robert &quot;RJ&quot; Whitaker Jr.<br/>b. 2012"]
    saul --> annie
    miri --> annie
    annie --> lindsay
    robbie --> lindsay
    annie --> leslie
    robbie --> leslie
    annie --> rj
    robbie --> rj
    saul -.spouse.-> miri
    annie -.spouse.-> robbie
Text equivalent of the family tree (structured nested list)
  • Saul Rosen (1944-10-2044-10, Age 100)
    • Deaf Polish Jewish infant smuggled out of Warsaw by Żegota; USH1F (named only at RJ’s 2012 diagnosis). Married Miri 1965; 79 years of marriage.
    • Married to Miriam “Miri” Rosen (née Goldfarb) (1944-2044-10, Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, within 36 hours of Saul)
    • Dr. Annette Miriam Whitaker (née Rosen) (b. 1978-03, Trauma therapist (Johns Hopkins PsyD), foster-youth specialty)
      • CODA; native ASL. USH1F heterozygous carrier (asymptomatic). Married Robbie 2005.
      • Married to Robbie Whitaker (b. c. 1975, Architect, accessibility specialty)
      • Lindsay Whitaker (b. 2007)
        • Identical twin to Leslie; unaffected USH1F carrier. ‘The one with the laugh.’
      • Leslie Whitaker (b. 2007)
        • Identical twin to Lindsay; unaffected USH1F carrier. ‘The one with the stare.’
      • Robert “RJ” Whitaker Jr. (b. 2012)
        • Affected; Usher Type I; deafblind by age 12; Pro-Tactile ASL user. His 2012 infant diagnosis named the family’s condition across three generations at once.

Lineage and Generational Structure

Generation One (Great-Grandparents)—[TBD, all deceased]

Maternal Line (Rosen, through Saul and Miri):

Both Saul Rosen and Miri Rosen were Polish Jewish infants smuggled out of Warsaw by the Żegota rescue network during 1944-1945. Their biological birth parents were Polish Jews who are assumed to have died in the Holocaust (in the camps, in the Warsaw Ghetto liquidations, or in related wartime violence). Birth parents’ specific names, histories, professions, and exact fates have been lost; they are acknowledged in the family’s cultural memory as the ones who got our parents out but are otherwise absent from family records.

Saul’s adoptive family in America [TBD]—emotionally closed Polish Jewish immigrants in New York City who had survived the war in America but lost everyone they knew in Poland. Saul was placed with them in 1948 at age three and a half. His adoptive father died in 1989; his adoptive mother [TBD dates].

Miri’s adoptive family in Boston—the Goldfarb family [TBD]: Hannah and Ira Goldfarb, both Deaf, second-generation American Jewish, who specifically requested a Deaf child survivor. They gave Miri native ASL from infancy. Ira Goldfarb died in 1987; Hannah Goldfarb died in 1994.

Robbie’s paternal and maternal grandparents [TBD]—American Jewish, hearing, no known disability history prior to RJ’s diagnosis.

Generation Two (Grandparents)—Born 1944-1945

Saul Rosen (October 1944, Warsaw—October 2044, Mt. Washington, Baltimore; age 100) * Usher Syndrome Type I (USH1F); Deaf from birth; progressive RP * Retired printer (40-year union career in Baltimore) * Co-founder of Baltimore Jewish Deaf Association (1974) * Married Miri October 1965

Miriam “Miri” Rosen (née Goldfarb [TBD]; Spring 1944, Warsaw—October 2044, Mt. Washington, Baltimore; age approximately 100) * Usher Syndrome Type I (USH1F); Deaf from birth; progressive RP * Retired seamstress (Baltimore Jewish tailor shop, 1966-1985) * Social spine of Baltimore Jewish Deaf Association for forty-plus years * Died of Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy within 36 hours of Saul

Robbie’s parents [TBD]—living or deceased [TBD]; hearing American Jewish; USH1F carrier status [TBD based on the fact that Robbie himself is a carrier].

Generation Three (Parents)—Born 1970s

Dr. Annette Miriam Whitaker (née Rosen; born March 1978, Baltimore) * USH1F heterozygous carrier (asymptomatic) * CODA; native ASL; Pro-Tactile ASL learning * Trauma therapist (Johns Hopkins PsyD); foster youth specialty * Married Robbie September 2005

Robbie Whitaker (born approximately 1975; specific date TBD) * USH1F heterozygous carrier (asymptomatic; discovered 2012) * Architect with accessibility specialty (UMD M.Arch) * Hearing; learned ASL through marriage

Generation Four (Current Children)—Born 2007 and 2012

Lindsay Whitaker (2007)—Unaffected USH1F carrier; identical twin to Leslie; “the one with the laugh” Leslie Whitaker (2007)—Unaffected USH1F carrier; identical twin to Lindsay; “the one with the stare” Robert “RJ” Whitaker Jr. (2012)—Affected; Usher Type I; deafblind by age 12; Pro-Tactile ASL user

Family-Level Usher Syndrome Architecture

The Whitaker-Rosen family is the Faultlines series’ primary example of multi-generational Usher syndrome inheritance within a specifically Ashkenazi Jewish lineage. The USH1F founder mutation (PCDH15 R245X) is carried through the maternal line from Saul and Miri, both homozygous for the variant (though their condition was not named as Usher until RJ’s 2012 infant diagnosis). Annie is a heterozygous carrier (asymptomatic). Robbie, from his own family’s unrelated line, is also a USH1F carrier (unexpected by Annie and Robbie until the 2012 genetic testing; reflects the elevated founder mutation carrier frequency in Ashkenazi populations). The 25% per-pregnancy statistical probability of an affected child was beaten by the twins (who came first and tested as unaffected carriers) and expressed in RJ (who came second and inherited two affected alleles).

The retrospective-naming dimension of the family’s Usher history is narratively and emotionally load-bearing. Saul and Miri lived for nearly seven decades with a condition their families’ histories—fragmented by Holocaust-driven loss of extended family medical memory—could not name. Their grandson’s 2012 diagnosis was the moment the family’s condition acquired a name across three generations simultaneously.

Marriages and Partnerships

  • Saul and Miri—met 1958; married 1965; 79 years of marriage; died 2044 within 36 hours
  • Annie and Robbie—met 2000; married September 2005; ongoing (2024 onward)
  • Lindsay’s and Leslie’s adult partnerships [TBD]
  • RJ’s adult partnerships [TBD]

Key Family Locations

  • The Rosens’ original Mt. Washington, Baltimore rowhouse (1966-2042, then passed to Annie after Saul and Miri’s deaths; continued use as BJDA guest accessibility housing)
  • Whitaker-Rosen Family Home, Mt. Washington, Baltimore (Annie and Robbie’s home since 2005; hosts Saul and Miri’s first-floor suite from 2042-2044; primary family residence for the current generation)
  • Annie’s Roland Park, Baltimore clinical practice office (1907 through eventual post-stroke transition)
  • New York School for the Deaf (Fanwood)—where Saul and Miri met in 1958 (historical family-formation site)

Cultural and Religious Practice

The family is Reform-observant and culturally Jewish. Friday shabbat dinner is nonnegotiable (seventy-nine years of Saul and Miri’s marriage; continuing in Annie and Robbie’s household through the present and anticipated forward). High holidays kept. Bat/bar mitzvot celebrated for the twins and RJ (RJ’s conducted in PT-ASL). Yahrzeit candles lit for the deceased members across generations. The family’s specific Jewish practice is inflected by Deaf culture (signed blessings; adapted ceremonies; Baltimore Jewish Deaf Association participation).

Key Historical Events

  • 1944-1945: Żegota rescue of Saul and Miri as infants
  • 1948: Saul arrives in the United States
  • 1946-1948: Miri arrives in the United States (via Boston)
  • 1958: Saul and Miri meet at Fanwood
  • 1965: Saul and Miri marry
  • 1966: Saul and Miri move to Baltimore; purchase the Mt. Washington rowhouse
  • 1974: Saul co-founds the Baltimore Jewish Deaf Association
  • 1978: Annie born
  • 1992: Saul’s trip to Poland to meet Żegota rescuers’ surviving daughter
  • 2000: Annie and Robbie meet at UMD
  • 2005: Annie and Robbie marry
  • 2007: Twins born
  • 2012: RJ born; USH1F diagnosis; retrospective family diagnosis
  • 2026-2028: Annie’s stroke (during Everything Loud and Tender)
  • 2042: Saul and Miri move into Annie and Robbie’s home
  • October 2044: Saul and Miri die within thirty-six hours
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