Bluma Bayuk Rappoport Purmell
Bluma sitting with a sample of her paintings. The Bluma Bayuk Rappoport Purmell Papers, U0074, Stockton University, Special Collections.
Bluma painting, age 94.
About
Bluma was born on March 15, 1888. She grew up in the Alliance Colony. In 1914, Bluma married Dr. David Rappoport. The couple had two children: Irving and Jacqueline. In 1912, Bluma graduated from the Jewish Hospital School of Nursing. In 1930, she opened a nursing home in Atlantic City, where she worked for the next three decades. Her first husband passed away in 1961, and Bluma married David Purmell in 1966.Bluma was also an avid painter. She began this hobby late in life, around 1971. Scenery and local themes became her subject of choice and some of her work has been exhibited in well-known institutions like the Smithsonian. Bluma co-wrote her memoir, A Farmer’s Daughter: Bluma, with Felice Lewis Rovner. This book is soon to be republished by the Alliance Heritage Center. Bluma passed away on June 21, 1997.
Source: Special Collections: Bluma Bayuk Rappoport Purmell Papers, Stockton University.
