Tillie Lerner was born in either 1912 or 1913, in Omaha, Nebraska. (Her exact birth date and year remain unknown, as her birth certificate was lost.) Her parents were Russian political refugees who had fled from Czarist oppression after the 1905 revolution and were forced to settle for low-wage jobs and a modest life in America.
A bright child, Lerner attended Omaha Central High School, which was well-known for academic rigor. She left school without completing her studies, however, in order to work various low-wage jobs. This decision was partially based on her family's need during the Great Depression, and partially on her own academic failure. Throughout the Great Depression, she...
