What do Barry Manilow, Barbra Streisand, Mel Brooks, Charlie Firestone, Susan and Jim Eilberg, and Alice and David Titus have in common? Aside from the first three not living in Tidewater, all are Jewish, more than 80 years old, active in a variety of pursuits, and serve as inspirations to legions of followers. While the first three may have more global audiences than the Tidewater group, they are all celebrities to their fans of friends, colleagues, and loved ones.
Jewish News spoke with the locals about why they chose Tidewater as their home and their long lists of activities and accomplishments.
Charlie Firestone
Charlie Firestone still says, “She (Arlene, his wife) is the best thing that ever happened to me.” Their marriage of 66 years has produced four children, nine grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren (with another on the way).
The Firestones were one of the seven founding families of Kehillat Bet Hamidrash Synagogue (KBH) in Virginia Beach. Currently serving his second term as facilities chair of the building, Firestone has held positions as board member and board president. “I’ve done it all,” he laughs. This fall, KBH moves its home to the Sandler Family Campus, celebrating its first official Shabbat on campus on Saturday, Sept. 6.
Originally from Atlanta, the young family moved to Virginia Beach in 1971 when Firestone took a sales position with Zep Manufacturing Company, specializing in industrial chemicals. He retired in 2011, after being with the company for 40 years. The couple sold their home in Oceana two years ago to move into an independent living setting.
In recognition of his KBH volunteerism, Firestone was a recipient of the Joseph H. Strelitz Community Service Award at the 2025 United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Biennial meeting. Beyond KBH, Firestone’s volunteer activities have included serving as a member of the Rotary Club of Hampton Roads for 38 years; being involved with Destination Imagination, a nonprofit that aims to “inspire young people to imagine and innovate today so they become the creative and collaborative leaders of tomorrow;” and also serving as a commissioner on the Virginia Commission for National Community Service under Governors Tim Kaine and Mark Warner. Firestone has also judged for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and DECA competitions during his involvement with the Virginia Beach school system. DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.
At home, Firestone enjoys reading and doing crossword puzzles, and “being a nuisance to my wife,” he muses. Firestone says he is grateful for his family and adds that daughter and son-in-law Mindy and Jim Harvel have helped the couple complete two moves. Firestone recounts a conversation with Mindy, when she said, “You took care of us when we were little and now it’s our turn to take care of you.” At 89 years old, he has earned it.
Susan and Jim Eilberg
Now 90 years old, Jim Eilberg has officially retired from years of professional life and volunteer activities. That doesn’t mean, though, that he and his wife, Susan, have retired from life. . . they continue to attend Old Dominion University basketball games and Virginia Symphony concerts as season ticket holders. “Susan is far more active.” he says.
Originally from Brookline, Mass., Jim served 31 years in the Navy, both in active duty and the reserves, moving from line officer to supply officer. For him, “logistics was more engaging than driving destroyers,” he says. For 24 years, he owned a scrap metal business which he had purchased from his first wife’s father.
After retirement, Jim volunteered at Jewish Family Service for 20 years, delivering Meals on Wheels, and at B’nai Brith, he served as financial secretary for more than 20 years.
Susan hails from Manhattan, attending Goucher College and William & Mary before receiving her PhD from Old Dominion University. Working in education for 40 years, Susan was a French teacher in the Norfolk public schools and a guidance officer at Norview High School. She also held the position of assistant director at Governor’s School for the Arts and now serves on its board. She says they both enjoy attending many of the Governor’s School’s offerings.
In her spare time, Susan keeps busy as a docent at Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center and as a Sentara volunteer, where she chats with patients, explains their rights, listens to their grievances, and reports back to her supervisor.
“My wife is terrific. Our marriage is solid. We’re grateful just to be here, enjoying one another,” Jim says.
Married since 1973, the Eilbergs have two sons and six grandchildren. While the Eilbergs raised their family in Norfolk, they now live at The Oceans in Virginia Beach. Since their sons and their families live out of town, the Eilbergs travel often to visit them.
Jim says that he and Susan are lucky. “Our kids have been successful, their marriages are intact, and we have beautiful grandchildren.”
Alice and David Titus
“I was a substitute blind date,” says Alice Titus when sharing how she and David met.
“Roommate number 1 arranged it (the blind date) for herself and roommate number 2, but roommate number 2 got sick. C’est la vie! We celebrated the 60th anniversary of that serendipitous meeting this past February.”
Before moving to Tidewater, Alice and David lived in Indiana, Rhode Island, and then in the Albany, New York area for 40 years. The couple decided that retirement called for a change of climate.
Looking to escape the long, cold winters and having vacationed in Virginia Beach for many years, this area offered both an appealing climate and (as David is retired from the Naval Reserve) many military retiree benefits.
Not knowing anyone when they first moved here, the Tituses joined Ohef Sholom Temple where they feel they have been nurtured both spiritually and intellectually.
“We attend services every week, I sing in the wonderful OST choir, and we both taught in the Religious School. We both serve on the Archives and Library Sub-Committee and Adult Education Sub-Committee, Alice is a member of OST’s Sisterhood, and I am a member of Men’s Club,” says David. “In 2020, I converted to Judaism,” he continues.
Tidewater has been their home for the last 10 years, where they have enjoyed boating, swimming, the rich cultural life, the warm welcoming community, and the friendships developed through the synagogue, as well as through their condominium association.
Born and raised in New York City, Alice graduated from the State University of New York at Albany and earned a bachelor’s degree in English and two master’s degrees – one in public history and the other in public affairs and policy with an emphasis in science policy. She spent most of her professional career as a teacher, teaching English for 20 years in middle school, high school, and college, as well as social studies to middle school students.
Working for the archives of the State University, she processed the papers of a scientist involved in the World War II nuclear weapons program known as the Manhattan Project and later served as an analyst for insurance legislation as part of the central staff of the New York State Assembly.
David was raised in a suburb of Albany and also graduated from the State University of New York at Albany with a bachelor’s degree in English. He earned a master’s degree in English from the State University and a Master of Library Science degree from the University of Rhode Island.
As a college instructor and librarian, David taught English at the University of Rhode Island and was a librarian at The Albany Academy in Albany. Also in Albany, he administered library and media programs at the Capital Region Board of Cooperative Educational Services and was an instructor and librarian for Bryant & Stratton College, both in person and online. After active duty in the United States Navy and nearly 30 years in the Naval Reserve, David retired as a Chief Petty Officer in 1991.
In retirement, David is extremely busy as a volunteer. At Ohef Sholom, he spends time in the Ohef Sholom Temple Library and the Ohef Sholom Religious School Library. He is particularly focused on developing the Bonk-Rivin Holocaust Collection, which holds one of the largest collections in the world of Holocaust-related graphic novels and comic books.
Alice previously served as a part-time OST archivist, and she now volunteers there and in the archives of the MacArthur Memorial Museum. She helps in the OST soup kitchen and at WHRO Voice, where she reads the newspaper over the radio for those who are blind or visually impaired. In addition to volunteering in the OST library, David volunteers in the library of the Hampton Roads Naval Museum and sings with the Symphonicity Chorus in Virginia Beach. They both volunteer in their condominium’s garden.
“I can spend hours playing the piano,” Alice says. A recent OST bat mitzvah, Alice celebrated the simcha along with 22 other adults of various ages, genders, and backgrounds. Alice explains that, while she was raised Jewish and married by a rabbi (“He was the only rabbi in New York City who would officiate at a wedding of a Jew and non-Jew at the time,” she says), she grew up as a “cultural” Jew, identifying as Jewish but not knowing much about the religion. “Although we raised our children in a Jewish home and belonged to synagogues where we lived before, it wasn’t until we came here and became members of Ohef Sholom Temple, that I felt comfortable in the religion into which I had been born,” Alice says. At OST, she has studied Hebrew and the history and ethics of Judaism. “It has been a joy in the good times, a comfort in the hard times, and a beautiful journey,” she says. “Becoming a bat mitzvah was my opportunity to publicly declare my commitment to and love for the values and spirituality of Judaism.”
With a son and daughter-in-law in Japan, the Tituses have toured the Asian country six times. They spend as much time as they can visiting their daughter, son-in-law, and grandson in Pennsylvania, and a granddaughter in northern Virginia. With cousins in North and South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and California, and nieces and nephews not too far from Tidewater, Alice and David are often on the road. Most summers include travel to Upstate New York, visiting with old friends and enjoying the concerts and theater both there and in neighboring western Massachusetts.
For fun, they love visiting museums and the Norfolk Botanical Garden, attending concerts and theater, and spending time with friends. The Tituses belong to several book clubs and are members of the Norfolk Historical Society.
Married for 58 years, that chance blind date in 1965 turned out to be much more than just a happy accident.