Seki (born Sadie) Rosenzweig Rice was born March 6, 1905, in Manhattan, New York, the daughter of Morris and Lena Rosenzweig. She had a brother, Meyer, born around 1904. In 1910 the family lived on East 101st Street in Manhattan. Father Morris supported the family by running a grocery store. Five years later the family was living at 104 E. 97th Street, and the family business was described as a "delicatessin store," (and through the 1930's as a "fish store" or "herring store.")
Sadie attended college for four years, and qualified as a teacher. Around 1929 she married Irving H. Rice (who was born November 3, 1903 in Hartford, Connecticut); and they made their home at 961 Washington Avenue in Brooklyn. It was around this time that her name began being recorded as "Seki" rather than Sadie. She worked as a public school teacher, and Irving as a "clerk in motion pictures."
In August of 1931 Seki and Irving traveled to Bermuda, returning from Hamilton, Bermuda to New York City on the Franconia, arriving on August 14, 1931. On August 19, 1939 they again left for a vacation in San Juan, Puerto Rico, traveling on the Iroquois.
In 1940 the couple, along with Seki's widowed father Morris, lived on East Fifth Street in New York City. Morris was working as a "furrier" in the garment industry; and Irving as a "purchasing agent in the motion picture industry."
With WWII on the horizon, Irving enlisted in the New York National Guard on November 24, 1941, serving in the Company A 9th Regiment.
Sometime after 1950, the couple lived at 1401 Ocean Avenue in Brooklyn; and later at 25 Central Park West in New York City.
Continuing with their penchant for tropical holidays, in August 1955, Seki and Irving traveled on Pan American World Airways from Miami to Havana, Cuba.
Late in life Seki and Irving moved to Miami Beach, Florida, living at 5 Island Avenue. Irving H. Rice died March 20, 1982. His obituary in the New York Times described him as, "beloved husband of Seki Rice...devoted father of Lawrence E. Rice of New York, dear brother of Joseph Goldstein of Miami Beach...past president of the Henry Street Settlement Oldtimers, past president of the Community Reform Temple, Brooklyn, NY, vice-president of the Greater Miami Chapter of Myasthenia Gravis, member of the Motion Picture Pioneers and the Delfor Lodge K. of P."
Seki Rice died September 1, 1991. She is buried on Hart Island.
Sources: US Social Security Death Index; NY, NY Birth Index, 1878-1909; 1910, 1930, 194o US Federal Censuses; 1915 and 1925 NY, State Censuses; NY, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957; Puerto Rico, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1901-1962; Florida, Passenger Lists, 1898-1963; NY, New York Guard Service Cards, 1906-1918, 1940-1948; US Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Vol. 1 and 2; Florida Death Index, 1877-1998; Historical Newspapers, Birth, Marriage & Death Announcements, 1851-2003.