Howard & Marion Neidelmen bio
Howard Neidelmen, 70, and Marion Bates, 65, were born in New York, New York. Even though they grew up only a few blocks away from each other, their paths never crossed until they were adults.
After high school, Howard went to work for his father as an apprentice jeweler.
Marion's parents were dismayed that she had no marriage prospects she cared to consider when she graduated from high school. While they worried she would never find a husband, she found a job as a secretary in an advertising firm.
One spring day, Marion's boss asked her to stop by Neidelmens Jewelers on her lunch hour to pick up a bracelet he had ordered for his wife. When she walked into the store, Marion and the attractive behind the counter noticed each other right away. The two felt an immediate connection, and Marion spent her entire lunch hour talking to Howard. She was almost late returning to work, and Howard had to chase after her to give her the bracelet she had come to pick up in the first place.
Virtually inseparable from the day they met, Howard and Marion married a year later. After many years of infertility, they applied to adoption agencies. When they got word that a baby girl was available for them to adopt, they were ecstatic, and two days later, the daughter they named Nancy came into their lives.
Knowing that Nancy would be their only child, Howard and Marion gave her everything she asked for and more. As Nancy became increasingly challenging at home and school, her parents struggled to discipline her because her charm always melted their resolve. However, when the meetings with her school principal became almost daily, and most of Nancy's friends were no longer allowed to play with her, they finally steeled themselves to take action.
When Nancy was nine, Howard and Marion enrolled her in a strict parochial school. They were thrilled when their daughter thrived at her new school and rewarded her for every good grade and improvement in her behavior. She excelled in her English classes, and her parents dismissed her lackluster grades in other courses.
The Neidelmens were brokenhearted when their daughter decided to go to college almost 1,000 miles away in Mississippi, but they didn't object. Nancy did move back to New York after graduation, and her parents were elated to have her nearby again.
Ten years ago, Howard decided that nearly 40 years in the jewelry business were enough and sold the store for a tidy sum. Between the proceeds from the sale and the retirement nest egg they'd built over the decades, the Neidelmens were very well-off financially. Howard wanted to escape the New York winters and retire to Florida to live the good life. It took some convincing, but Marion finally agreed, and they moved to Miami.
The Neidelmens continued to support Nancy in all her activities, including her name change to Zoe Chase and her move to Oxford. They often sent her extravagant gifts or money to ensure she had everything she wanted. For Zoe's 35th birthday, they gave her a ruby and diamond cocktail ring that Howard had found especially for her.
Their Miami friends mention how much Howard and Marion doted on their daughter almost as much as they talk about how devoted the couple are to each other.
The Neidelmens rarely do anything separately and are known for finishing each other's sentences. They share everything from household chores to the food on their plates. Most people who know them simply treat them as one person—Howard-and-Marion—because they usually behave as a single unit.
When the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department notified them of Zoe's death, Howard and Marion took the first flight they could to get to Oxford and find out what had happened to their beloved daughter.
