JEFF SENDERS in his Albany shop.

Senders recalls his family’s local roots

By Jewish Review

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Jeff Senders never expected to end up in Albany although his family’s history there goes back generations. But after growing up in Portland and serving in the military, a counselor job brought him back to town.

“There were people who knew my father and grandfather, and I got to hear great stories,” he said during an interview at his downtown stained-glass shop.

His great-grandfather Leon Senders came to Albany around 1861, he explained as he laid out a collection of family treasures. Originally from Prussia, Leon Senders and Moses Sternberg opened a shop in Brownsville before moving to Albany. The First Hebrew Congregation formed and met at Senders & Sternberg’s Drygoods.

Leon Senders married Lena May in 1864. Julius Eckman, Temple Beth Israel’s rabbi from 1864 to 1866, signed their Hebrew wedding certificate now lying on his table. (Eckman later served Congregation Ahavai Shalom.)

“I remember my great-grandmother,” Jeff Senders said. “She was a frail little lady who came across on a covered wagon.”

Senders picked up an obituary about his grandfather Albert, Leon and Lena Sender’s son. “He was master of the lodge in 1904…also past exalted ruler of the Elks Lodge,” it said.

An active mason like many early Albany Jews, A.G. Senders also served as Albany’s mayor and owned a large grain mill.

“They just tore down the warehouse where they’re doing urban renewal,” Jeff Senders said. “It was the last historic artifact on the river front.”

“Isn’t it odd that I ended up in Albany?” Senders remarked as he glanced around the shop. Stained glass, once a self-taught hobby, developed into a new livelihood.

“My goal was to make it three months in the stained glass business,” he said.

Now, 30 years later, Senders performs restoration work around the country and often creates designs for churches.

“I’m 63. I could have taken Social Security at 62—but I’m having too much fun.”