FYI from today's Post:

Gertrude Lass Kahane Ski Shop Owner

Gertrude Lass Kahane, 83, who founded Ski Center, a Washington ski shop, with her husband, died of respiratory failure June 7 at her home in Silver Spring.

Their store had its earliest roots during the Kahanes' honeymoon in 1952, when her husband, Adam Kahane, took his bride to a ski resort in New Hampshire. He fitted her with skis and poles, told her how to stop and left her to her own devices. He had learned to ski as a boy in his native Poland, but Mrs. Kahane, who grew up in Iowa, never became a devoted skier herself.

Instead, she was devoted to their store, which opened in downtown Washington in 1959. After a couple of moves, it settled in its present location in Spring Valley in 1973. Mrs. Kahane was a fixture in the store for more than 30 years, greeting customers and assisting with bookkeeping and other aspects of the business. The Ski Center is still operated by the family.

Mrs. Kahane was born in Sioux City, Iowa, and came to Washington during World War II to take a secretarial job with the Department of War. Until 1959, she held a variety of secretarial positions in the government, including working for the president's air policy commission, a federal housing office and the international economics division of the Commerce Department.

In addition to her husband, of Silver Spring, survivors include two children, Audrey Kahane of West Hills, Calif., and Stuart Kahane of Bethesda; and three grandchildren.