Edward Sisenwain
The Jewish Encyclopedia
of Western Pennsylvania
A project of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center
Edward Sisenwain (c.1879-1937) came to Pittsburgh from Sandusky, Ohio, about 1904, when he married Leona Silken (c.1886-1948), a Russian immigrant. She arrived in Pittsburgh about 1897. They had three children, Sylvia, Helen and Robert.
Edward Sisenwain worked as a bookkeeper before opening a grocery store on Broadway Avenue, in Beechview. Leona Sisenwain was the president of the Beth El Synagogue Sisterhood when the congregation was based in Beechview. After her death, her friends and family created the Leona Sisenwain Memorial Shelf in the synagogue library.
Helen Sisenwain married Richard S. Rauh. As a drama student at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, she shortened her name to Helen Wayne. Helen Wayne Rauh became one of Pittsburgh’s best known and most popular actresses.
