Andi Gordon
Andi's maternal family, the Sacksteins, originated in Lithuania, from a town she recalls as Abel. Her grandfather Gedalia, known as George, came to South Africa around 1900 and was one of the founders of the Berea Shul in Johannesburg. He married her grandmother Annie Sack, who came from Riga, and they raised six children, including Andi's mother Miriam, known as Mimi. The family was once known for a large house on Hendon Street in the Doornfontein area. Andi's father, Monty (Montague) Gordon, came from a Hillbrow family also with Lithuanian roots; his father died in 1929 when Monty was nine. Her father was a gifted painter and musician whose talents she treasures.
Andi grew up in Hillbrow, later Waverley, and spent an unusual childhood living in the Clarendon Hotel in Springs, which her parents owned. She attended several schools, including Springs Girls High and Waverley Girls High, and trained as a teacher at the JCE College of Education. She met her husband Norman in 1970 and married in 1972. Their son Terry was born in 1975. Concerned about future political unrest after the Soweto uprising, and encouraged by Andi's father, the family emigrated to Dallas on January 27, 1977, traveling together with the Bear and Isra families. Their second son, Mark, was born in Dallas in June 1978.
In Dallas, Andi found a warm and welcoming community even though few South Africans lived there yet, and she became active in organizations such as Neighbors Women, serving as president one year. After her father's death in 1986, she discovered a talent for composing music and created shows for the Solomon Schechter School and the Dallas Children's Theatre, including a work called Coming to the Light about the history of a menorah. Her sons attended Akiba and Solomon Schechter. Over the years her mother Mimi, remembered fondly as the Kitka Lady of Dallas, and her sisters Georgie and Elaine joined her, so the family was reunited. Andi has maintained South African and Jewish traditions and passes family history and recipes on to her grandchildren.
Full Transcript
Today is Tuesday, January the 19th. Joan Grahamont and Lynette Rekusen is here with me and we are interviewing, very happy to be interviewing, Andy Gordon at her home. Hi Andy. Andy, let's start talking about life in South Africa, what do you know about your family that came to South Africa, where they came from and when they came? What can you share about their lives? I know more about my mother's family than my father's, unfortunately. My mother's family on her father's side all originated from Lithuania, from Abel, Abelia, a bell, you know, that's got different names. My grandpa, George, name was Gedalia, came probably in about 1900, 1901.
He was an extremely religious man. He, in fact, was one of the founders of the Berea Shul in Johannesburg. He married my granny in about 1907. She was She was 16, and she came from Riga. They got married, she had, at 16, she had her first son. His name was Morrie Saxton. She had two sons soon after, within three years, Izzy and John. Lolly Saxton's nickname. And then she had three daughters, Sarah, Leah, and my mom, Miriam, who was the baby. They lived in a big house in Hendon Street. My grandpa was a tailor, very religious man, but seemed to do well, how I don't know.
And they built this very large house in Hendon Street, right at the top of Hendon Street, which I've heard about. And one of my uncles saw a house in England that he loved. So they actually got the same materials from England and brought it to South Africa to build this house. It was a huge house at the top of Hendon Street and they were known as the wealthy Saksdives Obviously something happened along the way because that never remained Is the house still standing The house is not standing Unfortunately we never got to see it My mom spoke a lot about the house, about the cows they had there.
She told me a lot about her life. They had a nurse, a white lady who lived with them. It was just a very interesting history of her family. And Hendon Street is in what? It's in the Daunfontein area. Granny's family, Annie, her name was Annie Sack, I don't know much about it. I don't know much about her history, but all I know is from when she came to South Africa. My grandpa had quite a few Sack's team relatives who we met along the the way. In fact, I've got a cousin in Fort Lauderdale who's part of the Saxton family. And I don't know if you're interested in seeing this, if I'm allowed to get up, but this is a wonderful family tree that somebody sent my mom years ago that started in Abel in the 1800s and went right through the world.
There's Saxton from all over the world. France, Europe, I'm from Europe, Israel, England, Finland, Canada, and South Africa, and now of course the USA. Amazing. That's my mom's family. My dad's family, they also came from Lithuania. My granny I'm not sure of, but my grandpa did. Unfortunately, he committed suicide in 1929 when my father was nine. My dad was one of three, the youngest. We had a sister, Evelyn, Urdang, Judith Urdang, Judy, and my dad was Monty, Montague, little name Robert. And they lived all in Hillbra. There are some families, relatives we've learned along the way. In fact, Ella Urdang, who was a very famous doctor in Johannesburg, was a cousin.
But I don't know much about my dad's family, unfortunately. Okay, it's an unusual name, so it could be easy perhaps to find information. All right, thank you. Now tell us about your own life growing up in South Africa your family your schooling where you lived what was particularly memorable I was born in Hillbrow or we lived in Hillbrow in Rainil Court In fact, everyone lived there, both my grannies, my mum's one sister, we all lived in Rainil Court. We moved to Waverley when I was five. And then when I was seven, my parents bought a hotel in Springs, the Clarendon Hotel on Fifth Avenue. My dad's sister, Judy and Joe Smiley, also had a hotel and encouraged my parents to do the same.
So I had an unusual childhood. We grew up in a hotel. My sisters, Elaine was my oldest sister. She passed away, sadly, in 2006. And my younger sister, Georgie, we lived in one room in the hotel. So it was an unusual childhood. When I was 14, we moved back to Johannesburg. And from then on, we lived in Savoy. And then in... Can you stop this, Lynette? In Springs, I went to Selection Park, then Springs Girls High. When we came back to Jo'burg, I went to Waverley Girls High. Before we left, I believe I went to H.A. Jack when I was very little. But those were the schools I went to.
And then I went to the JCE, College of Education, became a teacher. Right. Met Norman, my husband, in 1970. Got married in 1972. Have two sons, Terry, who was born in 1975, and Mark was born in 1978. And I was a teacher. I did theater work in Johannesburg. My dad was a very, very musical, talented man. And he painted beautifully. I've got paintings of his, which I can bring and show you. He played instruments. And a lot of us developed that musical talent, which we're very grateful to have and have tried to carry it on. You have. You have carried it on. So, Andy, Terry was born in South Africa.
Mark was born here. Yes. All right, so let's get to your emigration, okay? How and why did you make the decision to leave South Africa My wonderful late father Jaime Gordon always felt that South Africa gave us a place to live but it was never really a home. He always felt, maybe because he had an issue in Russia and had to leave Russia, but he never felt that South Africa really embraced the Jews. So he always encouraged us if there was a way to leave, especially after Sharple, he encouraged us. That was in 1961, correct? Well, Sharple and then Soweto Wright. Okay. So after Soweto, he really encouraged us.
And that was 1976. Right. Soweto. Okay. So what happened is we got together with friends, Lenny and Linda Bear, and David and Hilary Isra, who is my cousin in Florida. And the three cousins, the three families, decided to emigrate. and it was basically because of the political, future political unrest. Jaime felt that there was another place for us and that's the bottom line for us leaving. I would never have left otherwise. I had my family, I had my mom, my dad, my sisters. When we came, we emigrated in 1977, January 27, 1977, in fact, coming up the anniversary. And why Dallas? Dallas, Norman looked around, he came and looked around the United States and came to Dallas as one of the places, stayed with Alan Mentor, who lives in Dallas, and just felt it was a good place to raise a family.
Also, Lenny and Linda Bear had decided to come to Dallas because of the Mentors too and various reasons, and we thought, you know, we'd like to come with another family. So, that's it. So once the decision to leave had been made, what were your thoughts and your feelings? You know, it's interesting you say that because I never doubted for a moment it was fine. I don't ever recall thinking, oh my God, this is a terrible thing. Norman said, we'll be fine, I'll make a living, we'll make a life. I had a 20-month-old son and I thought, we're leaving. The sad thing was the night before we were leaving, at our farewell party at my Ingo's house, my mother's companion dropped out of a heart attack at the party.
And the only doctor friend we knew was Lenny. And he had left already. And I said to Norman, we cannot leave, I can't leave my mother, and yet he said, this is an immigration, not a trip. So we left, we left the next day, and it was a bit traumatic from that point of view, but the actual move, I thought back on it, I never found it very difficult. I don't know why, maybe I was just... And your family's reaction to your move, because Norman's family obviously supported you and encouraged you. My mom was sad, but she always felt that if we had a better life ahead of us, that was important.
And I remember saying to my mom, don't worry, mommy, we'll be the fur trekkers. We'll go first, and we'll all be together one day, and we will. Yeah, that's true. We will. Thank God. All right, so you came to Dallas. You came here in the early years. There were not too many South Africans here already. And so in what ways was the community, South African and American, helpful to you when you first arrived? Did you find the community was very welcoming? There was no South African community. Alan and Pam Menta and a few other families and Jill and Mandy were here. So there were no South African communities to welcome us.
But the American community, we found it a very nice place to come. It was a warm, similar to Johannesburg kind of town, Dallas. It was a little provincial in those days in comparison to Johannesburg, which sounds strange today. But I met some very nice people, Greta Hussowitz, Marsha Gasworth. These people really helped set us. I joined the Neighbors Women. I became president one year. So I try to get involved with the community to learn about the ways. I remember phoning Greta to say, how do I clean a bathtub? What do you use? You know, things like that. It's spoiled South African girls. Had you been to Dallas before you moved here?
Okay. I arrived on a snowy day. So are there any challenges that you had to adjust to life other than cleaning the bathtub in Dallas and what particularly stands out What does stand out to me Lenny and Linda and Norman and I were like we were family and our kids Terry and little David grew up together that was our family and Jill and Mandy. I remember going to movies and restaurants and recognizing nobody. And I thought, that's weird. And I remember one time going to a neighbor's function somewhere. And I remember recognizing a lot of people, and a lot of people saying, hi, Andy. And I thought, you know what?
I suddenly feel like I've arrived. It's a strange thing to remember, but that's what I remember. Alright, you worked here. You did wonderful work at the Solomon Schefter School. Tell us a little bit about what you did here? I've always loved music. I didn't know I could do such a thing as composing, but my in-laws sent me a beautiful piano from South Africa that belonged to my mother-in-law. And the year my father passed away, I sat down at the piano and I started singing and writing. What year was that? And I realized my dad died in 1986. And I remember thinking, wow, I didn't know I could do this.
And I started writing music. And I love working with kids. I did this in South Africa. So I did some shows at the Solomon Schechter School about the history of the school and just fun stuff like that. And I enjoyed that. And what other work have you done? I've done a lot of work for the community, the JCC, and other organizations, federation. I also got involved in the Dallas Children's Theatre and did quite a number of works with them. I had a collaborator, well, I'll do, Lynn Doherty from the theatre. One particular show I'm very proud of is called Coming to the Light, which is a story about the history of a menorah, which goes through from biblical times through to modern days, so it was the history of a menorah over France.
I remember that. Okay. And let talk about your kids and you had your second son very soon after you got here Yes Mark was born in 1978 June 78 Did they go to Jewish schools They did They started at Akiba and then they went to Solomon Schechter Terry was the second class ever at Solomon Schechter. Then they went on to Park Hill and Pierce High School. Okay. And what important South African, well not important, what South African Jewish cultural traditions have you maintained? Well the food for sure, oribosh, built on, kids all love that. Curry. Curry, but more important than the South African cultural stuff, which we talk about a lot.
The kids take our accents off. They know all about the places. We've taken them back to show them where we lived, animals, safari, all that sort of thing. But more important is I've tried to maintain the history of their grandparents, especially my mother's cooking. I'm blessed with two beautiful grandchildren, two little girls, Gabrielle and Tylee. And I cook with them. And I always say, this is Mimi's recipe. and things like that or we talk about Papa Jaime or we talk about Grandpa Monty and they show his paintings so I try and do it more from a historical family perspective as well as South Africa telling them about their history South Africa is just part of it there's nothing in particular that I can really recall that stands out that I'm focusing on But the cultural traditions you've brought with you, the Shabbat, the holidays, the food, the top hearing, etc.
Absolutely. The word Kitka, which is only South African. Things like that. You know, we call it Kali here that the kids know about a Kitka. Things like that, you know. So, once you were here, your family joined you. Tell us about the family that joined you here. My mom came soon after we were here, about four or five years later. Then she, first actually my sister, then Georgie came, my sister from London. They were living in London She married Dave Katzen They came over in the early 80s like 1981 1982 Yeah, about 82 they came, with a little boy. And they moved to Dallas, and then it was me, my mom, and Georgie, and then my mom petitioned for my older sister Elaine, and she came in 94.
Well, 93, I believe. And she was here until she passed away. So you were all here. We were all for about four years until my mom passed away in 1997. We were all together. For about four years, we were all together in Dallas. And I remember my mom saying one day at one Shabbat dinner, she said, Andy said one day we'll all be together. You were the third tracker and now we're all together. Now you said, I must have cried now. I feel I cry. Beautiful. Beautiful. All right, so tell us about how your family has grown since you've been here. You have the two sons.
Well, my two sons, Terry, has two little girls. Mark is not married, so I don't have any grandchildren yet. So Georgie's here with her three sons. Right. So we're hoping their family will grow. So basically, that's my two sisters. My older sister's children, two of them live in New York. Debbie and Tony. The youngest one is in Dallas, and she has a son who lives in Columbia. So in the United States, we're all in the United States. We have nobody left in South Africa except a cousin. That was going to be my next question. All right, so tell me, what, if anything, do you miss about your life in South Africa?
And I know you've gone back to visit. How do you feel when you go back? You know, I wrote a song once about that, you know, take the girl out of Africa, but you can't take Africa out of the girl. It's an expression we all know. And I think, even though Dallas is my home, I've been in Dallas longer than I was in South Africa, and Dallas is wonderful, and I feel I'm truly a Dallasite now. I've earned my horns when I sent somebody the other day, I've been in nearly 40 years. When I think back on South Africa, I think back on my childhood and my family.
And that's what I feel nostalgic about. Not so much the country anymore. I feel nostalgic about the past. I think about my parents, my dad. My dad passed away in South Africa. I never saw him very much. So that's what makes me sad about South Africa and what I miss. I miss the beauty of the country, the climate, Cape Town especially. I would like to take the grandkids back to show them where they came from. But I believe Nardell is my home because I've got my family here and everybody's here. I think I can call the USA my home. Andy, is there anything we didn't cover that you'd like to tell us about?
And then if you'd like to just show us some things that are really meaningful and special. This is a nice little piece. It's a little cigarette case. This belonged to my mom's father, Gedali, and he brought it with him from Lithuania. He was a smoker, so that's a special thing. I do have a lovely painted portrait of my mum's parents, Gedalia, George, and Annie Sack. Okay. And George Sackstein. So that's lovely. The rest of the memories are in here. Beautiful. So I don have that much more to show just to tell We thank you very much Thank you I like to add that my mom Miriam known as Mimi Erdang was a wonderful baker, cook, taught me wonderful recipes, but she was known as the Kikha Lady of Dallas.
And just surprisingly, a year or two ago, I got a call from somebody I don't even know. And she said, you don't know me, But I was thinking about Kekal today, and I remembered your mom, and I just wanted to phone and tell you that she was such a wonderful lady, and we loved her Kekal, and we miss it. Isn't that sweet? And then this photograph, I don't know if you can see this photograph, but this is a picture of my mom and her three girls in Dallas. No. Might not come out with a laugh. Anyway, I just wanted to mention that my mom made her mark in Dallas in her small way.
She was a real lady and... Also the best mother in the world. Best mother in the world. The best mother in the world. Mother and mother in the world. And we miss her. Oh, thank you.