Adlene Harrison
Adlene Harrison was born in Dallas into a large immigrant family. Her mother was born in Poland, which later became Russia, and her father was born in Russia. Her mother traveled alone by ship from Bremen and landed in Galveston, while her father came through Ellis Island, where a customs officer changed the family name from a longer name to Nathanson, based on his father's first name, Nathan. Her father's sister Jenny and Jenny's husband first settled in St. Louis, where they ran a bakery, before the family made its way to Dallas. There they opened what became Schepps Bakery, and her father served as general manager while employing many of her mother's brothers, the Gold(man) family. Baking remained a family thread for years, including the founding of a company Adlene recalled as Gold One Baking Company.
Adlene grew up in a Dallas that was then a small town. She left the state to attend the University of Missouri, initially drawn to journalism but graduating with a major in history and political science, then returned home. Like many college women of her era, she took a job at Neiman Marcus, starting in the stockroom and rising to become a sportswear buyer. She married and, as her husband said, became the family's charity, throwing herself into volunteer and civic work. Her entry into politics came through her cousin Joel, who ran for City Council and asked her to run his campaign, later appointing her to the City Planning Commission, where she served four terms over about eight years and helped establish the Swiss Avenue historic district.
Encouraged by others who admired her grasp of zoning and planning issues, Adlene ran for City Council against four male opponents, forced a runoff, and won with nearly 60 percent of the vote. She later became mayor after the sitting mayor resigned to run for Congress. Her time as mayor coincided with the court-ordered integration of Dallas schools, and she took great pride in the speech she gave to the citizens of Dallas and in keeping the process peaceful. She was later appointed regional administrator of the EPA. Adlene credited her father with instilling the belief that one should help others without expecting thanks and that one is one's brother's keeper, values she tied to her Jewish upbringing. She spoke with pride of her daughter and of the marriage she chose, and remained an outspoken advocate for women in public life.
Full Transcript
we are here with Adaline Harrison it is March 16 2015 and we're going to ask you some questions this morning on tell us a little bit about your family your parents and how eventually they got to Dallas well I should read the thing I having a breakfast ruining the cities in Russia and Poland that I don't remember so I could go get it that's a Kentucky but my mother was born in Poland which became Russia my dad was born in Russia and my mother's mother was the chef's her father was a gold my my dad's sister married his ships Jo ships so my father mother
didn't know it you know each other and Russia at all my father my mother came here by herself on a ship from Bremen and landed in Galveston and my dad and his brother-in-law picked her up there and and my mother was quite a bit younger than my dad that's how they met mm-hmm my father landed in Ellis Island and his family name was just so lofty and the customs guys with all the immigrants and everything falling in could care less about these big names they couldn't spell them they couldn't spell them so and this is happens with everybody came everybody I talked to his parents
came and they said to my father what was your father's first night and he said Nathan he said well from now on your legal name is Nathanson and that was the end of that other name mm-hmm and then his sister Jenny who married Josef's had come ahead and they lived in st. Louis and so my father left New York and went to st. Louis to be with them and they were bakers Jenny and Joel we're Baker's or had a bakery in st. Louis and that their breads were anything from white bread or whatever a plain old bread to Passover time they made matzah and whatever the association is it still exists where the rabbi's come and check the places so they're doing kosher foods moths or whatever came and decided their Massa was made illegally and it was a big scandal in st.
Louis and it broke they had closed the Baker so then Joe chefs decided to come to Dallas don't ask me why God on a training came and then my dad and Jenny followed him here they opened the bakery which became chef's bakery my dad was a general manager and Jenny was like working the business angles with my father and my father hired all the golden brothers my mother's brothers and they all worked there practically all of them I think one max may not he was the youngest mm-hmm you had a huge family here yeah I'm pointing that's right yeah and they're done you know my
mother had six brothers two and a sister so they were eight of them living I think some of it died maybe one a child at birth her I don't know but so tasty bread which was a national brand bought chef's bakery and all of them Jenny Joe my father all had sign contracts if they wouldn't go back in the bakery business for three years or something like that and I liked it fine as a kid because my dad was free had a lot of free time so he took the stall the national parks and California on the beach pretty good for us mm-hmm and then
my mother's brothers the gold ones who were Baker's over it ships free they really baked they decided they wanted to open a bakery now two of them I think you a salmon aid that moved to Houston and tried to open a bakery on their own didn't make it so they came back here and then all those golden boys I think except max decided they wanted to open a bakery and they named it gold one baking company my dad couldn't openly be involved with them because I guess his contract whatnot but when it was that he came and he was sort of running everything when Julius
Coleman and when Julius died my dad was president of that bakery for years so the baking business was always going on somehow my grandfather my mother's father my era going one I don't think he ever worked a day in his life but I'm reading something I've got for the Gulman thing that he had a dry goods store something that's a little kid I don't remember a thing about that for four years I said I can't believe he works maybe he was behind the scene no he went behind the scenes he was his breakfast room table reading about the Torah and the so that from morning
till night he was a volunteer over shared Israel and his house was very near so he walked there every day and he had chickens in the backyard so I don't eat chicken now so truth that's the truth then it dawned on me as a little kid I think I'm eating one of those chickens you know and they just sort of turn me off you've been here your family's been in Dallas a long time tell us a little bit about some of the differences in some of the changes you've seen through the years that has happened in Dallas the city itself well an example I was
born here I am now 91 years old and I am next to the oldest goleman Frisco first cousins red Coleman is nine days old she met me so when I remember it was a very small town I mean how do I know it was a small town if the population wasn't big as example when I went away to college I think they were about two hundred and thirty or forty thousand people in Dallas where did you go I went the University of Missouri oh I went out of state okay how did you choose that I thought I wanted to be in journalism and that was
the best undergraduate journalism school and when I got there I think it's because I saw how hard my sorority sisters worked in the journalism sorry I don't want to do that so I got a history and political science major and I can tell you studying political science at college doesn't help oh did you come back to Dallas after that yeah never won any place that was mamas well tell us a little bit about your early life your early career well early career when I came back from college girls in those days they didn't have law degrees they didn't get medical degrees they really don't did
engineering they had no professional training of any kind so all of us college gals all ran the Neiman Marcus and thought that would be a nice place to work and that's where I went and my first job there was to work in the room that holds all the clothes and the one on the second floor at the only Neiman Marcus at that time was as big as a football field because the clothes held women's the fur Department the sports department they were all on that floor and when I went to marry law who was the personnel director to get a job she didn't like college
girls too much she never went to college I think that was the problem she thought we were all spoiled she really did and she was tough as nails and she said I'll see if you want a job because I'm gonna put you work in the stockroom I said I'll take it you know I was always game and I went and I stockroom that day and there were two other young women one sat on the floor lonely weren't busy and read the Bible and the other one I don't think could read I'm serious and so was it a very excellent exhilarating you know and one day
I said after about two weeks I tell you what we're gonna do today I mean they let me to be the boss what did you know we're gonna move all the clothes and all the heavy stuff like fur coats cloth coat Suz all of these stuff were moving forward and all the light stuff were moving back and we did it and so in about a week or so a woman by the name of Rosalind the heart it was a general Breyer the big body good-looking woman I mean she must have been six feet to very striking she looks sort of like a horse woman no
and she said who did all of this and they're already dying you know two of them and I just said I did she said why did you do that I said what's the sense I'm carrying all that heavy stuff you know in the bag I've got it near the door where we come in and she said tomorrow morning come to my office because you're gonna work in the buyers office part day and be on the floor selling so I can't do that Mary Lloyd said I was stuck in here for six months she said I'll take you so that's sort of how I got started
there and then I was a sportswear buyer for separates you know like swimsuit skirts blouses and I was there a couple years and I left because I realized how political things could get because the buyers in that department they've had dresses suits coats and all the bigger more expensive stuff one of them in particular was a single mother with a couple of kids and she would tell the sales girls at meetings don't sell the separate she can't make any money down that so I thought you know she needs a job I don't need I'm out of here I'm not gonna work for that so I
went to Joe Ross who was a general merchandise Big Shot he was right understand me Marcus I said Joe I'm leaving and I knew it before I went there so what do you mean you're leaving that's it I'm not gonna go into it but I just don't want to have any friction between people he said I know he said you're talking about I'll move her and I said no you're not gonna move her and I just say anything she she's good she needs it and I am out of here so way outward and then I went to work for a friend of mine folks who
was a head buyer and I was her assistant and that was a great fun job did you meet your husband anytime in here it's still not known the big dream no no okay I had a bunch of friends here we go out practically every night no romantic friendships with our crowd it was just fun we'd go to the Idlewild lie lounge that McKinney Egyptian lounge mm-hmm eat pizza I didn't drink beer I didn't drink anything but you know the guys were getting a car pick all this up and it was real fun mm-hmm and then I went to work shortly for the Leavey brothers that
had national chem search and that in those days they called it mash know something and I man it was a terrific salesman sort of taught those boys because their father had died Lester came home from college and ran it hmm he was totally pretty but he learned a lot for Mike so Lester sister me listen we're thinking about going in a tell businesses since you've been in it we wanna our chemist has got something like n dust you know that's right right and so we're gonna do one called no dust but we have to get in the departments in the department store because in those
days you go in Titus you buy all that stuff so we want you to try to get them to buy this stuff so I did that for a while and I said listen y'all don't understand the retail business you've got to give up money for advertising and stuff and if you don't do it they're not gonna carry your product so you're wasting your time and mine too so we quit that you can do that now I'm trying to think it then I finally got into the political end of everything Joel Goldman was running for the City Council and he was my first cousin mm-hmm and
we were pretty friendly and about every month one of the Goldman women would have something at their house where all the aunts and uncles were there and if it was your mother and father's time then their kids were there and then once a year there was sort of a major gathering of all of them so Joe gets up and he said I'm running for council and idly he's gonna run my campaign I said what are you talking about running your campaign he hadn't discussed it with me 100 and so I'm not doing it I don't know anything about it he says you'll know more than
the most of them that are gonna do something so I thought I got nothing to do I'll do it and that's how I really got into politics because he appointed me to the City Planning Commission and I spent four terms on that just eight years right but there was a hiatus of four years and then I didn't get an appointment Joe was gone and then after those two years somebody else appointed me so there was four more years I'm the same I'm the Planning Commission yeah yeah and it's very interesting because that's how we got the Swiss Avenue historic district and we had a wonderful
urban design guy who just wrote a book and it's on my desk in there the publisher sent it to me and my name is in there and he wrote me a personal wonderful note we're still friendly he's Chinese been in this country for years and I sort of took to that stuff but not in a political way leave it to me to always be the no voter or something knows a man who probably could have strung me up and their stories written all over you probably read that maybe not when I was sworn into the Planning Commission the Chairman said to me the last woman
on this commission brought us cookies the last lady the last lady said I said well you have the wrong woman because I'm not bringing any cookies that's how that started you know and there were many of these guys they never worked with a woman in their lives I mean they may have had some previously one at a time but they wouldn't stand up to them you know right when did you decide you were going to aspire to be on the City Council on herself well I didn't aspire to it was a strange story Lincoln properties which the guy that owned Lincoln worked for travel Pro
for years again he always had like a holiday party big holiday party and Mari and I were there and a lawyer by the name of Louis Nichols who always came up every week to represent zoning for his client all of which I voted against and he came up to me and he said you know you ought to run for the City Council I said Louis you must be nuts I have never agreed with what you've brought me ever I mean we were friendly and I said I don't think you would like that because that's the final word on those cases and he said listen you're
the one that understood what I was talking about at least and I said he needs somebody like that us I don't know that I want to do that but at the same party this land planner comes up to me his name was Bob Holland he said why don't you run for the City Council so when Maury not leave I said you know these two guys said I ought to run for the City Council Maury said well you should because you're always upset it's a plain Commission in both a certain way you could be sure if it was a big case the council would vote against
it and you'd have a voice over there I said I'll think about so I did and I had four male opponents Wow so there were five of us in the race and the Press Club used to give this big luncheon and invite each each set of people and so us the five of us came in to luncheon you drew straws who would speak first those things they may have to 300 at that that luncheon so I drew last and I was really happy that so every one of those others got up and all they do is talk about me why shouldn't be on the council
so when I got up I said I am so happy because I know I'm gonna win because they can't say anything good about what they're gonna do for this city and I'm gonna tell you what I'm gonna do you know just cut him off at the legs Jerry partes and I were in a runoff obviously you can't have five people without one mm-hmm and I'm not going through all the things that happened there but they weren't all too nice and I stood up and the election and I right off was the it was either pass over the eve of Passover or the next day I
don't know which you know my little volunteer said said you know those women aren't gonna leave the kitchen they are not they're not gonna vote that's a terrible break I said don't worry about it they're gonna they're gonna vote I guarantee you they're gonna vote and we wanted almost 60% so that was a great experience and I thought you know I've been in that city hall building eight years and so I know where all the classes are I know every day.he piece of cake one a piece of cake and I had enough sense to be quiet for six months at that time were there any
other jewish council people or and/or women that were on the Dallas City Council well not during my time I said when Joe was just Joe previously yeah but he he picked me so he was still on that council when I was on the plane and one day there was a giant case over there near the theater senator Mary Johnson was made and the chairman of like I was chairman of North Dallas the Chairman had to go to those luncheons and the council people were for the council meeting to explain the zoning cases and I was sitting next to Joe because all the council people were
there and myself and I said mayor I don't think you should vote on this case because she have a conflict of interest she kicks me under the table because he was that guy was tough he said you know and why shouldn't I vote on it and I said Chris your son-in-law it is on the board of the theater center and you just shouldn't he said mrs. H I think you're right and I said to Charlie tell him you shouldn't vote either because your wife's on the board by one nobody would be voting right so Joe say my god I cannot believe you did that I said well you saw if you're right people even if they're tough you do some me get something accomplishing and I never any trouble where that might because if you were intelligent he listened and the council would sit there at lunch they were all afraid of it when you really were when you were Councilwoman at West Was West wise already mayor at that kid the first time
yeah so tell me just in brief tell us a little bit about that experience and what are you really proud of as far as a project that you've worked on really hard how many problems I don't know pick a few I don't know well first of all Wes was mayor the council plan may Mayor Pro 10 and then West decided he was gonna run against Jim Maddox or Congress and I said don't do that so I wasn't akin to be mayor that would automatically make me mayor don't do that he's gonna eat you up like good you want to do that for well you didn't
listen so he resigned from the council and he got elected I mean a big licking that was the end of his political days so that made me mayor and that's when the schools were integrated now quite year with that I've got the papers in my files in fact I just read over the speech I made with the citizens of Dallas the day those schools were integrated worked on it three weeks and I thought it was a really good speech one thing that brought everything home was then if I saw any act it was contrary to what was happening and if I saw anything like a
rock-throwing I remember I said I said I will consider it a criminal offense we didn't have one thing happened because lil rockit already shown you what what would happen I didn't want Dallas to do that and I had some council people it would go around to their constituents and say they didn't care what the court said we shouldn't integrate those skills coming like Rose Renfro do you remember that name did you know she was Jewish she was an Old South Dallas girl nobody knew it she lived in Oak Cliff she wanted you anymore but she was a piece of work I can tell you so
to me that was a memorable time for me who can you say what would have been one of your role models around that time did you have anybody who really looked up to that you're kind of fashioning your political career after not really but I was very very much a feminist and so I would help everybody I could an example even on the plane Commission I was serving there all the time with no other women on there and finally somebody appointed this really nice woman from Oak Cliff her husband was a doctor and she was shaking in her boots I said don't worry about I'll
take care of you I'll teach you the ropes and we became really close friends and I would say the person that helped women the most in my time was Vivian Castleberry because she was the women's news editor at the Herald and every time one of us wanted to do something she would we always had her back she'd write these big articles she'd push him push us so that helped because you were always in a paper you know it's like having free publicity but the one before her whom I shouldn't forget there's a picture of her with me in the hall swearing me in to EPA
when the president appointed me regional administrator of EPA and I thought boy she swore Johnson in now but we were good friends she was very tough brilliant woman mm-hmm Sarah Hughes and I think she probably was the first big time person how would you say your Jewish roots tied in with your career well I would say it tied in because of my father really my father wasn't really very religious in terms of traditionally religious but at the dining room table every night we ate pretty formally every night I don't mean with fancy silverware and stuff but you all sat down at the dining room table
and my dad would discuss issues that were happening around the country around the city and yet he wasn't a man that would come up to you and talk a lot you know and he would tell us our obligations should do something for people and they don't ever expect to be thanked no one's going to tell you thank you if you work hard and do something if you do it because you wanted you do it because you want to help people and he said in our religion you are your brother's keeper and that's what you should do and I would listen to him all the time
so I would work on bond issues do all kinds of things and then many many years ago when many of the Jews were coming into the States from Germany and all that after Hitler we had a big clothing drive and I became chairman of that and we had big rail cars on the rail tracks out at Fair Park where we collected clothes and we were putting those boxes in those rail cars it was shipping where they were needed and I would do things like that because I wanted to because I thought that's my way of helping in fact my husband used to say you are
our charity because when we married I never worked and not because I should know because it would have been nice yes we weren't you know the very wealthy Jews in town and he said you are our charity and you're good at that yes you do it and so I don't I don't know there are a lot of things that came up that are funny stories on the council and but I do think being in that seat when the schools were integrated it was helpful and the federal judge was nice enough to tip me off when he was going to do it and so I had
time to think you know your political career came at a time when things were very very we're changing and we're very important in Dallas different issues overall can you tell us before we end tell me tell us something that just think about for a minute what are you really really most proud of it doesn't have to be political it could be personal it could be anything what are you most proud of so far with your life that's hard to say well don't think too hard about it no I'm not thinking too hard about it I'm proud of my daughter he's always been one that was
a big hard worker good time legally she could work she never wanted a thing from us she went off to New York didn't have a job didn't have an apartment stuff like that and she still works just as hard as ever she works for Rachael Ray been with her five years Messick Hughes and but she was freelance fashion consultant for years she's been away 20 seven years and I'm proud of her because she did it on her own and and I'm proud that I picked the right guy to marry yes he put up with a lot of things cuz I was always busy and sometimes
he say to me listen I don't work for EPA stuff like that he was a nicest guy he was a nicest guy so when he said something like that I thought you know I better change my ways a little bit my father and mother they were unbelievable parents and they taught me a lot they didn't teach me how to keep my mouth closed or anything well we're all proud of you too and we're very very happy that you granted us this interview today and may you dudes us-led missile Oh hun defense Pontic you know yeah you live to be a hundred and twenty well I
won't do that again I'm almost there not quite but I think it's great y'all I'm doing this I want to particularly happy about I'm never happy anymore about having those things right you know well everybody's doing a good thing yeah I already do I hope you're gonna get a good attendance we hope so yeah so barber together is our nation now we'd like to save the date and well the invitation actually went out did it go last on Tuesday that's okay it went out last Tuesday so but when you send it out ball you know some people get it the next day other people it'll
take a week or so so we're hoping most people have it you know today or tomorrow we have we've had different I know I can recall several different events where we've had one or two of the people that were honoring together I remember Hadassah we had something special with Laura Miller another time we did something with Ann Margolin but to have all of you together to me personally as a female who is I'm involved at this much in my neighborhood association and in Richardson the city of Richardson I'm very active with the council and with it with the Commission's and there were several so to
me it's thrilling to me really to have all of you guys up there and honoring all the women together I think it's just a wonderful idea well somebody said to me do you realize some Christian friend of mine and I have many of those just because of all my community daughter fact they're better about giving me rides and stuff than the Jews but they said to me do you realize that there were that many women that were Jewish that you know became mayor's or City Council people and they said why do you think that is I said I want everybody's idea they want to do
something I guess they want to do what I did I wanted to do something for the city I worked a lot with seniors a lot with kids way way back there before the Planning Commission and that was just my nature and my dad taught that to me I'm sure it's a disproportionate amount especially today of Jewish people but especially Jewish women that are involved in politics and in their cities and their council and their Commission's and their this and their parks parks and recreation and the libraries whatever it's a mate because it goes back to that's why I was questioning you about your Jewish background
how did that play into all this because I think of the same thing you said I'm nodding you're going mm-hmm my parents instilled those values in me we're here to help others we're here to do in the we're here to raise the funds and to collect the clothing for the poor all those things not that it's not other people's values also don't get me wrong but I'm very proud that it's really strong Jewish values that it brings it out in a lot of people and they do get is something men just see and don't write this I'm quoting you that not about you I'm not
you