Angela Horowitz French
Angela is proud of being a fifth-generation Dallasite whose family is featured in the Texas Jewish Pioneers book. On her mother's side, the Rosenthal family (originally Schultz, renamed at Ellis Island) made their way west through Chicago to the Fort Worth area, where they entered the kosher meat trade and eventually started the first kosher meat markets in the Fort Worth Stockyards. Her grandfather Samuel Rosenthal carried on the family meatpacking business. Her father, a University of Texas graduate whose parents were in the textile business, first worked for Sam Rosenthal before starting his own meatpacking company and later moving into transportation.
Angela's parents were high school sweethearts who met at a BBYO event and both graduated from Hillcrest High School, once nicknamed Hebrew High. Married for more than fifty years, they raised five children, all of whom attended Hillcrest and remain in Dallas along with twelve grandchildren, making family closeness a defining value. Angela attended John J. Pershing Elementary and E.D. Walker Middle School during the era of busing and integration, experiences that exposed her to a diverse world. Active in BBYO in the Soblonsky chapter, she connected deeply with Judaism and lifelong Jewish friends, and pledged Sigma Delta Tau at the University of Texas.
Angela works as an officer at Stevens Transport, her family's trucking company, which is approaching thirty-four years in business and is recognized as one of the largest in the nation. She oversees driver resources, hiring, marketing, training, and human resources for thousands of drivers and employees. A dedicated philanthropist, she has served as an officer of the Aaron Family Jewish Community Center for many years, aspiring to become its president, and supports the Jewish Federation, Jewish Family Service, and Holocaust remembrance efforts. She takes pride in passing these values to her children, including her son Sam, who raised significant funds for a youth village in Israel around his Bar Mitzvah.
Full Transcript
this is Angela Horowitz and the date today is March 23rd 23rd 2013 I am Paul Linc Revere and I'm interviewing Angela Horowitz who is going to be the owner of reading for the Dallas Jewish Historical Society luncheon that's named for an Sakura but we would be interviewing her anyway because she's a very important member of our community and Angela good morning and would you please tell us something about growing up in Texas you said something before about how many generations you are well being a fifth fifth generation doll sight it makes me unique my family's been here since the early 1900s they have been showcased
in the Texas Jewish pioneers book and it's a very interesting story about their passage across the Atlantic through Ellis Island and how they made their way to Dallas Texas and laid their roots and so what was the what what did your grandparents oh is this your great-grandparents man or a great-great grandma it is my great-grandparents and so just on my mother's side of the family there her maiden name is Rosenthal and her family came through Ellis Island they were really their last name was Schultz by doing you know history on them and their family and their roots they found out that when he came through
Ellis Island that they happened to call Rosenthal and my mother's great-grandfather stood up and even though their last name was Schultz all of a sudden they were tagged Rosenthal and that's where you know her maiden name is or that's why it is what it is and so they were they made their way west and I believe they hit Chicago first and then down into Fort Worth and they like many other Jewish immigrants you know only had so many trades they were typically in textiles or in packing or in the meat industry and especially the the kosher meat industry so they were peddling kosher meat out
of their trucks literally and supplying that to the Jewish population and one thing led to another and they actually started the first kosher meat markets in the Fort Worth Stockyards was so that was for tours yeah you know I'd have to really look back at the book just to recall the details but they eventually ended up at farmers market and it was Samuelsson company that was my mother's my grandfather's first name was Samuel Rosenthal so he took on his father's business and so they were in the meat packing industry and ironically when my father graduated University of Texas in Austin his parents were in the
textile business his father and I guess he decided he liked the meatpacking industry better so he initially went to work for my mom's father Sam Rosenthal and learned a lot from him and eventually started his own meatpacking company and that was his first career today's and truckin but begin in the meatpacking industry in fact Parish Junior College in Paris Texas was donated by my father to the college that was what we called Steven's foods and that was what his first company was there on Main Street in Paris Texas that now it's donated to the meatpacking town he donated the land in the buildings so he
perished Junior College and what he decided to exit the meat industry and began a career in transportation and and so yes today on Main Street in Paris Texas Stan's Paris Community College and that land was donated by Steve Aaron wonderful yeah so you're talking house your husband Steve I'm your dad Steve okay when when did he and your mom moved to our open up and start to work in Dallas well my mom and dad were high school sweethearts um a little bit more history both of my parents were graduates of Hillcrest High School and back in the day that they attended it was nicknamed Hebrew
hi obviously over the years things changed and and but my four siblings and myself there's five children we all attended Hillcrest High School and graduated from there so certainly another little bit of history all are not related to Jewish history so they were high school sweethearts of my folks my mother met my father when she was a freshman in high school at a bBYO event B'nai B'rith youth organization and shortly after my father who is three years older went on to University of Texas in Austin and they dated it all throughout his college career in her high school career and she eventually joined him in
Austin at UT and they got married shortly thereafter and moved back to Dallas where both of their families resided and Michael Agana family quite a love story yeah that's been 50 53 years so five children there's 12 grandchildren we all reside in Dallas or really lucky that's very unique that a family our size that somebody doesn't you know move away or begin a career somewhere else and so we're all very close we to family dinners on the I work in our family business with my two brothers and but you know very fortunately middle child like a brother and sister older and a brother mrs. tree younger and we're all every-other-year in age and in school so we grew up a very tight-knit family that's quite remarkable truly and and you know what and you're grateful for it which I love to see you mentioned that Hillcrest Oh is known as Hebrew hi growing up and this kind of atmosphere what what was it like did you did you and do you have any experiences that you want to share with us anything happened did any of the kids who were not Jewish have any resentment to this fairly unusual tidal wave of Jews coming into this no I think there's a little bit of
miscommunication back when my parents went to school in the 60s at Hillcrest late 50s that's when it was Hebrew ha-ah when I attended Hillcrest High School things were quite different it was no longer Hebrew high most of the Jewish kids had gone on as Jewish day schools began popping up in our community we didn't have them back when my parents grew up and other private schools and opportunities and integration began and unfortunately the Dallas Independent School District suffered you know dramatic changes and the education wasn't up to par and but my parents were believers in the public school system and I feel very fortunate that
I was exposed to all the different elements of the real world because that's truly what it was like and so it's quite an international school now isn't it yes yes I mean you know busing began when I was as I attended Edie Walker middle school and went to John J Pershing Elementary in the neighborhood then attended Edie Walker and Edie Walker is when the the busing began and it was quite frankly it was scary initially definitely a minority as you know definitely a minority but being Jewish and being white really you know you felt a little like place and all sorts but as our people
have always survived and you know overcome all the obstacles we dealt with it and we overcame it and and you know we're certainly exposed to it the ad Walker also had open classrooms so you really were forced to be exposed to a lot of different people and the Minori became the majority so interesting can you tell us about did you were you a member of bBYO yes I was I was a member of BBY oh I was in the Sablan Ski chapter and I remember being picked up it was a very exciting day it was kind of like coming into the teenage years even though
you had already done your Bat Mitzvah it was a whole nother element and I think that's where although I connected with kids at shared Israel because that's where my family has been a member of and in fact I don't want to get off the target but my great-great-grandfather was the second Cantor of Sharra's Israel and so we have a very long legacy there but getting back to BB y that's when I really think my connection deepened with Judaism and the connection with Jewish kids who came from similar backgrounds who had the same moral value system I call it the Jewish value system and I made
lifelong friends and had a lot of fun and when I went to University of Texas I pledged to Jewish surety SVT's medalta Tom my mother was back then a Sigma Delta taw my father was a Phi sig at zbt all of the boys have been zbt Jewish fraternity at UT in fact my big brother runs the entire ZBT house and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and close to a million dollars to revamp the house and so there's multi generations of bBYO and my family my mother has received been the recipient of one of the leaders of bBYO few years back more passionate about it
now the nieces and nephews are doing it some have already been through it somewhere so you know again another piece of legacy my parents were both active in bBYO and I think it's important piece of much so that means the boys also so it be Pyo its purpose choice I'm currently aza and BBG excellent excellent so you expect probably it's the same tradition to go on with your children it's yes certainly sounds like family is extra extra practice family togetherness well family when I think she asked me was the most important value or lesson that my parents have taught me and it's that family is
paramount it's paramount in your lives your family and your friends and the no matter what you take care of each other and you know you will have our differences from time to time but at the end of the day they are number one and you know we're always there for each other and each one of the children there and children feel the same way and exercise the same respect really quite remarkable because both of your parents have very large families this is you I understand for Four Weddings that you have to sometimes limit your list is that so or well you know shockingly enough my
mother's side of the family is enormous there's relatives that I probably haven't even met that are fourth cousins fifth cousins and you know growing up we used to have family reunions and once a year but of course you know people get older and go in different directions but I am related to literally what it feels like it's half the city 3 and mother's side my father ironically comes from a very small family um it was born in Cincinnati and he moved here when he was 2 his father had two brothers and they were in the textile business and they owned the famous Aaron brothers ladies
apparel and if you drive by the giant McDonald's on Congress Street just down from the Adolphus is where the Aaron brothers was housed and all of the high fashion women in Dallas and and high society women you know shopped at Aaron Brothers and so they called my grandfather ready money Roy he was dapper he was always best-dressed this is fathers father but there was just two brothers and my father only has one sister and she had two children and so it's really a very small family but your mother makes up for your mother yes yes makes up for it so you're right when we do
have just Passover with immediate family not even outside of first cousins is 50 to 60 people so it's it's quite amazing that's that's incredible yeah incredible well tell us you have been so active in the philanthropic area your parents of course are tell us what have been your favorite or your the things that you've become the most passionate about well I think I've done a lot of different things and everything I've done feels really good it it impacts your life in different ways whether you're helping toddlers or seniors high house or legacy a Holocaust Memorial Center it's a Jewish Federation - Jewish Family Services but
the Jewish Community Center truly I've been an officer for the last six years I do have a goal of becoming president of that organization one day I love what it represents for our community what you're not saying is the real name of it is the Aaron family Jewish Community Center I was just pretty impressive did I say it right you did some years ago as most Jews to me centers around the country were facing trouble financially and had to really read Aversa fie how they ran their business my parents were called upon to step up and to help financially change the face of the JCC
and they did they pretty much say yes when they're called to the plate and even when they're not but it was renamed the air and family Jewish Community Center but my parents have the passion for it my mother grew up there spent time there the julius chefs which it was back then certainly the chef's family is very special in our community and so it feels really good to be part of that legacy part of the memories I grew up there I remember hanging out at the swimming pool there and playing t-ball there and hanging out with my Jewish friends and and it always was a
place where we felt welcome where we could be ourselves and it feels that way today and as our community has grown the programs and the diversity that it offers feels like the only place in Dallas where little one-year-old toddlers two-year-old three-year-old in the preschool all the way to the seniors programs it's open to everyone no matter what your good lick your eligibility we've got orthodox we've got reformed we've got you know just an abundance but it's a house that caters to everybody and has Jewish values and it really is that's my passion really that's fabulous and that explains why you were willing to be honors
because there is a a responsibility involved in it so you're being honored by the Dallas Jewish Historical Society which happens to be housed in the JCC thank you very much so you have upon yourself to various organizations that are within the umbrella of the Jewish Federation and as you really have done a lot of things can we switch into your professional life what tell us I know you said you're in the family business but tell us what you do well I'm an officer at Stephens transport my family's in the trucking business and we're coming up on 34 years of transportation it's recognized as one of
the largest in the nation and I serve a variety of roles they're similar to philanthropy I started at the ground level and I built myself and got myself and eventually became a leader in the organization I work across the the training and the driver resources part of our company drivers generate the wages that feed the rest of us so they are equally as important and a customer of our business and so I oversee approximately 3000 drivers and the hiring the marketing the advertising our training and driving means as well as a human resource side of our business we have approximately 3,500 employees and so had
multiple people and departments that report to me and that I have oversight of and much like philanthropy I feel like Stevens transport is a family and we really surround ourselves with the best people and people are the backbone to any business just like they are to any organization and we probably operate much on the same value system within our company of changing lives of making impact of giving people opportunity and it's worked out really well so I enjoy the challenge that it brings me in my life what's your favorite your you told us so many is such wide variety but I keep hearing the the
truckers themselves the people themselves is I am a people person I always have been I probably haven't met a stranger I enjoy making a difference in people's lives it feels really good and anytime I can contribute just somebody less fortunate or present an opportunity somebody who needs one or two mentor the next leader in business or in philanthropy or in our community it it's something that is just a natural calling for me and you're passing that on to your three absolutely beautiful children yeah I was very proud of my son Sam I'm proud of all my children of course but Sam recently was bar Mitzvahed
and you know a lot of kids will do local projects for the JFS and the food pantry or you know March of Dimes too so just about anything in Sam wanted to do something outside of the box he was fortunate enough to take his first trip to Israel this past summer prior to his Bar Mitzvah in he ran across the village of buñol care youth village and it was a boys youth village that was for troubled children or children who had come from families that were troubled and this was where they were going to be raised and it really was their only opportunity for success
in life and he was really touched by these boys and he decided that he was going to raise money to help the boys of the youth village attend summer camps versus having to return to their homes where things always weren't the best situation and so he put together with the help of my mother he's certainly enquired for her advice a beautifully composed letter asking family and friends to consider donating to Jewish Agency for Israel and which administers the funds to Vania care youth village he raised over $18,000 whoa I believe as total at the end was thirty-eight thousand dollars because he had a matching pledge
so Wow from his father which was very generous but he had a matching pledge and so he raised over 18 and the match came in and so he felt really good for that I think that'll be a special part of his life and every time he visits Israel he'll visit and yet here that's really special and really impressive good friend he also collected backpacks gently used backpacks and books for a school and a cliff that badly needed books and backpacks and so we wanted to give something here locally as well so yeah I'm working hard to to teach my children the same values that I
was taught I believe a large part of who I am today because of the values that my parents instilled in me and that you know it's it's sadakichi Colonel um and the more you give the more you receive and to always feel fortunate you know we've been very blessed I've had a very blessed life and I want my children to never take anything for granted and we were taught to say that's that's excellent thank you so much this is a very informative and heartwarming interview Thank You Angela you're welcome thank you