June 17, 2011

Arthur Ungerman

Arthur Ungerman was born at the old St. Paul Hospital in Dallas. His parents grew up around the corner from each other in St. Joseph, Missouri, where his grandfather, who had escaped conscription in the Balkans, settled to work as a watchmaker and jeweler. His grandfather believed St. Joseph would prosper because of the Pony Express, but the town remained small. Determined to educate his children, he sent them all to college. Arthur's mother earned a degree in drama from the University of Chicago in the 1920s, and his father became an attorney. His family eventually moved to Dallas, in part because his father disliked the cold Missouri winters.

Arthur's father practiced law in a partnership with his brother, and Arthur followed in his footsteps, working at the family law firm. His mother pursued a career in the arts, giving book reviews and teaching elocution, and she profoundly shaped Arthur's love of culture, literature, and refined manners. He recalled early encounters with anti-semitism, including a frightening childhood incident in the Lakewood neighborhood when a caretaker named Lillie Mae protected him, and prejudice he faced during the World War Two years. He described the migration of Dallas Jewish families from South Dallas northward into the Park Cities and later Preston Hollow.

Arthur was a founding member of Henry Monsky AZA, formed with other young men when he was growing up. He belonged to several congregations over his lifetime, including Shearith Israel, where he attended Sunday school as a boy, and Temple Shalom, which his first wife Judy chose after it was started by Sol Besser. At Temple Shalom he chaired a committee that succeeded in making yarmulkes available to worshippers. He married Judy in Oklahoma City in January 1961 and was married for 48 years until her death. He later remarried Helen, of Greek Orthodox background, in a blended Greek and Jewish ceremony. Arthur spoke lovingly of his children and grandchildren and of the annual grandfather sleepover adventures he shared with them.

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