Edna Weinberger
Edna Weinberger was born in Chicago, where she lived until she married. Her father was a general practitioner and obstetrician, and her family had roots in Europe, with her mother's family coming from Estonia and her father's family from a town about thirty miles away. She grew up close to Lake Michigan, learned to swim as a child, and attended public school and a Reform congregation where she was confirmed and sang in the junior choir. She met her future husband at her sister's wedding when she had just turned fifteen; he was working in Milwaukee and was a first cousin of her sister's husband. They married when she was eighteen and lived in Milwaukee for six years.
In July 1942, during World War II, the family moved to Dallas so her husband could help run Ward Drug Company, the Texas drug chain he had invested in, after its executives were called into military service. She arrived in intense summer heat with no air conditioning and never forgot the date. The family first lived near Highland Park Village, then in a house on Park Lane in what was then the township of Preston Hollow, and later on Holloway and Kemper Court before building a home on Meaders Lane in 1956. Her son Howard had his fourth birthday in Dallas, and her daughter Beth was born in 1948. Much of her husband's family had come to Dallas as part of the drug company as well.
Encouraged by her mother-in-law, Edna and the other women of the family attended meetings of many organizations, but she chose to concentrate her energy on Hadassah, drawn by its medical program. She began as a co-corresponding secretary and went on to serve as Jewish National Fund chairman, Dallas chapter president, Southwest region treasurer, area vice president, and regional president, which placed her on Hadassah's national board and national service committee. She traveled to Israel many times, including a midwinter conference after the 1967 war, and visited Hadassah projects such as the hospitals at Ein Karem and Mount Scopus and Youth Aliyah installations. In Dallas the family belonged to several congregations, eventually attending Temple Emanu-El, where her children went to Sunday school. Her husband Milt retired in 1965, and her three children all settled in Dallas.
Full Transcript
This is Bernice Wallman. I'm interviewing Edna Weinberger at her home at 5615 Meters Lane, Dallas, Texas on August 21st, 1989 This interview is part of the oral history project of the Greater Dallas Section National Council of Jewish Women Edna, thank you for letting me visit with you today Your family is one that has enriched our community that didn't start out here but came here I guess after the war, right? During the war. During the war. And what year was that? 1942. 1942. And where were you born? I was born in Chicago. It was there until I got married. And then came right here? No, went to Milwaukee for six years.
Okay. And how did your family get to Chicago? Tell me something about your grandparents, great-grandparents, where'd they come from? I don't know how they got to Chicago, Bernice. I only remember grandparents and great-grandparents, but how they got to Chicago, I don't know. I presume from New York. And you don't know what part, where'd they come from, Europe? My mother and father came from towns about 30 miles apart I guess. I don't know where my father's family came from, just which country in that 30 miles, but my mother's family came from, I found out, we always said Riga, but I found out it was Perna, which is in Estonia, not Latvia.
Okay. And did your parents know each other in Europe? No they didn Oh they didn No as far as I know they didn And yet they came from 30 miles apart They were related too Oh they were Yes they were I think third cousins But as far as I know they didn't know each other in the US. And they came to Chicago and how did they meet? I don't know, I suppose through this family connection. I don't even know how it was, but I always heard that they were third cousins. And what did your father do? My father was a doctor in Chicago. What in those days was called a GP and OB gynecology and just whatever it was he took care of.
He did it all? Yes. Uh-huh. That was before the age of these high specialties. Yes, it sure was. Yeah. Uh-huh. And how large a family did you come from? Well, my mother was one of six and my father was one of four. And how about your immediate family? I had a sister who passed away in 1957, and we were just the two of us and we were almost ten years apart in age. Did anybody in your family live with you, any relatives during those early years? Any grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins? I remember my father's father lived with us for a while, but I was small and I really don't remember how long he was with us or why or when he left, but no, he was the only one.
Did your grandparents tell you any stories about the old country? Here and there my grandmother would, and I remember one in particular, she used to tell about going swimming in the old days, they'd get in a carriage and drive right into the ocean. Oh really? Yes, and open up the car and get out and get in the water. I not familiar that much with Estonia is it on the ocean It on the Baltic It on the Baltic Okay so they drive right into the water Yes, and it must have been plenty of cold up there. That sounds like fun. Yes. Yeah. Now what do you remember about your childhood in Chicago?
Oh, what can I remember? The usual things I guess. Learning how to ride a bicycle, wanting a dog and not being a loud one because we lived in an apartment. Swimming a lot because we lived very close to Lake Michigan, about two blocks away. So as a child I was always down on the beach during the summer. I learned how to swim when my sister threw me into a wave, and it was swim or drown, and that was my introduction to swimming. And you learned how to swim? Uh-huh. Didn't feel like drowning. What else? Oh, I remember playing with groups of non-Jewish kids who were very anti-Semitic, and they I used to get angry and start with the old saw.
The Jews killed Christ, the Jews killed Christ. The next day everything was fine and we'd be out playing baseball in the alley across the street. The following day again the Jews killed Christ. Was that true at school too? No, I never experienced it at school. Did you go to a public school? Yes. Okay. Now what about religious school? Did you go to what? Oh yes, I went to Temple Mitzvah and I was confirmed. I remember I used to sing in the junior choir. And what sort of congregation was that? It was a reformed congregation. And how often did you go? Sunday schools and then we used to go rather not too often but we went to services on Friday night also here and there.
I remember that. Did your parents used to go to services? Yes They did go on holidays Saturdays Yeah very often on Friday night when my father had the time when he was home Because in those days of course doctors that evening office hours too Oh he did. And they had calls. Uh huh. Okay, and you celebrated holidays at home? Yes. Well, partially at home. Most holidays were at my grandmother's. and always the family was together for the holidays. Now, the neighborhood that you lived in, in Chicago, were there very many Jewish people? I don't think we ever get around to counting them, but there were Jewish people all around us, Jews and non-Jews both.
But you had friends that were both. Jewish friends, yeah. Okay. Now, what happened when you finished high school? What did you do then? Well, I was working. I was supposed to go off to college. I was a January graduate of high school and didn't want to start college then. I was going to wait until the fall semester. But instead I became engaged in the meanwhile and did not go out to college. Okay. And how did you meet your husband? I met him at my sister's wedding. Was he from Chicago? No, he's originally from Philadelphia, and he was working in Milwaukee at the time, and he was the first cousin of my sister's husband.
That's how we met at the wedding. And you started dating? Not right away. Not right away? I just turned 15. You just turned 15? Yes, just three days before I met him, I turned 15, and I think that was a little early to start dating him, but... I agree. I agree. So when did y'all get together again? Oh, I think by the day. When I was 16 we were going steady. Oh really? Yeah. Uh-huh. Was he already, he was already out of school and working? Oh yeah. Yeah. Uh-huh. He would drive in from Milwaukee. Which is how far? Uh, what's it, 90 miles I think, something like that.
Yeah. And we would have our date, go to the movie, what not, stop somewhere for something to eat on the way home. And those were our tapes. And how old were you when you got married? I was eighteen. Eighteen? Yes. Okay. And so then where did you go? Milwaukee. Went to Milwaukee. Yes, I went. Okay. I lived there for six years. And so what happened that took you out of Milwaukee? Well, my husband had already invested in the drug chain that was started here in Texas. Named? It was Ward Drug Company. Oh, Ward Drug. And due to World War II, all the executives were being taken into service, and it was a question of either close down everything or come down so we can run the company.
Mm-hmm. came down here. Okay, and that was what year? 1942, July 20th, a date I'll never forget if I lived to be 500 years old. And why is that? I had never experienced heat like that. It was so hot when we arrived. It was just unbelievable. I didn't, in my wildest imagination, I never dreamt there could be such heat. Well, what about air conditioning? Oh, not then, no. Wasn't it? 1942, no air conditioning. Mm-hmm. No. So you were ready to go back? I guess I was so exhausted from the heat that I couldn't think of going back. Uh-huh. Did anyone else in your family come with you when you came down here?
Well, my son. Mm-hmm. We had his fourth birthday here. Uh-huh. and of course Milt family for the most part was down here already Now what were their names There was Florence Richmond Madoff Weinberger Bill Weinberger Irvin Weinberger They were all brothers and Florey as a sister. My mother now, Olive was still here already. Okay. So, and were they all involved? in the drug chain? When they came back out of service before and after. Oh a lot of them went to the service. Okay and in those early years in Dallas where did you live? Well the first place we moved into was right across the street of Highland Park Village across the street of what was known as the I'm out then and it's the 7-Eleven store now.
My brother-in-law had bought it for an investment and he said, well, yes, you can live in it until you find a place. But since we had a roof over our heads, we took our time finding a place until all of a sudden he sold the house. Why, was it hard to find places then? It didn't push to look. I see. It didn't push to look too far. But we really didn't have a problem finding a place. And how long ago did you live there? I guess about, oh, close to a year. And then where did you live? We found a house on Park Lane, which was in the township of Preston Hollow at the time.
It wasn't the city of Dallas. We had our own, I think one squad car and one fire engine and a little town hall, which was, it really hurt me to see this. It was up on the corner, off the corner of Luther Lane and Preston and the last vestiges went recently There was a service station on the corner and they knocked all of that down and put up one of these buildings We had our own bus line which was horrible That was part of Preston Howell Uh I see. And it ran to downtown, ran, I think, every hour and 20 or 30 minutes. And there were bus bodies on truck chassis, and you're riding.
and it was just so bumpy and rocky, it was terrible. Do you remember who any of your neighbors were then? I remember our next-door neighbor very clearly. Her name was Wise. And they had a daughter several years older than our son, She sort of watched after him on the bus on the way to school. Oh, he took the bus to school? Yes. Which school was that? I never remember. Preston Hollow? No. No. No, Preston Hollow hadn't been built yet. Oh, the one near the village, I bet. No. No? Horrible. I never remember the name of that school. Well, it's not that important. Okay, so you remember that family?
Yes. Any others? Not at the time. When we bought the house, the street ran from Preston to what is now Edgemere. And at that time, it was a big farm at the end of Edgemere. Caruth. Caruth Farm. All that property. Where North Park is now. I think there were seven houses on the whole length of the street, so we didn't have too many neighbors. There was one in the next block, Howard used to play with their two boys all the time, their name was Bowman, and that's about it. And did you have any other children? Finally had Beth. No, what year was that? 1948, ten years after her brother was born.
She came along. And I was very happy with her, both of them. Now what other houses have you lived in since then We lived in a house on the corner of Holloway and Kemper Court A big two-story house. Just lovely. A lot of bakeries. In the first, second year we were there, I guess, there was a lot of illness in the family, and it was carrying trays up and down and up and down, I said, well, I had always wanted a two-story house because we had left one in the Y, but that was the end of that. I didn't want to carry trays. No more.
So we finally sold it and we built this house. The one here on the meters lane. Yes. And how long have you been here? Since 1956. 33 years. And this is 1989. Yes. A long time. Give me some idea of what your lives were like in those early days. What did you do with your time besides raising your family? Anything? I don't remember too much doing anything in Milwaukee except visiting and... No, I meant here, when you came here. Here. My mother and my mother was shown, we used to gather up her daughters and her daughter-in-law, and we had to go down to all the meetings, to Hadassah, to council, to St.
The Life, and they'd get whatever, the monthly meetings we had to go to. So she'd gather up Flory, Richmond, and you? Flory, Marion, and myself, Marion Richmond. Oh, Marian Richmond. Now she, how does she, how is she related now? She is a sister of Miller. Oh, she's a sister, but you didn't mention her. No, because she came down after we did. Oh, okay. Okay, and they were also involved in wards? Yes. Uh-huh. Okay, so you had a whole family group that went to... To the meetings. All the meetings. Yes. Okay. And did you progress from just, from a meeting to someone who was more active?
Yes, I progressed to doing work in Hadassah because they had asked me to and I liked the program. So I put my time into Hadassah. I've always felt if you work for more than one organization at a time, you're splintered and you can't do a good enough job for any of them. So I picked one and I stuck to it all the time. Well, before we get into Hadassah, and I want to do that in great detail, Tell me, did you join a congregation when you got here? Yes, we joined five of them, I think. I don't know if it's five. Five? We belonged to five.
All of them? There was Temple Emanuel and congregation Shereth Israel. There was Teferit Israel. There was a Good Asachem. Which was the Orthodox. Very Orthodox. And also Teferit Israel. Yeah. Okay. I don't know why I say five, because it seems like there were five, but I can't think of the fifth one now. Okay, so you joined all of them. You mean paid dues to all of them? I paid dues to all of them. And where did you go on the holidays? We started out going to Sheriff Israel, because that was my husband's family back with me. And they were conservative and orthodox up in Philadelphia.
But then we ended up going to Temple Emanuel for the holiday services. After a while, I started sending Howard to Sunday School at Temple Emanuel. At Temple. Okay. So the kids didn't ever go to Sheriff Israel Sunday School? No. No. Okay. I went to Emanuel. Okay. What attracted you to Emanuel over some of the others? Of course, I had been raised reformed. My husband couldn't read as much Hebrew as I could read, because he was one of those, I guess, who played hooky from a chair all the time. He got through his bar mitzvah and that was there. And he felt lost and showed up as well.
So you became involved in the temple. Who was the rabbi then Rabbi Leslie Rabbi Leslie was there And since then Oh my gosh Since then there been a whole progression There was Oh, not that many. Well, I guess I'm counting assistant rabbis. Oh, okay. Okay. In fact, a little sidelight was, names are killing me now, I think this wedding was the last one performed by Rabbi Olin. Oh, really? Yes. He had become Rabbi Emeritus, and he really didn't do anything like that anymore. We caught him just before he stopped doing that. Was that important to you, Ricky? Very, very, very. Not really. Not really, but I don't know.
I presume, yeah, Rabbi Klein was here already, but I guess I knew Rabbi Owen better than Rabbi Klein. And so I called him and said, yes, fine. And now it's the Rabbi Klein, and now it's Rabbi Zimmerman. Well, let's go back to Hadassah. All right. How did you get involved to do more than go to meetings? I was called one day by, I presume it was Gertrude Lucan at the time, she was president of the chapter, and would I take a job, not much of a job, but it was the only opening she had as a co-co-corresponding secretary, and I was very happy to do it.
It was the first of the working in Hadassah, though. And from there, what else did you get involved in? Oh, my. Oh, I can't remember some of the jobs, Bernice, but I know I was a Jewish National Fund Chairman. I was president of the Dallas chapter of Hadassah I can remember little jobs that I had in between chairing various functions Now you said that you used to go with your mother and all the other sister to all the organizations, a bunch of organizations. Yes. What were some of those? Well, Council of Jewish Women, Save a Life League, it was known as, at the time, at the time, Benet Griff, what else I can't think?
Sisterhood? No. No, never sisterhood. No, never sisterhood, no, and I don't think any of them were active in sisterhood. Pioneer women? No. No. No. Okay, now what was it about Hadassah that seemed to beckon to you above all the others to where you put your time and energy? I think it was their medical program, Bernice. There's something about medicine that just draws me, and they have a large medical program that just has caught my attention and that's what I want to work for. Okay. Now, did you do anything on a statewide or regional or national level? Yes, I, with my terrible arithmetic, I became treasurer of the southwest region of Padasa and went from then to what we call an area vice president and then president of the region and then started working my way backward again to to um fundraising locally no no regionally fundraising chairman, membership chairman.
Meanwhile, after, when I became president of the region, I automatically was on the national board of Pagasa. When I served free terms, then I had two terms of being on the national service committee So I been kept busy Did you attend a lot of those national meetings Yes I went to go to the national convention midwinter meeting and we had the first midwinter conference in Israel after the 67 war, and that was rather exciting. What was so exciting about it? Well, we had been to Israel in 1966. I had been to Israel in the winter of 1967, and if you remember, and I know you do, there were, there was only so far you could go.
Yes. And you could look over into the part of the old city. Yes, we were there in 62. along to Jordan. Yes. And you'd see the Jordanian soldiers up on the roofs of buildings with their rifles. And while you were watching, they'd point the rifle right at you, scare the dickens out of you. And in 1968, of course, we could go and see things we couldn't see before. And it was exciting. Like what? Oh, like... We went to cities in the West Bank, and we went up to the Galilee, and we went, instead of just looking at the hills around Tiberias, where the cannons used to point down to the Kabutzu, You could go up on those hills and you saw what was left behind by the Arabs.
And it was really an excellent feeling. And how about in Jerusalem, which was once divided, what did you see on the other side that you couldn't see before? Walk through the old city and could go to the Western Wall. Of course, from 1967 to, or 68 to now, everything is so changed there because the Israelis have You still wouldn't recognize it. Remember that trip to the wall, that first trip? Yes. What was that like? I did not feel the, I don't know what people, I didn't feel the emotion that so many people say they feel. Maybe it's because I'm not that observant, I don't know.
But I was happy to be able to see it. See these crowds praying at the wall and the meaningful looks on the faces of the Israelis. Tourists, yes, but the Israelis, there was a different feeling and you could just see it in their faces. They got something back that they had yearned for years to be able to see and pray at that wall. Now at that meeting in Israel, did you hear any of the people in the government or the leaders in Israel, did any of them address the group? Yes, they did. Do you remember who was the king? There were some years ago. Oh, you don't remember?
I don't remember. Some of them have passed away since. While you were in Israel, did you visit any of the projects that Hadassah supports? Oh yes, we've visited a number of Youth Aliyah installations, even though Youth Aliyah is supported by a number of organizations, including their own national. Hadassah is a big supporter of Youth Aliyah. I don't remember the exact figures now but last time I heard I think we were 50 or 60 supporters if you tell ya So we visited a number of their installations and we visited the at that time just one hospital at AIM CAREM Is that the one where the Chagall windows are Yes.
Oh, there's another one now? Oh, yes, the one on Mount Scopus, which we were denied permission to operate of course all those years from 48 to 67 and Oh why was that? Because it was in the way to get there was Jordanian territory Oh okay so the Jordanians that jurisdiction? And when we saw that that was one of the thing we did see the hospital on monoscopes in 68 when we went there and it was enough to break your heart because it was full of shell holes and of course there was every two weeks there was a contingent of military went up there they weren't supposed to be military but they were you mean Israeli military yes there were supposed to be maintenance people just to keep the building from falling apart but there was shelling constantly and it was in deplorable condition but they found the original key and and opened up the building and made plans to either renovate or rebuild and of course it had to be just about all rebuilt.
It has been in operation a good number of years now. Have you been back? Oh yes, I've been back a number of times. The last time we were there was five years ago. It will be five years in November. And what's it like now? Well, it's real. No, no, no, the hospital, I'm not a scopus. It is fully operational and started out being for rehabilitation of the service people who been wounded dreadfully in the wars plural and it has ended up being a general hospital And you see, you see it's full of Arabs. I would say 75% of Arab patients in there. Are they Israeli Arabs, citizens, or just any Arabs allowed to come?
both both both when they first opened up after the rebuilding the Arab is Israeli Arab patients who came came with their Hadassah cards that they had had all of these years but that hospital could not be used really and they saved they saved their cards and so they didn't have to go through the whole red tape of re-registering and filling out multiple forms and all and they were so excited and so happy so it must have been really important to them if they saved very important driving over there from the middle of Jerusalem I'd say you You passed several Arabic hospitals, and what you could see in the grounds and through windows, you could see where they wanted a modern hospital to go to for their problems.
So that was really exciting. Oh, yeah. Anything else in Israel that was exciting to you in all your trips? Yes, there's a lot. I enjoy going to Tiberias because I think being on the Sea of Galilee is so historical up there. And it's delightful to go there and get a cool breath of air from the water and see that the modern world has stepped in with the water skiing. Oh really? Yeah. The water skiing? and not just historical monumental things And I like Haifa because I think that an exciting city with its three levels of living and it uh you mean three levels physically physically yes on the mountain I forgot what they call the upper level and the middle level and then down Mount Carmel yeah and the down at the seashore where all the the bustle of of shipping goes on i remember once looking out our window in the hotel in Haifa and being very excited because i saw an Israeli submarine really yes in the harbor in the harbor yes didn't know they had any Yes, and I watched it die, and I watched it come up, and that was exciting to me.
I like Telphi because of all of the bustle that goes on, like a big city, with the big city problems, of course. And Jerusalem has the same bustle, but much more historical. When's the last time you were in Israel? It'll be five months in November. So that was before the Infantata started. Yes. Do you have any feelings about that, about how that might eventually be solved? Oh, I think it's an insoluble question. You think it's insoluble? I just don't know how they're going to solve it. I don't. I think it's a terrible thing. Do you think the Israelis should give back the territories, the West Bank and Gaza?
No. Do you think... I think eventually they will have to give some back, yes, but not over this Intifada thing. That is pure and simple blackmail. Well, it's been going on, what, a year and a half now? Yes. If they can't find one way to try to do it, the Arabs will find another way. Which is? Well, right now it's the Intifada, but I think that it's a dreadful thing. Of course, when you're on a tour bus and you stop in some of these towns that have been Arabic for years and are now under Israeli rule and they the bus driver and the tour guide tell you not to get off the bus they stopped for some reason or other I don't remember and you look at the people on the street and you see the hate shining out of their eyes I wouldn't get off that bus for a million dollars i think you take your life in your hands the hatred shines out of these people so and it's not because they have been denied anything they've been there they never get anything with it you see the difference you mean with the land the green land that israel has poured millions into in blood and sweat and money and you see the parched land that Jordan had had for how many years never planted a tree never did a thing never helped the people and you wonder what they are why they are fighting like that I don't understand it so you're puzzled by the attitude yes okay well let's get back to Dallas Texas now and Hadassah here in Dallas Texas.
I'd like you to talk about the changes that you've seen over this spread of time from the 40s to now which is 1989. What are the, are there some projects that Hadassah was doing then that they're not doing now? Are there some new things that are going on now that weren't being done then? Well, our changes come mostly, I mean in many ways, from our national organization. What we now call the Hadassah Israel Education Services encompasses what started out to be junior college and it now a four college in Jerusalem It used to be called vocational education when we first came down here and I first was active in Hadassah And at that time it was the milk fund for the babies and things on that small scale.
But the world has changed, so our sights have had to change. And this college was built with the idea of using all the latest technology and teaching the latest technology. And the graduates of this college have jobs really waiting for them when they get out of college. high tech industry in Israel and everything that goes along with that. So it started with vocational education and now it's a university and equipping these students to go out and get jobs, what computers and... fine photography, medical photography in the aircraft industry, printing industry. The world has changed in the method of doing things and you have to keep up with it.
And what's the name of this college now? They just changed the name recently and I don't remember what it is. And it's where? In Jerusalem? in Jerusalem. What else is a new project that has evolved? Well, there are new methods in medicine itself. They have a whole building dedicated to the treatment of oncology, which is cancer treatment, and they have all the latest equipment for that too and just like hospitals here didn have that equipment years ago they have it they have the MRI Which is Is that the CAT scan? No, this is beyond the CAT scan. Oh really? Imaging. Radiology imaging. Yeah, okay. That's close enough.
So in other words, the medical facilities keep adding all the newest... Yes, yes. They have a lithocryptor, which all hospitals in this country don't have. That's the thing that crushes the kidney stones. Right. So they can be removed easily. Mm-hmm. Okay, so what else has changed? Is there a change in the structure of Hadassah? Yes, there is. When I first became active in Hadassah in Dallas, we were one chapter with an evening group of what everyone called BNP at the time, the business and professional women. And as our membership grew, we thought it was becoming cumbersome and that we weren't seeing the leadership, potential leadership, because they were lost in this whole great big group of members.
so with prodding from our national organization we reorganized into what they call a chapter group plan we have an overall chapter which is really a board oversees the workings of the groups and we had at that time that we first went into it I think three or four groups okay and somehow or other we gave it a try of I'd say eight to ten years and we're not happy with it here so we elected to go back to the one big chapter again that wasn't too wonderful going back to the one big chapter about ten years ago I guess About 79 Yes, probably around then.
We went through a whole new reorganization process, which I headed at the time. And a good many of the women who were on that committee were past presidents of the chapters of the chapter and they were all leaders in one way or another so we had a good round committee we took a whole year working on this reorganization and we're now at nine groups with this umbrella Dallas chapter that oversees everything. Groups are various sizes but by and large somewhere somewhere around 200 give or take and because of that I think you can see potential leadership easier than you can out of eight or nine or hundred or thousand or whatever members.
Now how many of these groups are business and professional groups, nighttime groups? We have I think three nighttime groups and I wouldn't categorize them as all businesses and professional. One is a a group in Plano which finds that it's much easier for them to meet at night because the husbands are home and stay with the children. Oh okay. So they meet at night. We have the old B&P group, the Devorah group, and a lot of those women of course have long ago retired. They've gone into other groups and then we have a group of younger women who are really their attorneys, their doctors, their engineers, and they are really professional women and they can only meet at night or on Sunday.
So they have some of their social affairs on Sunday. It's mostly at night. Has the fact that so many women work now had an effect on your chapters? Oh yes, I think it has all over the country with all groups. The way of life of women has really changed for a while was they all went back to school. Well now they've gone back to school and they would come out with their advanced degrees of whatever, and women just are in the business and professional world now. And they don't have the free time to give that we had to give to a volunteer organization. Well, have you had problems raising your quotas for national?
Somehow or other we haven't. You still are able to raise them. We raise them. We work awfully hard, sometimes harder than, you know, the year before. And how about filling your committees and your volunteer work? Have you had a problem recruiting? Oh, yes. Yes. We do have a problem because of the lack of time that a lot of women have. Yeah, okay. As you look back through the years, who are some of the women who come to mind who you feel were really outstanding leaders in Hadassah? It doesn't matter whether they were president or not, but who are some of the names that you would put on a rouse, like a you know like the Heisman Trophy of Hadassah.
Oh gosh there's a lot of them. I think Gertrude Lucan comes to mind to start out with because I think three different times she was president of the Dallas chapter of Hadassah. And that's really going far, to step in and be able to do something like this, to take over if you are needed. So she one that I really think of first I remember Dini Siegel Oliver Shulham who was a big worker for Hadassah Fanny Shaman in the old days when I first came here Yes, yes, she was active in Hadassah. Elsie Pearl was active in Hadassah. And there was always something that these women gave to Hadassah of themselves that, Now who were the leaders when you came here in the 40s?
I think, first of all, sir, was the president of the chapter when we came here. She and her sister Becky Sacks were very active. Julia Aronoff was active years ago. Dini Siegel, as I said, Dini's daughter-in-law, who was the mother of Robbie Benson. Do you remember the Bensons here? Freda? Freda Benson and Jerry Siegel. Moravia's their son. The movie star. Yeah. Frida was very, very creative. I guess she's, I'm sure she still is. Let's go along that line for a minute. There were women who weren't necessarily presidents who may have been creative in creating programs Do you remember any of those? Yes, Freda Benson, Peggy Lerner at the time, they worked together, the two of them, and they drinked up really fine programs.
Janie Siegel and her mother Beulah Aronson, Janie wrote a number of musical programs. We had, and still have, the talent. You just have to be able to dig to find it. I seem to remember Selma Ungerman doing a lot of programs. Book reviews and programs yeah For all the organizations as a matter of fact The drop of a hat she came in the book with you She was wonderful Okay Anything else about Hadassah that you'd like to talk about? That's all I've talked about. I've talked enough about it. Well, I always think of your name when I think of women who have really been important in Hadassah.
that's one reason I called you for this interview. Thank you, I'm flattered. Yeah. Well, you have kind of been very consistent through the years in your involvement. Okay, what is the level of your involvement now? It has gone down, I must say, the last... Milk hasn't been well the last year and a half, so I've had to cut down a lot on my time to Adasa. You still go to meetings? Not too many. If I go to a meeting it's maybe for 10 or 15 minutes, something like that. Like last year when I was treasurer, back again treasurer of a particular group, I go to a meeting for 10 or 15 minutes to collect money and to pay some bills because I couldn't leave, didn't want to leave, you know, too long.
So I have cut down on my work. I will do what I can do at home without having to go to a meeting. Now he has been retired, hasn't he? For how long? He's been retired for 20 years. 20 years? Yeah. Goodness, he retired early, didn't he? Yeah. How old was he? I have to think. He retired in 65, so he was 55 years old. now how did his retirement come about because he never liked the drug business and he they sold the company to well first they sold it to investment people who then sold it to Harold Sands who in turn sold it to Eckerds Oh and it's still Eckerds.
Yeah it's Eckerds now. Okay now where did that get started? You said in Texas? Ward yes In Texas Yes In Dallas Fort Worth was the first store Okay First two stores were in Fort Worth Okay so they started with two stores Mm-hmm. And when it was sold, how many were there? Do you have any idea? What did you have to say? Seventy-seven stores? Seven-O? Yes. Yeah. And now, would you take a guess at how many Eckerd's? Oh no, I couldn't guess at all. They're all over. Is that purely Texas or the other states? No, no, Eckhart is from Florida. Oh, I see. So they're nationwide?
Yeah. Okay. Has your life changed a lot since Milt retired? Yes. period in what way oh I squeeze my doings in between what I do with milk because he never had any hobbies that he could do he hasn't been able to play golf for years because of when he broke his shoulder so he didn't have other hobbies and we do a lot of things together we travel so when i want to do something on my own i do it i squeeze it in okay i can play bridge your children live here yes they all live here now And as you look back on your life, is there anything you would do differently if you could relive your life?
Is there anything you would do that you haven't done or have always wanted to do? Well, I guess there must be because if we were all so satisfied and smug with the way things are, it would be boring. but I can't offhand think of anything I would have done any differently than I have done up until now. Yeah, which is get married and raise a family and put your energy and time into a very worthwhile organization. And life is so different nowadays, you can't, this isn't the thing nowadays. To get married and raise a family and put your energies into volunteerism. Okay, and now who would say that?
Would your daughter say that? Would your nieces say that? Well, I presume certainly my granddaughter would say it. What is she doing now? She's looking for a job. She finally graduated college and she is in New York looking for a job. I don't know if my daughter would say it. I'm not sure that she would, but all I read nowadays is the women, in the first place, they wouldn't get married as young as I was. It doesn't seem like they do. Yeah, how old was Beth when she got married? Beth was 22. Mm-hmm. So that's one thing. They wouldn get married that young and they wouldn give up the things that they wanted to do in life I think Not that I had any great plans I would have liked to have been a nurse but nurses in those days were treated differently than they are nowadays, and my father, and I've told you he was a doctor, put his foot down and he said, no daughter of mine is going to scrub floors in a hospital.
Is that what nurses did then? Yes. Oh my. So that's why I wasn't a nurse. You didn't get any encouragement at home. No, no, no, I didn't. Okay. Well, Edna, I appreciate your sharing all this with me, and I hope you have lots of good health, you and Milt, and contentment and fulfillment in your life. Thank you. I thank you. I thank you for thinking of me. I hope I have given you something that is worthwhile for the archives. But I am very happy to have worked with you for me.