Contact Donate
Menu
all Oral History
June 26, 2015

Esther Einhorn

Esther Einhorn was born on a farm in Kansas around 1911, shortly before her family relocated to Kansas City. Her father had come from Russia and worked as a stonemason, taking a better-paying job that drew the family toward Kansas. Her mother, Fanny, came from Poland and made the journey to America as a young woman to marry. Neither parent read or wrote English easily, and Esther recalled the difficulty of her mother's first childbirth in a new country where she barely understood the language. The family lived above a store and worked hard to build a life, and Esther grew up surrounded by many cousins.

Esther left school to go to work, taking jobs including selling dresses, and prided herself on her independence and on having her own money. She met her husband, Harold, through a Jewish community center where young people gathered to dance and socialize. They married when she was seventeen, around 1928 or 1929, and raised three children. Through the Great Depression she worked in a grocery store, took orders, and managed the household while caring for her babies. The family belonged to a synagogue in Kansas City, and though not strictly observant, they celebrated the Jewish holidays together.

In the mid-1950s Esther and her husband came to Dallas, following her parents, who had settled there. Her father and a partner were involved in the grocery and supermarket business, with a period spent in Springfield, Missouri, before the family returned. Esther became the heart of a large extended family, with ten grandchildren and many great-grandchildren. She was known for her warmth, hospitality, and insistence on courtesy, cooking every holiday meal by herself until around age ninety and caring for children across generations. Her granddaughter Rhonda Duchin joined the interview to share memories of her devotion, and Esther offered her family the enduring advice to be kind, courteous, and thoughtful of others.

Read Full Transcript