Contact Donate
Menu
all Oral History
September 9, 1982

Flora Leventhal

Flora Leventhal was born in Chicago to parents who had emigrated from Russia. Her family name was Katz, shortened from a longer name when her father arrived in America. When Flora was about two years old, the family moved to Corsicana, Texas, because her father, a sick man, had been advised to seek a warmer climate. He worked first as a shoemaker and later ran a small dry goods business. Flora was the second oldest of eight children, including five girls. Growing up in a town of roughly 1,600 people, the family lived among Catholic neighbors and got along well, experiencing little of the hardship others faced.

Flora grew up with Jewish traditions at home even without formal Jewish education. Her mother kept kosher and observed Shabbos, Passover Seders, and the holidays, and the small Jewish community relied on a shochet rather than a rabbi, gathering for services in rented halls with two congregations, one Reform and one Orthodox. As a teenager, around age 17, Flora came to Dallas with her parents, traveling on the interurban from Corsicana. The family settled at 2912 Home Street off Forest Avenue and helped pioneer the Agudas Achim congregation, which she recalled began in a small building near her home in South Dallas.

In Dallas, Flora began working at a store called Titche's as a stock girl, becoming a saleslady and then assistant manager and buyer of underwear and house dresses. She married in 1928 and helped her husband run a grocery store; he had earlier held concessions at Hunt's Grocery, one of the finest stores in Dallas, and later worked for Ben Morris. After her children, Shirley and Buddy, were nearly grown, Flora returned to work, spending about 13 years with one employer and 11 with another. She and her husband later joined Temple Emanu-El. Widowed for about 20 years by the time of the interview, she lived on Northwest Highway and spoke fondly of the value of work and lifelong learning.

Read Full Transcript