Frances Coleman
Frances Coleman was born in Dallas to parents who had emigrated from Poland. Her mother's father had brought the family to Dallas years earlier, while her father, a baker in Poland, came to help and then partner in a bakery run by the Weinstein family. Frances was the oldest of three sisters, known together as the Silvergold girls, alongside Ruthie and Ethel. Her father died when she was nine, and her mother went to work with Frances's grandparents, who owned a dry goods store on Deep Ellum. Her grandmother, who lived next door, was one of her closest friends and a cherished role model.
Frances grew up in South Dallas, living on South Boulevard and Park Avenue, walking to Colonial Elementary and Forest Avenue High School and stopping for ice cream at Friedman's Drugs. She met Julius "Red" Coleman at school, where he lived across from the high school and carried her books home. They married when she was 18. While he was stationed in Little Rock, Arkansas, and later shipped overseas for about two and a half years as a medic in World War Two, Frances worked, including a long stint for Herman Phillipson. After the war, the couple entered the liquor business, eventually building it into a chain of 40 stores known as Red Coleman's.
The Colemans raised four children, Andrea, Ronnie, Janine, and Wendy, and had nine grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. Lifelong members of Shearith Israel, Frances and Julius were honored with a tribute dinner at the synagogue. Frances devoted herself to Jewish community life, serving as financial and vice president of Shearith Israel Sisterhood, chairing the advanced gifts division for the Federation Women's Division, and holding office in B'nai B'rith Women. She chaired Israel Bonds for three years, received the Gates of Israel award, was honored as a Woman of Valor, and was selected as the Jewish Community Center's Woman of the Year. Over the decades she moved steadily north through Dallas while remaining rooted in the community she loved.
Full Transcript
today is January the 21st 2014 i will be interviewing francis coleman at the j and begin now good morning good morning and you are Francis Coleman aim i'll start way at your beginning where were you born I was born in Dallas Texas and your parents they were born in Poland both them what got them to dallas i don't know i got my mother to dallas i know her her father lived here and he brought him over many years ago with my grandmother and her children my father came over because he was a baker in poland and mr. Weinstein was an kesner Weinstein's father had a bakery here and he needed somebody to help him and so he brought my father over and he became his partner and they were partners so they landed in New York Galveston Galveston made their way here how old were they held were they when they came or the Everyman's bear were they married I don't imagine I don't think my father was married then my mother was not married love me the one of them was yeah yeah yeah and growing up in Dallas that was a big community I imagine you know everybody in Dallas have you kept the same
friends we have would kept going a few through the years and as I said before they live in some of them live in my building the ones that graduated with us and we see them quite a bit too we've interviewed lots of lots of people it was a wonderful life growing up in South Dallas tell me a little bit about it or did you I went to elementary school at colonial I went to high school at Forest and we lived on south boulevard and I used to walk to school most of the time but we had a streetcar and we had these little two phones
that we did and they would we would buy for I don't know twelve dollars maybe less so that's a whole year I'm sorry my voice is cracking and and they would punch it when we got on the bus on the streetcar that would punch the ticket but most of the time we walk back and forth and we stopped at friedman drugs because i saw there was a picture out here we always had some ice cream and there was a what was made golden pickles and we always had to stop and get a nickel per pill and that was our big treat kind of going back
and forth to school and then my husband went to forest and that's where i met him at school and he lived right across the street from the high school and he used to walk me all the way home and all the way back and i lived about a mile away but he carried my books back and forth so it was a romance at the newer teenagers right think we married as teenagers you were married as teenagers how old were you 18 he was probably not even 19 right did you go to college or no I went to business school drawings business school and then the
war came and I worked yeah did read did your husband go off door yes he did he did we got married when I was 18 he was stationed in little rock arkansas and and i moved down there and stayed with him for maybe about a year or something and then he was step shipped overseas and he was gone about two and a half years he was in the medics any did you have any children and no oh no we're having children no before he left we didn't have it show had children after he got back did you work while he was gone I did I
worked at a hood vacuum cleaner place and I worked for Herman phillipson he was right across the street from Titus and I worked there for almost the whole time my husband was gone and he paid me I think it was like eleven dollars and fifty cents a week my mother had a store on Deep Ellum that was pretty good in those days living 50 and I got a offer from an insurance company to work for them for 1250 an hour so I told him I was leaving and he got very upset and he ought walked all the way down to my mother's store to talk
her into talking me into not quitting and so I didn't quit I did what my mama said in those days we did what our mother said did you get the race when he came back he wet field well he went into a liquor business because his uncle I shouldn't say some of them his uncle max Goldman was in the liquor business and junior chefs and his cousin and they told that would be a good business for him and we bought a little place or we had one built on South full on forests right near the fairgrounds which was a terrible location and not only that
it was right after the war and they weren't given us the good liquor oh we had with cordials and things we didn't really have that much to grow on finally oh no one I didn't want to say something else we went into business we had a little money to open up the store and to go into business but then we were told there was another business for sale and it was very good was on Samuels Boulevard and we could get a get alone and go work in work and get a story there anyway we went to the bag was his name good job said that
downtown back of some sort my mother had been doing business there all the time mr. Bravo x-ray Delta Rho kirchhoff see rutowski mr. Chomsky and we went to him for a loan and my mother who had this little dry goods store had beginning her money from him back and paying back and going back anyway we went to him he wouldn't loan us the money so he went to to your ships injurious said how much do you need is that I need twenty thousand dollars so he went down to mr. rosovsky and he said put my name on the note and I'll pay for it if they don't but luckily we paid it all off and that's where we started in into our businesses and we ended up with 40 at one time I want to backtrack for a little bit growing up were you was your family connected to any religious did you have religious affiliation so we lived a block away from temple manual so I went but they went to they were from sherry thurs room so I went to temple emanuel for a couple years but mainly we still we were at shared israel a question
that i always ask is growing up did you meet with any die semitism not really not that I can recall I think when I was I kind of remember one thing when I was still very young and I we lived on at Park Avenue and I walked to school there which was a short distance and I must have been 89 i can remember somebody yelling something at me about being the Jew but other than that at high school we never ever did elementary school we never did you do you have any favorite experiences you remember growing up any devilish things you might have done or
any any excitement that that you remember the most anything you'd want to share well let's see our our excitement wasn't too much we went to the movies which was right around the corner from where we lived on colonial and then of course my boyfriend's I think maybe two of them had cars just had a car and Morris wolf had a car and we would all pile in those cars and we'd go get a root beer or would go get ice cream or we go to the movies but it was just like a fun thing with just friends and trying to think anything exciting that we
did in those days played spin the bottle that was a big thing yeah and aaron spelling was one of them that played spin the bottle is all the time yeah but nobody wanted to kiss him because we didn't like him would you kiss him now if you knew though he's dead that's right that's right but you hadn't met I mean you weren't doing this behind Reds back or you don't know I was dating at the boys yeah digit well your family belong to the synagogue yep but then you've crossed over and went to Temple you belong no I only went to Temple because it was
close uh-huh and so I just went there for about a year but they always belong to share this room they never belong to Temple are you the oldest sister the hand the your other two sisters live in in Dallas egg the horn and downs of them and what are their names Ruthie leaving her son is Milton Bailey be plumbing company and Ethel silver go Frankfurt sale Oh esos your sister to my sister yeah we were the silver go girls yeah you were famous yeah do what what the temple do you belong to now what is your share this room sheriff Israel and are you are
you affiliated with any organizations or would have been your favorite organizations among professional I think I'm affiliated with every one of them everyone I mean any favorites well I'm really not into organization now like I used to be but at one time I was very active so I belong to belong to Lhasa longed when a breath upon to well you name on I'm still belong to him and a lot of my lifetime University children children for one deceased and their Dallas eyes oh how lucky can one person be and grand children nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren and went on the way are they or you
involved very involved in the Jewish community as far as boards or interests or are you talking about present or past past yes yeah in the past we were and the present we really haven't been too much the children as well not too much yeah yeah want to see the picture this is when we were honored at shared Israel and they gave a tribute dinner to for me and my husband and Tutsi and peter von Berg where the Chairman Steve Ungerman was the greetings this cohen did the toast my sisters were involved and invocation was rabbi Jordan off Sarah give me a date see if there
is a date terribly I don't put a date on here if we can we're going to put it in the EOP go to our newspaper and we'll ask who the other people all we do then now she's why would I give it to me anyway just a minute I'm sorry fell asleep as well some of my recognize how far back does ACA BBG I don't know I know that was on for seven eight this is when my dad looked at my father died 1932 and that was the paper I don't know if you're interested if this is Jesus when you go you know they interview
the parents usually for school and they wrote this for Julius so it's all about Julius read it you Muriel please see what child wrote it it just says the spectacular life of Julius Coleman but oh this is my great granddaughter Allison after God Allison after got in Ferris Texas 1923 Julius Cohen was born he was a first son in the Coleman family after having two girls the Coleman family was happy to have a new son in the family Julius's dad came to America in 1906 from Russia and his mother came in 1912 from Poland Jews grew up to have a wonderful childhood pretty good education
and a fabulous out of life Julius had a wonderful childhood when he was younger in 1932 when Judas was nine years old he moved to Dallas Texas he grew up with his mom dad and two older sisters that's best 'only that's corning and Lee Margolis leave after that Jewess dad was a great man he was very smart and kind to his family his mom his mom was called man law but her real name was Rebecca and that's how Allison his great-granddaughter got her middle name his mom was a sweet lady and a housewife she had six brothers and one sister when Jurgis was young he
used to go to the baseball game and oak cliff it is amazing that oh that he was it was only three cents each way he used to to ride the streetcar to get there he would also love to go to his dad's grocery store and eat candy when is the family traditions was to keep kosher his childhood was lots of fun and he likes school a lot Jews felt he was a good student in school his favorite subject in school was business economics when he was younger he wanted to be an attorney just felt very good about school when he was growing up jus just
wanted to get all of the education he could get he went to school now called the University of Texas Arlington back then it wasn't a college like it is today Julius never got to college Jews had to work very hard instead of going to college even though Jews had to work instead of going to college he had a great business great big business she's made the business all by himself and made it into a giant company and that's very hard to do if you don't go to college treas loves his adult life Judas now enjoys his at a life at up like very much to
his fought in World War two and then came home to work to his married his wife Frances Coleman who he had met in services when he was 15 years old they had four children Andrea Ronnie Janine and windy they have nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren who are Allison Jessica after good now we have another one and went on the way just came from a religious family and still keeps religion it's hard to believe but Julius had 40 stores it started as a little business and then grew bigger he used to have red hair so named his stores red Coleman everyone still sometimes calls them red
Coleman juice has had a wonderful life and still has some hopes and plans for the future he wants more great-grandchildren and thinks his life will be the same in five years from now it's hard to say but Judas and Francis Coleman have been married 69 years 71 now serious has worked very hard all of his life he is a wonderful great great grandfather his life is always very exciting no matter what he does I want to once again backtrack because I think you were more involved in the community than then I asked you about tell me what were your big honors and achievements can I
read them because I really I know my brother we did okay I served with financial and vice president shared is real sisterhood oh you look laughs yeah I was chairman of the advanced gifts division for Federation women's division and a past recipient of the Federation campaign achievement award I was an officer and miss rocky women in bnei breath women I was chairman for three years in Israel bonds and received the gates of Israel award and was honored as their woman of Valor I was selected by the Jewish community centers women of the year and also has been involved with Susan comer Cancer Center in the
city of hope and then there's some other awards that have received through his with bonds that would make those are mainly I'm glad we got those little details in with your life lately I guess you're just enjoying it and and take taken retirement again it is and I feel badly that I'm not involved but I just don't have the to do it in fact right now admire all of you that dude I think it's wonderful tell me about your role models did you have any role models that you wanted to fashion yourself after or that you looked up to well my grandmother I guess my
father died when I was nine years old oh so my mother of course she went to work with my grandparents who owned the stores I was telling you about and she worked for them the rest of her life and she raised three children my sister fo was born my sister Ruthie was five and I was nine so she had these three children and then my grandmother lived next door and the duplex that we lived in and we had like a little fence in between us we would jump over the fence and go talk to her and that's where we learned our Yiddish I've kind of
forgotten it now but I can remember some of it and she was a role model to me in a way she was a wonderful woman and she was a house mother and she always had a silver for the cookies and the kill and everything else like a grandmother would but she was one of my closest friends oh and role models I guess were my aunt's growing up that I had but I don't know what else to me um and what were the names of your grandmother and aunts was my grandmother grandfather was salmon and Rosenblum and answer my ass I was Fanny Granick but Fanny
did you know fan Fanny Granick and Edith them get her name ok Edith Fanny and and Ida yeah anyway had a few minutes luckily they were wonderful well half of Dallas must be your relatives they are now yeah as dell has changed for you much you know it's gonna say when we were small we didn't hardly have any relatives here of his very few and now we've grown to be a city what were you asking I was a house Dallas changed oh well we kind of knew everybody in Dallas when we were small we knew all the Jewish people especially but now when I go
to the synagogue I don't recognize two-thirds three-fourths of them anymore yeah you're on you know come here in the last few years and since we haven't been really close to the synagogue like we used to be it's just gotten away from us do you miss the old days I do in a way I'm glad to see the new ones coming too well I know where you live and you move the biology north yeah miles and North what were your stops on the way north when did you move from South Dallas well let's see when I got married we moved we rented a place on colonial
during right after the war you couldn't find anything to rent anyway or by and we found one little house way down south on colonial and we rented it then we bought a house oh then the GI bill came in and for twelve thousand dollars we bought a house in White Rock area one of the little TI homes and then from there we moved over to northgate circle right off of preston and north haven from i got a lot of moves and then from there we built a home on yemeni and we were there 20 years and from yemeni we moved to meadow wood which was
walnut hill we kept the whole area I love that area we lived there 20 years and then we moved to Dexter which was right across the street from the show and we were there about eight years now we're in the Bonaventure I'd oh my god you must have a lot of suitcases like every 20 years I have to move their children went to school where Pershing and and hillcrest Franklin and hillcrest so I won didn't we went up went to greenville when when went to my son went to st. Mark's the girls went to Pershing gilchrist Franklin yeah you actually stayed within the same school district just about and the whole time yeah but when we moved to meadowood they were already grown they had already left home is there anything you I'm leaving out that you'd like to add that I might have missed as far as some of your experiences growing up or how you your thoughts about the city I will the city wouldn't hardly there when I was small growing up but I did we used to take pearl Klausner as my good friend and we used to take the streetcar and go downtown to
the movie or go to Neiman's and that was our big treat and to go by ourselves and we were very young how old well that was before I got married so we must have been 15 16 and nobody bothered us nobody we wouldn't think of drugs I mean it was just a wonderful world that we lived in in those days there was no alcohol and there was no shooting so killings that we heard of and it was just a small town good place to grow up we were very fortunate for so many people of that era Neiman Marcus was your entertainment oh yeah yeah yeah
and we used to go on the challah trite before the holidays my mother would take all of us down there and we go buy a little dress for the holidays and we would eat lunch there and that was the biggest treat of all zodiac yeah well thank you so much you welcome you