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all Oral History
March 22, 2017

Harriet Meyer

Harriet Meyer was born and raised in Dallas. Her mother was born in St. Louis and her father in Muskogee, Oklahoma, with roots reaching back to Romania on her mother's side and Lithuania on her father's. Her mother moved to Dallas at age 13 when Harriet's grandfather took a job at a company in the city. Her parents were introduced through a mutual family connection and married in 1937. Harriet's earliest memory is of a break-in at the family home on Manette Street in East Dallas, after which the family moved to University Park. She has one sister, six years older, who lives in California.

Harriet grew up in the Highland Park school system, attending elementary and junior high there before graduating from Highland Park High School, where there were few Jewish students. She became involved in Jewish life through BBG, where she met her lifelong friend Tina, and she attended Sunday school and grew up in the Reform community. Her family belonged briefly to Shearith Israel before joining Temple Emanu-El. After a year and a half at SMU, she moved to Los Angeles for about seven years, working in early computers, before deciding it was time to come home to Dallas.

Back in Dallas, Harriet met her husband Stuart at Temple Emanu-El after Yom Kippur services, when their mothers struck up a conversation. They married in 1978. Stuart had a daughter, Debbie, from his first marriage, whom Harriet lovingly helped raise, and together they had a son, David. Both children and her grandchildren live nearby. Harriet worked in retail, including at Petite Sophisticate and for fourteen years at Saks until it closed, after which she retired. She and Stuart enjoy plays, musicals, and temple senior programs, and she has volunteered with the Jewish Federation women's division. Having come through two major back surgeries, she credits her family's support and her own resilience for seeing her through.

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