Ida Kleinman

Ida was born in New York City to parents who had come from Austria, and the family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, when she was less than two years old after an uncle encouraged her father to pursue opportunities there. Her father, Nathan, was successful in the scrap iron metal business. Ida was the eldest of six children, one of whom died young. Because a little sister had whooping cough, her father bought a farm where the family spent summers, and Ida even kept a piano there. The home was deeply Jewish and kosher, with her father attending shul on Saturdays while remaining an Americanized, flexible man.

Never much of a scholar, Ida left school after her second year of high school and worked briefly in her father's office. She married her childhood sweetheart, Harold Leiter, around age twenty. Her husband first traveled for his father's concern and then they opened a successful dress shop in Cleveland. They had three children, and as the children grew, Ida helped in the shop on Saturdays. Harold died young, and Ida was widowed at age 39. Her teenage son stepped into the business and earned local notice for his abilities. She later married Mr. Rowler of the Rowler Wine Company, a marriage of more than nineteen years that included a yacht and a life she described as high, wide, and handsome.

From childhood on, singing was Ida's great joy. She trained in voice and piano for many years, studying with teachers including Mr. Summers and Felix Hughes, and performed in a show at the Deauville during a period living in Miami, though she sang for love rather than for pay. After being widowed a second time, she moved to Dallas, where her daughter Phyllis lived, and had been there over twenty years by the time of the interview. She sang gladly whenever the senior center or her clubs called on her. Reflecting on her life, she urged her grandchildren to be themselves, be humble, be good listeners, and do what makes them happy without hurting anyone else. She closed her interview by singing a cappella.

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