Jeanne Fagadau
Jeanne Fagadau grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, the daughter of immigrant parents. Her father, Morris Malkoff, was brought from Russia to the United States as an infant, and her mother, Sally Perlmutter, came from Warsaw, Poland, at age twelve. The couple eloped as teenagers and remained married for fifty years until her mother died at sixty-eight. Her father ran a window factory and had earlier worked in advertising, while her mother kept house and volunteered with the National Council of Jewish Women and as a Red Cross gray lady. Jeanne recalled Youngstown as a bustling, snowy mill town with a giving Jewish community. She attended public schools and Sunday school, was confirmed, and went on to Ohio State University, graduating in education.
At Ohio State, Jeanne met her future husband, Tex, at a sorority open house during her freshman year. They married in 1949 and lived in Columbus while he completed his Ph.D. in geology. Following the oil business, they moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, where she was deeply shocked by segregation, and then to Roswell, New Mexico, before settling in Dallas, where Tex's parents had recently relocated. Their son Chip was born in Shreveport, daughter Leslie arrived just three weeks after the move to Dallas, and son Tom followed three years later. The family lived in North Dallas, chosen for good public schools, and belonged to Temple Emanu-El, where Passover, led by her father-in-law, was the major celebration.
In Dallas Jeanne devoted herself to volunteerism, beginning with the National Council of Jewish Women, where she served as president from 1968 to 1970 and helped start a literacy program and the first school volunteer program. She later coordinated the volunteer program for the Dallas public schools for about ten years during the desegregation era, working under Superintendent Nolan Estes. She served on the boards of Temple Emanu-El, Jewish Family Service, the symphony, the museum, and Booker T. Washington High School for the Visual and Performing Arts, helping win a new building. For twenty-eight years she also ran a fine-print art business. Married to Tex for nearly sixty years, she took pride in her children, grandchildren, and lifelong service, crediting Judaism's call to heal the world.
She offered simple advice for a full life: keep busy, do what you enjoy, and give a little.
Full Transcript
I'm Cheryl Fields Bogan. I'm here today with Ruth Andrus and we have the pleasure of introducing, of interviewing Jean Fagadal on January 15, 2009. So nice to see you today. And it's always nice to see you. Thank you so much. Let's start with some questions about your background. Tell me a little bit about your parents. My parents, actually my father was brought to the United States when he was six months old, and that was in, I think, 1901. And mother came when she was 12 years old, and they moved to Youngstown, and mother and daddy eloped, and did not get to spend their first married night together, because when my mother came home and said she married my father, My grandmother sent him right away.
She was too young to get married, and she was not to be married. And then they got together. Well, oh, that's a great story. Where did your parents come from? My father came from Russia, and my mother came from Warsaw, Poland. And tell me their names. My mother's name was Sally Perlmutter, and my father's name was Morris Malkoff. And how old were they when they eloped? That mother was all of 18 years old, and Daddy was three years older. Okay. And so they eloped, and her mother sent your father home. What happened next? Well, I don't know, but they got back together. And they were married 50 years, but Mother died young.
She was just 68 when she died. And so you grew up in Youngstown, Ohio. Yes. What was it like in Youngstown, Ohio? Youngstown, Ohio was a mill town and it was booming. It was wartime most of the time I remember. And the mills were booming and it was a very dirty town. But it was also, and it was a small town, but it was bustling. And now unfortunately they have no business And it one of those rust belt cities And it really practically gone now I think it has half the population it had at the time But I remember at this time of year, lots of snow and ice skating and sled riding and all the things that you do in snow when you're young.
What did your father do? My father had a storm window factory, a window factory, And before that, he was in an advertising business. And my mother was a mother and a housewife, as people were in those days. Sure. And do you have brothers and sisters? I have a brother who's a doctor, lives in, well, he's a retired doctor now, and he lives in California. And we always vacation with my brother and his wife. So usually when we take trips, we go with them. That's great. and get to be together for weeks at a time. Oh, that's wonderful that it's kept you close, it sounds like.
What was the Jewish community like in Youngstown? It was a very good Jewish community and a very giving Jewish community. It was interesting. You could not belong to our country club unless you gave to the Jewish Federation because they felt that if you could afford a country club, you could afford the Federation. So it was that kind of city, and everybody was very, everybody gave and did what they should do. And my mother did a lot of volunteer work. She worked for Council of Jewish, National Council of Jewish Women. And she was a gray lady during the war. That was a Red Cross thing. and she just was always active and played cards and did all the things that women did in those days.
And what about your father? Was he active in the community or civic affairs? My father actually wasn't then because he traveled a lot, but when he was home, when he got older and retired, he worked here in Dallas for the Rotary Organization, and he was a school volunteer and he did lots of things when he had time and when he was older and had time to do it. And what kind of synagogue did your family belong to We belonged to a conservative synagogue which was more or less more reformed I think than the temple we belong to now than our own temple But it was a conservative synagogue.
And how did your family celebrate Jewish life? Well, we didn't do the things they do today, such as Hanukkah and so forth. that was not a celebration. And we went to the high holidays. Did you go to religious school? I went to Sunday school every Sunday. I was confirmed from Sunday school. And we went occasionally to temple. And tell me a little bit about your school experience as a child. Did you go to the public schools? Oh, yes, of course. Everybody went to public school. Nobody went to private school in those days. And it was wonderful because after grade school, when you were in your own little neighborhood, you went to a junior high school that was very much integrated.
And high school, of course, was too because it came from a larger section of town. and so you got to know people of every faith, of every color and so moving to the south was a bit of a shock to say the very least because when we moved to Shreveport, they had segregation and actually when we moved to Dallas, there was still segregation But it was a total shock because I had never seen anything like that. You hadn't experienced that? I'm still shocked thinking about it. Did you experience any anti-Semitism? Actually not because we had little Jewish sororities and clubs and there was a Jewish sorority and a Jewish fraternity and we exchanged parties with the non-Jewish sororities and non-Jewish fraternities.
So I never had any anti-Semitic experiences. What kind of activities were you involved in In high school Yes Well the sorority I think actually the most important thing I was interested in in high school was boys I think that's what all the girls at that age were interested in. Things seem not to change in 18. Look at the girls today. No, and we did various things. But I wasn't very active. I began to be active and interested in the outside world, so to speak, at college, really. So you graduated high school and then college? Went to Ohio State, and I graduated in education. And we had, we had, I was in a sorority there, but they didn't have the activities they have today, outside community activities, the kinds of things that I think are so important that I think they do.
today in school, but I got interested in the Council, what was it called, the Council for World Government. It was something like that. And I thought that was a fascinating idea, and I thought it would be great if there would be an end to wars, and there would be peace in the world. And that was, so I was active in that little group. So you were very progressive. Well, it was a wish that I still have, but we'll have to keep working at it. It sounds like you do. So while you were at college, I believe you were a junior when you met your husband?
No, I was a freshman. You were a freshman? I was a freshman when we met. He was a senior, but he was only a year older because he went to school when he was 15 years old. I went to college when I was 15. He didn't share that with us. So how did you and Tex meet? I had a sorority house at an open house on a Sunday afternoon. The very first open house I went to, I met him. And I remember our first conversation. We went in his car to pick up a mutual friend at the train station. And while we waited for the train to come in, we were talking.
and I remember saying, I just thought it was terrible that people would get married before they finished college, because that's what most of the girls did in those days. They went to college, I think, to find a husband, and then they got married. And then they married and a lot of them never finished their education. So that was one thing that I thought was really dumb. And I didn't do it. I did get married before I finished school, but I did finish school. So you married then at the end of my junior year. At the end of your junior year, and then you stayed in Youngstown?
No, at Ohio State. I mean, Ohio State, excuse me. And finished school there. Uh-huh. In Columbus, Ohio. Okay. And after you all were married and you finished school, where did you move? We moved to Shreveport, Louisiana. And that's when I was in total shock. Well, we had an experience that was just crushing. I was, by that time I was pregnant and we used to, it was so hot in Shreveport and we used to go any place that was air conditioned and we went to this air conditioned ice cream shop and we were sitting there having ice cream and all of a sudden I heard this woman screaming about, she said to this boy in the most horrible street you ever heard, get out of here.
You know we don't serve niggers in here. And I couldn't believe it. You know, it was shocking. And it's still shocking no matter what you think about it. And so eventually, when desegregation finally came to, which is one of the exciting things, I think, about Obama being elected president, that we have come a long way and finally recognize people's abilities for what they are and not their color. So you moved to Shreveport. And what year was that? What year did you marry? We married in 1949 and we moved to Shreveport and it was probably 52, 51 or 53. We pause for just a minute here Got it Got it Is this too noisy Do we need to So I want to be sure I clear on my dates What year did you and Tex marry 1949.
And then we lived in Columbus while he finished his Ph.D. and then we moved to Shreveport. And for the record, your husband received his Ph.D. in? 19. No, what was his field? Oh, geology. Geology. Okay, very good. Thank you. And did you realize that you would be moving to the south? I'm sorry. Okay, we have to wait until you clip on me. No, my keys. We're resuming, and the question I had just asked you was, did you realize that you would be moving to the south, that you'd be leaving Ohio? Yes, I knew we would. I knew we would move to a place where we drill for oil, because that's where it was.
and I actually probably never thought about anything else, but, yeah, I loved Tex and heard about the South, but I had never lived in the South. Okay, and so one of your first experiences you were saying was seeing segregation up close and personal. Yes, and it was not pleasant. It was not pleasant. How long did you live in Shreveport? We lived in Shreveport for nine months, six of which were so hot, you cannot believe it. We were in a furnished apartment on the top floor with the sun beating down all day long. No air conditioning. No air conditioning. And I thought, oh, I think I spent a good part of the time in the bathtub.
We would get up at six in the morning. I would make dinner at 6 in the morning, and then I think I spent a good part of that time in the bath time, which must be why Chip was such a good swimmer. So you were pregnant during that time? I was pregnant when we moved, yes. Yes. When we left college. We had been in college. Okay. So you were and Chip was born then in In Shreveport In Shreveport Okay Then you left Shreveport moved to Roswell New Mexico And Roswell New Mexico was another experience It was, there were 25,000 people, but we had very nice people in the company who were welcoming and pleasant and so forth.
And I was busy. I had a little baby. By this time, he was, well, by the time we left, he was two. We had a little dog, and we actually enjoyed Roswell. It was fun. And when you left Roswell, you then moved? To Dallas, Texas. And at that point, were your in-laws living in Dallas? Yes, they were. Yes. They had moved here, I believe it was the year before we did. And what was it like arriving in Dallas, Texas after having lived in Roswell and Shreveport? I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. It was just fabulous. I remember in Roswell, the only place, there was one place you could go out to dinner, and it was something in, I forget, but it wasn't very good.
and we moved to Dallas and there were two or three great restaurants here. And it was a really big town as far as I was concerned. And we look back now, and of course it was small then, but we've grown. It looks great now. Did you know people before you moved here? My sister-in-law. And her name? She had a little bridge game. What is your sister-in-law's name? June Sachs, and that's my husband's sister. And his folks lived here, but they had just moved here, so they didn't know a lot of young people, but she knew a lot of people our age, so she had a little luncheon or something.
Anyway, we got to know a lot of people and got active in organizations and made it our home. What kind of organizations were you active in? Well, the first one was the National Council of Jewish Women because my mother had been active in that, in Youngstown. And it was a good familiar name. And they had a program an after school program And that was my first volunteer job in Dallas it was in South Dallas I think um and so you started with that and then you during this time you had two other children I had Leslie three weeks after we moved to Dallas so she was a she was a little bit.
She was three weeks early, but we had her three weeks after we moved to Dallas, so I had two little children, one three-year-old and one newborn. My goodness. And then three years after that? And three years after that, we had Tom Fagadaw. Okay. Yeah. So we had three wonderful children who grew up to be wonderful adults. Well, what's it like raising the children in Dallas? It was great because we had a nice neighborhood. The children had a lot of friends in the neighborhood. They played outdoors all the time. And, of course, in those days you didn't worry that someone was going to come along and kidnap them or whatever that they worry about today.
So they played outside all day. What part of Dallas did you live in? Maybe three blocks from here, from where we live right now. and we've always lived in North Dallas and we chose it because they had a very good public school, Pershing school and the kids all went to Pershing and then the boys went to St. Mark's after that and Leslie would have none of that. She was not going to a girls school for any reason, whatever and so she graduated from Hillcrest and the boys graduated from St. Mark's. and which synagogue did you belong to? Temple of Emmanuel. And very happy there for all these years.
I'm still happy there. Good, that's wonderful to hear. What has Jewish life been like for you in Dallas? Well, I think I would say that Jewish life has been really good because I think I've enjoyed the social action part of Judaism as much as any other part. And I think that comes from Judaism, the healing of the world. And so when we talk about... Role models, you have to think about Levi Owen, who gave wonderful, wonderful sermons about getting out and getting after it and helping heal the world. And so I think that was a great influence. He was a great influence. And I think that Judaism itself has that as its precept.
So I think that's the part that I'm really most interested in. How did you and your family celebrate the Jewish holidays? Well, we had Hanukkah. We celebrated Hanukkah. And, of course, Passover. Passover was actually the biggest celebration. My father-in-law used to lead the service, and he was wonderful. We would tell the story as if it had just happened yesterday, and the kids listened. He was great. And so Passover was our major celebration, and Hanukkah was a minor celebration. I mean, you know, little presents and lighting candles and what have you. Tell me a little bit more about your volunteerism in the Jewish community. I was active in council, and for years I did various things.
we helped start the LIFT program, which is literacy instruction for Texas, which is still in existence. And it is to educate non-English, non-readers, they can be English-speaking or not, but non-readers to read English. And that was one of the projects. We started the first school volunteer program. And as a consequence, the gal who was our chairman of that while I was president of council was asked by the superintendent to be the coordinator of volunteers for the public schools. We did a pilot project. Council did a pilot project. And she and her My husband moved to New York a year later. And so the superintendent, and I was finishing being president of council at that time.
And the superintendent asked me if I would take over that job, which I did for the next 10 years. That's great. Do you remember the years that you were president of Council 1970 1968 to 70 Was this the first time that you had used your teaching degree? Had you taught after you graduated? I did teach. I taught at a little nursery school, though I couldn't get a job teaching English because every other person was an English teacher who graduated. but I did get a job teaching half days at a nursery school while we were married and living in Columbus. Okay, so you took a job with Dallas Independent School District coordinating the volunteers.
I took coordinating the volunteer program for the city of Dallas. and we had, during that period of time, we had the desegregation order and got all sorts of organizations involved with the schools. The judge actually had ordered the business community to get involved. So we had businesses who adopted schools, we had organizations who adopted schools, church groups, etc. And we had a very, very active program. It sounds like it must have been huge. Who was the superintendent of the school? Dr. Estes. Nolan Estes. During? During that time, yes. He was, well, he's the one who hired me actually. And he's the one who stayed there for several years through the desegregation order.
and then after he left, I'm visualizing in front of me and I can't think of his name. The next superintendent? White? No, no, no. White was before. It'll come to you. Well, first there was Nolan Estes and then right after that he was a very good superintendent and understood the value of citizens coming into the schools, which was Noah Nestle's idea that when people understand the problems and the challenges, he never had a problem. There were always challenges. And he felt that the more people knew about what was going on, the more they'd help and vote on bond issues and so forth. So you were working while you were raising your children?
Yes. Yes. Not the whole time But for those ten years Actually the children were in high school I think one was in college by then one was in high school by then and one was going into high school So in addition to National Council of Jewish Women, were there other Jewish organizations where you had volunteered? Yeah, I was on the board of Temple. I was the vice president of Temple. I was on Jewish Family Service Board. I think I was on the board of AJC. I'd have to look at the resume. But lots of them. Well, if you think of more later, I'd love to be able to hear for our record.
I know you've also been very active outside of the Jewish community and the arts community and the general community as well. Symphony in particular. I'd like to hear about that. Well, at the moment, I'm chairing the stewardship committee for symphony because I said to the director two years ago, You know, we always worry about the patrons for obvious reasons, but we need to start worrying more about our just subscribers, people who come and they love it enough that they come to several concerts a year. So, of course, when you say something like that, you end up being chairman. So would you be chairman of the stewardship committee, which hadn't been in existence before, but now there is one.
And our main goal in life is to keep everybody part of the symphony family and help everybody feel a part of it. And we have a new conductor this year who is spectacular. And his name is? His name is Jacques von Sweden, and he is spectacular. There's no other word for him. In fact, we got a holiday card from our past executive director, who now lives in the south of Texas, and he said he heard a recording that he had made, our new conductor had made. He said he sounds like Toscanini. I mean can you get a better compliment than that And he is He perfect The orchestra sounds like a new orchestra That going to be very exciting It is.
It's very exciting. Very exciting. And what else have you done? Well, I've been active in the museum. I was chair of the associates one year. And I've been chair of the, what do we call them? Whatever the patron, one of the patron's names of the symphony, and I've helped raise money for symphony and, you know, the things you do when you're active in a group. I think you've also been active with the Booker T. Washington. Yes, yes. I've been on that board for a long time. Tell us what that is. Booker T. Washington High School for the Visual and Performing Arts is just what it says.
it's a high school for youngsters who have particular talent in the various performing arts and visual arts. And one of the gals who I talked into being president is the one who came up with the idea, look, this school is falling apart. We had this school that really is right in the heart of the arts district, so it's perfect location. But it was literally falling apart. So we won a contest that said you can get an architect to help you plan a school. And with private funds plus the district funds that were available, we built a new school. And it's just terrific. You have to come visit.
It's a treat to go through the school. Have you ever been inside? We'll talk about that later. All right. what's life like for you and Tex today great couldn't be better you all have been married we have been married we will have been married this August God willing and the creek don't rise 60 years we've been married 59 years and all of which I owe to Tex's good nature and because you have to have a lot of patience to be married to me. And he has, he has a lot of patience. And we're very happy. We're very lucky and very blessed. You love to travel.
Love to travel. We have a little place in New York where we go and see all the wonderful things there are to see, and we're just lucky and blessed. Tell me a little bit more about your children and your grandchildren. We have three remarkable children and three wonderful in-law children. Chip and Evie are our oldest. Chip is an ophthalmologist in Dallas, the best ophthalmologist in Dallas. And Evie is his absolutely wonderful wife and daughter-in-law, Tom Fagadaw, and Tom's ex-wife and dear friend, Patsy Fagadaw, and Leslie, who lives in Nashville, and her last name is Newman now. She was divorced, and she remarried three years ago now to a very nice man.
And she's very happy, so we're happy that they are. Good. And they've produced great grandchildren. Wonderful. Please tell me the names and approximate ages of your grandchildren. The eldest is Florin. Chip is our oldest son. and Jim and Abby's two children are Florin, who's married to Jason Bender. They are both lawyers and live in Dallas, Texas, and we're very happy about that. And their second daughter is Alyssa Fagadoff, who is, she goes with a boy who probably she will end up marrying. I don't know. We'll talk more about that at another time. But anyway he a darling young man has Tommy has Tommy and Patsy have two girls one is Hillary who graduating from Green Hill in the fall in the spring and Hannah who is in drama at NYU and loves New York And our third child is, and our two other grandchildren, Leslie's two, are two boys.
One is graduating in June from NYU. And his name is? And his name is Neil Schechter. And his brother, Matthew, is graduating from law school and is marrying another law graduate. would, we will be in very good shape with lawyers very soon. We have a lot of them. You're very lucky. Can you tell me a little bit about who your role models have been, Jane? Well, as I said, my mother was active in various things in Youngstown. And I think Lee Violent was a very important factor in shaping my thoughts about helping the community. What are some of the things that you're most proud of as we reflect about your upbringing in your life to this point?
I think the school volunteer program, I'm very proud of that and accomplishing helping in a small part to get a new school that was sorely needed. And well right at the moment I serving on two education committees one at the museum and one at the symphony And so my education background was not for naught It turned out to be something I've always been interested in. And so keep up the interest in that. And, of course, I'm terribly proud of my children. They're terrific. And my grandchildren. Is there anything else that you would like to add to this interview today? No, I just appreciate your coming and enjoy visiting.
Thank you very much. Do we have to do anything? I think it was great. Beautiful. Jean, one of the things I realized that we didn't discuss and I'd love to hear a little bit about is that you have had an art business for a number of years. Can you share? I have. for actually 28 years. Oh, my goodness. It's hard to believe it's that long. But when I left the school district, I thought, what else do I like to do? I don't want to just, since I don't play cards, what else do I like to do? So I thought, well, I love art. So I have a friend who's still my friend, but she's moved away to Houston.
And I said, I think we're going to go in the art business. What was your friend's name? Jackie. Her name at the time was Jackie Wolins. It is now Jackie Mazo. Yes. Her husband passed away, and she remarried a few years later and has moved to Houston. But we were together during the holidays this year, and we still see each other as often as possible and talk to each other on the phone But she said okay I mean after I pulled her arm and leg and so forth she said okay that sounds like a good idea Well, we didn't know exactly what we were going to do, but as we looked into things further, we thought, well, we really love prints.
So I think we'll specialize after a year or two. We finally have to grow up and make up your mind. What are you going to specialize in? And so we thought, well, prints would be the best thing. And we wanted just fine prints that were signed by the artist. And the artist would be museum-quality artists. And so that's what we did. We did it together for many years. And then when Jackie moved away, I did it by myself. And I'm still doing it occasionally. I don't have as much time because we travel more now. But when I get a chance, I had one art show this year.
Maybe I'll have another one next year. So I don't do it as much, but I do enjoy it a lot. And I have a closet full of art waiting to be sold if I would just stay put and do something about it. Well, that's interesting to hear. Is there anything else, now that you've reflected a little bit, that you'd like to share with us? Well, I guess I have some advice for getting old, and that is if you keep busy and keep doing things you enjoy doing and give a little bit, you end up having a pretty wonderful life. Those are words to live by.
Thank you again. Thank you. I like that. That was great. Thank you.