Jeff Seymour
Jeff Seymour was born in 1949 in Los Angeles, California, and grew up in the San Fernando Valley when much of it was still open land. His father, an Air Force flight engineer who flew on B-29s in the Pacific during World War II, was shot down three times and recovered in a hospital in Mississippi. His grandfather on his mother's side built a juvenile products distribution and manufacturing business after moving from Cleveland, Ohio to California in the 1930s, while his father's family came from Russia in the 1890s, passing through Ellis Island before several brothers settled in California. Jeff attended grammar school in the valley and remembers early live television and playing outdoors with neighborhood children.
During the Vietnam era, Jeff graduated from high school in January and, after receiving a draft notice while working on a ranch in Hawaii, joined the California National Guard with the help of his older brother. Serving with a military support wing, he spent weekends flying engines and supplies to Hawaii and Vietnam and occasionally bringing back wounded servicemen. His service ended early when he moved to North Carolina for the family's manufacturing facility in Southern Pines, handling East Coast and Midwest sales. In 1976 he and his wife Laura moved to Dallas, in part to be near the center of the country where much of the business was located.
In Dallas, Jeff became a manufacturers representative in the juvenile products industry, continuing the business his grandfather started and covering the middle of the country. He and Laura, whom he met as a child at Camp Scotmar in Southern California, raised three children in Dallas. Laura became a longtime Jewish educator at the JCC, running Camp Kai and its camping programs for decades. Jeff served on the board of directors and as president of the JCC from 2004 to 2006, remaining active in the community. He often reflects on how welcoming Dallas was and encourages younger generations to find and pursue their passions.
Full Transcript
you moved to Texas obviously it was a big move for both of you how do you feel the Jewish Community embraced you guys well for us I mean it was it was actually wonderful I mean coming from Los Angeles where you have so many you know people when you when you come to a when I think when we came here to Dallas um and we moved here from North Carolina so remember we grew from an area we grew up in an area that when the high holidays hit the schools closed down just like they would in Chicago and New York cuz all the teachers were
Jewish to moving to North Carolina where you were lucky to get a Minion for anything you know um especially in Southern Pines um when we moved here it was interesting it moving to a southern city um I'll never forget walking into toered Israel congregation and they're very close to here about a M away and um meeting the rabbi and telling that I was meet you know moving my wife and my one-year-old child to Dallas and where do I live and I didn't even know about the Jewish Community Center at that time and um he took out a map and said young man you live between
here and here and here and here and you know laid out you know a swath between Midway Road and Central Expressway to you know to Belt Line to you know the the Park Cities and he said that's where you move now are there any Jewish organizations you guys are members of that you're involved with um yes there are there are many first of all let me talk about my wife Laura um came here to the Jewish Community Center very very quickly after we moved um Laura uh is a tremendous Jewish educator and and Runner of camps um she's been here at the JCC for 36
years has not left here um all our kids grew up here um she runs Camp Kai and oversees all their camping programs here at the J so lur still does that today and uh from probably about two weeks after we moved in she she was employed here um I have served on the board of directors here I was president of the J um from 2004 to 2006 and uh and still very very active here how have you seen the Jewish Community grow over the years with the involvement of The JCC and whatnot well you know it's interesting it's it's and I the story I tell
um to young people who are moving into town that uh you know how fortunate we all were and you know of finding a community like Dallas I mean when I moved here in the mid 70s there were about 42,000 Jews you know in in the Dallas area there was probably another 7 to 10,000 over from Fort Worth and we don't even know how to measure the part you know the Mid Cities back then um if you want to get involved and you're in a community of 40 45,000 Jewish people you can get involved it's not like Los Angeles where you know you've got a million
plus and you're just lost in the numbers all the community organizations here in Dallas have been very fortunate that they have a very active populace to be able to reach out to and do things with the JZ is growing um it's a tier on 20 acres and it's certainly the heart of the community all right Jeff 1949 Los Angeles California starting to get back there a little ways what do you remember when you were a little boy my family lived in the San Fernando Valley um nobody lived in the valley back then all there was was Venture Boulevard um to get over into the city
you had to drive either Cold Water Canyon or or Mah and drive to get over into the City and that's where my grandparents lived um my grandfather on my father's side was a builder at the time and I remember um isn't it funny a vivid memory um of of just empty lots you know frame houses going up they were building a freeway at the time and and there was a dam behind it and that's where all of us used to play was was in this freeway construction area and the dam which was uh the SP of the dam yeah at the time what about your
grandfather on the other side what did he do my grandfather on the other side was actually in the baby business he manufactured and sold juvenile products and uh he came out of Cleveland Ohio and and moved to California and uh my my uh mother and my father were both native Californians yeah did you ever find out why they left Cleveland for California um I think it was it was purely business and it had to do with distribution um um there were no Distributors of juvenile products on the west coast my grandfather moved out and opened a large um wholesale distribution company and and sold products
for a lot of different manufacturers yeah do you know when that was that he made that move it was in the 30s I don't I don't know exactly when but I know it was in the 30s so that still was a very big undertak that was a huge move I mean he moved out with his brothers actually interestingly enough my my grandfather on my father's side um actually they they those seven boys were um came out of Russia and um were put on a boat um they ended up um through Ellis Island um but it's funny five of the brothers all ended up in California
did they ever tell like your generation any of those stories or oh yeah yeah I mean we had a lot of Stories of the different you know uncles and what they did did they tell you why they wanted to leave Russia they were all very young I know my grandfather was the youngest of the seven brothers and I think he was six at the time um they were getting out in the 90s you 1890s you know for the programs and and became and lived with an uncle or somebody who was in I think Trenton New Jersey that chance at a better life yeah where'd you
go to School Grammar School uh HBY Street School in in in Ceno it was uh the first Elementary School built by the city of Los Angeles did you know that at the time of course no no yeah it was have matter at that time you know no what what can you tell me about when you were small you know when you were in grammar school what' you guys do you know those were uh those were fun days I mean um I think we had one of the first television sets you know in our neighborhood I do remember the howy duty show I remember you know
Buffalo Bob um I remember those I when a little older I remember supy sales being on live you know in Los Angeles they had a lot of live TV but we spent you know a lot of time outside our our parents were working and so we would uh um hang out in the neighborhood together we um built forts we played in sand lots there was there was a lot of outside play now you were born in uh 49 was your dad in World War II yes yeah my father was a uh he was actually shot down three times my father was in the Air Force
um he was a flight engineer my father talked a great deal you know about what happened um I know that um that his planes were shot down the third time um I know he ended up in a hospital in buy Mississippi and uh I the one story I remember the family telling of course this is all before I was born was um my mother traveling by train with an aunt from Los Angeles to buuy Mississippi now where was your dad uh where was he stationed he was stationed overseas in the Pacific the Pacific yeah do you know what aircraft he flew on he flew b29
yeah I I do have a picture of he in his playe shot down three times what did he say about that he didn't talk about it a lot you know I think he was happy to be alive and get on with his life my father lived life to the fullest um you know after we recovered and uh he actually recovered well enough because I came along and then I had another brother come along he was proud of his military service I mean he was very patriotic um I think he was always worried about us going off to war during the Vietnam era I graduated uh
midterm I graduated in January and I couldn't get into college till September and um um we had a friend in Hawaii and I had had a an opportunity to go work on this Ranch in Hawaii and no sooner than I got over there the end of January beginning of February than my draft notice came and um because I wasn't Exempted yet cuz I wasn't in school um so I quickly ran back to California and was able to get into the California National Guard yeah which actually was the first time I came to Texas now you had an older an older brother and a younger brother
yes okay and did they have to serve also my older brother was that's how I got in the National Guard he was in the Air National Guard at that point he was a staff start so when I um chose to um get in um he helped me get in now that was the Vietnam era so of course it was very good to be where you were yeah even though interestingly enough I was with the 147th military um um support Wing out of v v California and we spent our weekends flying engines and other parts over to Vietnam so we we actually our weekend started on
a Thursday and we would fly to Hickam in Hawaii we would unload whatever we were bringing we would pick up supplies and new engines and fly to dang drop them off and then fly back to California we spent a lot of weekends in our two weeks um flying overseas back and forth now when you were in Vietnam you know the short times that you were there did you hear any stories from the guys did you see oh you know you'd hear stories we were in a in and I would have to say during the era that I was flying in and out you know it
was um dang was a pretty safe region um you know you were very bored you know fenced in you weren't allowed off the base um we did bring back wounded from time to time um you know if there was some Critical Care issues and they needed a flight out right away um but um you know you could hear some stories but nothing you know that really sticks to my mind okay now when your service came to an end what did you get into where' you go well when my service ended actually it ended um about 6 months early um because I uh uh being in
my family's business um I had to move to North Carolina and um which took me away from California um I had 6 months left and applied for the National Guard in in uh North Carolina at the time and they basically said you know that's you've got 6 months left forget it unless you want up for two years which I politely declined and uh wrote back to the state of California saying that there was not a guard unit to accept me and you know they just sent me my discharge paper and then you went to North Carolina from there yeah and and the reason for going
to North Carolina um my um my family had a manufacturing facility in Southern Pines North Carolina okay and uh um I was doing east coast and Midwest sales for that particular company and um it was easier to be there than being in California so is that the business you're in today yes tell us about that business in today's world we are manufacturer Representatives um we handle um the middle part of the country starting from uh Minnesota Wisconsin Illinois Michigan straight on down to the Gulf Coast um we sell a number of juvenile product lines in in those areas to all retailers um everything from cribs
and high chairs and strollers and this was the business your grandfather started was the business my grandfather started and your dad going to this business my dad and my uncles went into that business as well and then I had cousins who went into this business now did your grandfather uh live long enough to see the potential or to actually see this business taking off like it did you know I think he saw he saw building up he was always very West Coast oriented um he passed away very early he was just 60 when he did um but my father and his brother um and this
by the way was my mother's father who built this business um um they took it and ran with it from there and built it into a uh International and global company and my cousins and I have pretty well you know continued in that ve now when you have a family business I'm just curious hard I was going to say where why I moved here it was easier for me to be here in Texas okay 1,600 miles away from the rest of the family if I wanted to stay in this business how is it the structure you you know lined up on who's in what position
you know the structure actually worked out better later on because by the time that I built up my name in the business and my cousins had and others um but you know my father was ready to retire he also passed away relatively young and um but we all realized that we were better off not actually working with each other but you know working in different parts of the industry and and um still I have my father's brother today just recently retired and um um he and I were if anything friendly competitor for years and years and years so la North Carolina how did Texas come
into your head Texas actually we moved here my wife and I in uh 1976 okay um it was if you think about business conditions in the United States and why so many people were moving to uh probably the Midwest during that time was that um all our major business was down through here Walmart was just starting to grow you had TGM you had CR Anthony you had Montgomery Wards in Chicago you had Sears in Chicago so somebody had to be in the middle of the country now your wife Laura where did you guys meet Laura and I met in Camp we were um we were
I like to say she was 133 I was 12 and we met in a private resident um Jewish camp in Southern California called camp scotmar and Laura and I grew up there together during the Summers and um um we married soon after we got out of college were you dating as young kids you know in high school we were friends um you know she was from the other part of the valley she grew up in Burbank and uh I was in Inca we saw each other a few times during the year but it was really during the Summers I'm sure I probably went out with
all her girlfriends and you know she went out with a bunch of my friends and then somewhere along the line we realized we hadn't dated each other now Jeff in your lifetime you've lived through so many momentous occasions and events events on the national scene of course here in Dallas the Kennedy assassination you live through the Vietnam War era of course um something good the moonlanding in ' 69 of course the tragedy of 911 was there something that really stood out in your mind when it happened that you took notice of they're probably two I think I think we all know where we were when
Kennedy was assassinated and and uh you know that you just you know exactly where you were and uh I can remember being in class and and uh um and and that happening I know the school I was at I know the the classroom I was sitting in um I think um there are other you know time stopping incidents like that um I remember during the Cuban Missile Crisis about the preparedness drills that we went through in the California schools and I was at Portola um um junior high school and I remember having to walk home and um it was like I'm sure to me back
then it seemed like forever but it was about 6 miles and um I remember a drill where we had to walk home and the Duck and Cover you know drills we all remember the Moonwalks and being frozen to our TV sets with waler konai that's a part of history and you know now you had mentioned you had one of the first TV sets in your neighborhood growing up I can absolutely think of today what that means to your grandkids they you know it's funny my grandkids were just here and I have a 5-year-old granddaughter who actually has her own iPad and she was watching you
know Hulu and all her own shows on her iPad you know at 5 years old they probably couldn't comprehend that we had these gigantic you know cabinets and these little 9 and 12 in black and white screens you know s have changed yes just a little you know well you and Laura have three children and none of the kids went into the business no I have a son who's a classical musician I have another son who's a ballet dancer U my daughter is PhD in Orthopedic Research and develops new implants and things for you know the military and I mean they're doing what they want
to do my other grandchild is two too so what advice does Grandpa want to leave to that next generation you know my advice you know to even my own children is as well as will be to my grandchildren is find what you want to do find your passion in life and do it and and take your time finding it don't rush into anything I had told my kids that you have until you're 30 years 30 years old okay to figure out what you want to do but whatever it is make sure you you find what you're passionate for and that you really want to do
it yeah yeah and go after and they all did yeah thanks for doing this today it's my pleasure did a great job man thank