Marguerite Marks
Marguerite Marks was born in Galveston, Texas, into a family that had reached Texas well before the Civil War. Her mother was born in Galveston, her father in St. Louis. Her maternal grandmother was born in London and came to New York before the Civil War, later moving to Galveston, a thriving cotton port. Her grandfather was born in Paris, came to the United States before the Civil War, served in it, and was one of the six founders of Temple B'nai Israel in Galveston, one of the oldest temples in Texas. Her parents, Estelle and Herman Meyer, kept a deeply spiritual home, and her father served as Rabbi Henry Cohen's right-hand man, conducting services in his absence.
Marks grew up in Galveston's close Reform community and remembered its beautiful Passover observances, its Sunday school led by Rabbi Henry Cohen and his daughter Ruth. Educated at the University of Texas and the University of Wisconsin, she taught English, drama, and history. After Galveston declined with the rise of Houston's ship canal, her family looked to growing Dallas. She married shortly after arriving, lived in East Dallas, then moved to Corsicana during the oil boom, returning to Dallas around 1931 when the boom ended and her father and brother invited her husband into their firm. Her family lived in East Dallas on Velasco, Richards Street, Merrimack, and Cornelia Lane, and her sons attended Woodrow Wilson High School.
A lifelong member of Temple Emanu-El, Marks served as president of both the Council of Jewish Women and the Sisterhood. She devoted herself to interfaith work, serving as Sisterhood's honorary interfaith chairman, and championed the National Conference of Christians and Jews in breaking down barriers among Jews, Catholics, Protestants, and Black community members. For roughly a decade she chaired the Dallas and state Cause and Cure of War Committee, working for peace before the Second World War and later preparing for the United Nations. She helped establish a girls' foundation inspired by Rabbi Lefkowitz, creating and running its library in memory of her parents for eight years. In her later years at Golden Acres she became the first woman volunteer rabbi there, leading Sabbath services she cherished.
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Full Transcript
My name is Jacob and I am talking with Mrs. Marguerite Mark. And it is the 17th of February 1986. We are now sitting in Mrs. Mark's home in the Golden Acres Complex. Mrs. Mark, how long did you live in Dallas? I think 1932, when you lived in Galveston. And where were you born? In Galveston. Can you tell me, did your parents come from? My mother was born in Galveston. My father was born in St. Louis. My mother's mother was born in London, and she came to New York with her mother and sister and brothers before the Civil War. And right after the Civil War, she moved to, the family moved to Galveston.
Galveston was reached steady in the South after the Civil War because it was a cotton city. And all of the cotton was brought to Galveston and shipped out. out. My grandfather was born in Paris, and he came to the United States before the Civil War. In fact, he was in the Civil War. And how did he come to Galveston? How did he come? He came directly from France to Dalveston. Do you know the music? No, I don't. I only know that it was before the Civil War and that he was in the Civil War. I have something here about my grandparents that I wrote. I wrote memoirs of my family and of course that began with my grandparents and it tells about their life My grandfather well, he was one of the six founders of Temple B'nai Israel in Galveston.
That's one of the oldest temples in Texas, the one in Galveston. My grandfather and grandmother met in Galveston, and they were married. They were the first couple to be married in the New Temple. Do you know why they left Europe, their parents left Europe? Did they ever talk about why the parents, the whole generation, left Europe? No, they never did. It got bad at all. I only wish that I could ask them the questions that arise in my mind. I could ask them so many questions today that never occurred to me when I was a child. Now, how did you, you said you grew up in Galveston.
What brought you to Galveston? Galveston became a very, it deteriorated, the city deteriorated. Houston built a canal, if you know about that. And there were a group of very splendid men in Houston who were interested in building up the city of Houston. And Galveston, that had been the cotton center of the south, just deteriorated very badly. and my father and mother felt that Dallas was a growing city and that it was the place to move to. So that is the reason that they moved here I was married shortly after we moved here What was it like here in Dallas when you moved here? Well, the railroad went down Pacific Avenue, and the one great, wonderful new building was the Medical Building.
on Pacific Avenue. It was a lazy little town. A nice little town. It wasn't big and bustling the way it is today. It, uh, you could get about easily. You could take this car, this streetcar, and ride from downtown out to SMU, which was the farthest place that it went. Well, what about the Jews community? The Jews community was a lovely community. When we moved here, Dr. Leftowicz was the rabbi at Temple Emanuel, and he immediately came to see us, came to see my parents. and Mrs. Lester there. It was that sort of a community. It was close. And you were very much a part of everything.
It was a family. It was a big family. Were you then members of Temple Emanuel? Yes, we were members of Temple Emanuel immediately. Did you have any acquaintances or were any of the people in your friendships group of Faris Israel or Faris Israel? Or how was the social situation? Well, our friends were from Temple Emanuel. There is a great difference in the community today from what it was in those days. And if you want something that is historically true, that is historically true. And unfortunate as it is it was the way things were People who belonged to Tatharys Israel clung together to Tatharys Israel Those who belonged to Tatharys Israel were friends among the members of Tatharys Israel.
And Temple Emanuel, the friends, were members of the Temple. And I think the biggest thing that happened, the occasion that broke that down was the First World War. It began with the First World War. When Boaz from all temples, synagogues went to war, it didn't matter whether you belonged to Jared Israel, to Pharaoh Israel, or Temple Emmanuel, you were in the war. And after, well, really it was after the Second World War that the Conference of Christians and Jews was formed. And that was a great method, a great means of breaking down barriers between all people. And then I think the climax came with Israel, that when Israel was founded, people from every temple and every community banded together.
and that has been the thing that has brought the community together more than anything else. It's been a gradual growth. The war, the First World War, the Second World War, the Conference of Christians and Jews was a very great force in this country in bringing people together and breaking down the barriers between Jew and Gentile and between you and you, and then, of course, right there, Israel. What were some of the things that the Conference of Christians and Jews did locally to break down barriers, and to give me a time frame? Well, one of the things that they did that was of a good deal of influence in the community, they had a citywide meeting on Thanksgiving Day.
and it was the first time anything of that kind had been held. And the whole city turned out of Jew and Gentile and Black and White. And that was a very fine medium of breaking down barriers. And trying to change what else they did. I was going to ask you about the time frame, about what year it was. It was around 1935, I would say. 1935. And it grew it grew slowly as I remember one of the men from the Dallas Morning News coming to the temple and talking about the purpose of the conference of Christians and Jews to break down barriers between people to help the Negro.
They were very interested in building a Negro home. What is the name? Do you remember the name of the center for Negroes? There's the, is it now? Martin Luther King said it? No, not now. There's the Dunbar Center that dealt with children. Oh well they sent someone to the schools on Interfaith Day The month of February is Interfaith Month And someone went, some different person went to each one of the schools and spoke about brotherhood. That was the word that was used constantly, brotherhood. And I know that we worked together at that time in the Cause and Cure of War Committee. uh this sounds as if i'm getting off the track but the cause and kill of law committee was made up of representatives from the american association of university unions of rwca the federated union the Council of Jewish Women and the, um, um, well, the other name just flipped my mind at the moment.
But you see that was a cross section. And we brought in to the Council of Corbinator Law Committee. the um, the Federation, not the Federation, um, it wouldn't have been a nice sunraising issue. No, no, it wasn't. The, the, what we were just talking about, the um, Conference of Christians and Jews. We brought in the Conference of Christians and Jews. And the great idea at the time was for peace. And we had meetings. Each one of these member organizations had meetings, and then there was a central community meeting once a month, too. And I happened to be very much involved in that because I was the chairman of the Dallas Caught Cure of War Committee and the chairman of the Sisterhood Peace Committee and the state chairman of the Causing Cure of War Committee.
So I was very much involved, very much interested And for 10 years, we women were, well, he's hoping to stave off the Second World War, because, you know, we were not successful in doing. It took far more than men and women who belong to the Cause and Cure of War Committee. It was the... The third, you think. Well, the closing... What year then was the closing... That was also around 1935 or 1936. And that continued until the Second World War. Niggins Roosevelt was very much interested in that organization, the Carlton Kira War Committee. And, um, but we were already in the war in 1942. How did that affect the committee?
that the committee broke up. The committee broke up. It was a very sad thing. There had been many men and women who had been profoundly, deeply interested in trying to wring about peace and save off what looked like the greatest calamity that ever happened. We worked for 10 years, so we must have started before. We must have started around 1933, I think. But it brought the women together as people And, um, to this good day, the daughters of the women who worked in the Cause and Cure War Committee are friends. It made friends of them. It truly broke down barriers. But, as I said, we involved the Conference of Christians and Jews in that organization.
And I did say the Conference of Christians and Jews during the month of February sent to each one of the schools somebody to talk about, to talk about brotherhood. And one of the big things that the Conference of Christians and Jews, I'm going back and I'm going to ask this organization, They sent a rabbi, a Catholic priest, and a Protestant minister to their park to talk about the general idea of brotherhood. There were about a thousand people in that big hall the first night that they had this meeting. It's the three main religious groups represented by their leaders. And they began by telling jokes on one another to try...
This was something so new. It was so unheard of. We had lived in our own little niche. The Catholics had lived to themselves. The Protestants had lived to themselves. The Jews had certainly lived to themselves. Although they did have some stone-and-crockets and programs that involved other people as well as their own. But that was so unheard of to have those three men, but they tried to break down the prejudice by being funny, by being humorous, and then they would get on into something that was very serious. But I had the president of the National YWCA. Her name was Mrs. John Hannon. She was a very fine woman.
But she said, that can never be. This is an artificial thing. Now I think that expression of her is the way that the whole community really felt when that idea was carried out. But from year to year it grew and a Christian, a Protestant, a Catholic rather, a Protestant and a Jew would go to the different schools and talk. But they didn't speak lightly. They didn't make jokes. They spoke very seriously of what they wanted to do for brotherhood. And they developed in the community a wonderful feeling. So how many years span when you say that it took for you to see changes from the...
Well, I would say that in about five years things began to crumble a little bit. but it took around 10 years. And I don't know what happened to the community after the Second World War The boys had come home they had seen life in a very different way from what it was lived in this country And the whole fabric of our society just changed. And it didn't change gradually, it changed very suddenly. And I can remember how in the sisterhood, for instance, where I worked, or the Council of Jewish Women, where I worked also, that we tried so hard to hold on to the old ideas, the old ideals.
And it was like butting our heads against the brick wall. There was something that was eroding the whole community. And, what was an example, for example, that you saw? Well, some of the things that you've seen. For example, the clothes that women wore, the kind of clothes that they wore, were so suggested that modesty was just gone out of the window. And then the way young people acted towards one another, you know, there was a different attitude entirely. And it just grew more and grew and grew and grew until we had what we have today. You spoke of attitude. Could you describe what exactly was the attitude?
If you had described it in one sentence in terms of difference, how would you describe it? What was it before and then after? Before people had ideals and they weren ashamed of having ideals They treasured them and they tried to live up to them As the change began to come, the ideals were fluffed away, just one by one after the other. And people didn't... People were going to have ideals. You know, the young people wanted to, they all wanted to live, they all wanted to be alive. I remember writing a paper for the wife of my school, Parent Teachers Association. And I said in the journal of what I said in that paper was that the mother needed to get together.
And when the child came to them and said, so-and-so does so-and-so, why can't I? If the mothers stood together and didn't let any of it, nobody broke down the barriers and they all stuck together, there would be one idea and one method of life that it would be simpler. But you couldn't get the mothers. The mothers were invaded by all of this that was new. And they just gave way. Let's talk a little bit about your personal experiences in Dallas when you came here. Did you still, or did you have any religious schooling? Were you involved with any religious school at the temple? Oh yeah, I taught at the temple.
I taught Sunday school at the temple. But I did not live here but six months before I was married. And so my association there in as far as teaching mission time was very small. Did you have a religious education system in Galveston Oh yes yes indeed Rabbi Henry Cohen and his daughter Ruth Cohen and you may have read that in the article about Dr Cohen We had a very definite Sunday School idea, very definitely. the ideals of the Sunday school were looked up to and supported in every way. And I had a very religious father, a very spiritual father, I would say, rather than religious.
He was a spiritual man. And my mother was a very spiritual woman. My father was Rabbi Henry Cohen's right-hand man. He read the services, he conducted the services whenever Dr. Cohen was out of town. And the spirit in our home was something very beautiful. and I'm sure my home was no different from other homes. I'm sure that there was a spiritual feeling in the community and I don't know, I can't speak about Galveston after the erosion. I think it was just like every other place. What about, uh, secular education after you came to Dallas? Were you still in school? No, I had, I had just finished the university and, uh, where?
At the University of Texas and then at the, at the University of Wisconsin for special words. What was your field? I taught English and drama and history. And, well, I didn't, I taught here in Dallas as a substitute teacher for those ...a few months because I couldn't get into the general teaching, you know. I hadn't applied soon enough to become a regular teacher. But we moved from when I married, I lived in Corset Town. I'm back to the same day. And then we went to Corsicana and came back in 1980. Okay. And from the Horses. And then why did you come back to Dallas from Corsicana?
I was paused. Of course the town of the oil boom was over. The town was on a slump. My father and brother were established in Dallas and asked my husband to join their firm and he did. That's why I moved to Dallas. Where did you live? Well, when you first came to Dallas in 1923, where did you live? 5827 Velasco. And we were about to. It's in East Dallas. Okay. And when you came back in 1931, where did you pick it up? We lived on Richards Street in East Dallas, just a few blocks from 5827 Galactica. And how long did you live on Richards Street until about what year?
We lived there about three years and then we moved to Merrimack and then we bought our home. Where? On Merrimack. Is Merrimack also in that general area? Yes, it's Dallas. Tell what year from what year to what year did you live on Merrimack Do you remember Um Well I have to ask Moe about that too I lived there 22 years. Now, on Merrimack you lived about 8 years, so that'd be about... It was... 52, that means from 1944 to 52 you were on Merrimack then? And then from 52 to... Ten years ago, we lived on Cornelia Lane. For 82 years. No, you said ten years ago, to 76 then, you lived on Cornelia Lane.
And where's Cornelia Lane? By Cornelia Lane, it was just off of Lakewood. Okay. Also, you didn't say you used to... We did always say that it's Dallas. Mrs. Leftwood couldn't understand that my mother would live in East Dallas and not in South Dallas. But she found the kind of a home she wanted and it didn't matter to her that it wasn't in South Dallas. And we had stayed in East Dallas all her life in the city. And then your boys went to Woodrow? They went to Woodrow. And their grammar school then, did they stay in their family grammar school in your... Yes, they stayed in the family grammar school.
Victoria. And then you said in 76 you moved out? You've lived here since... We've lived here 20 years. Have you? 76. Okay, when you were, when you first moved to East Dallas, what about the locales of the Jewish, you know, the predominantly... They were all in South Dallas. All of them. As I say, Ms. Lefkowitz could not understand that my mother was moved out of South Dallas. She just couldn't understand. Do you remember any of the youth community living in the old North Dallas area or in the other area Yes I do I remember the Gee family lived in that area Old North South Dallas.
and the Minsys, and the Lesterwitz's and the Myers. South Dallas was the Jewish ghetto, you might say. What about your observances, and how did that work out with, you know, East Dallas when the temple was in South Dallas? You mean that it was hard to get to? Yeah. Well, I had a little car, a little Oberlin, and I just rode it and drove it. Took my boys to Sunday school. What was your observance like as far as the observance of the holidays? Well, we observed the holidays not, oh I would say not as strictly I suppose as some people do, but we always observed the holidays.
and I have a book of poems that I have written. And the first one is about the Passover. Passover was the most beautiful service that I think I ever attended anywhere. It was so lovely in our home. It was spring and my mother graced the house and smiled. And there were always lovely roses on the table and the silver and the damaged cloth and my father. It brings back memories. Of course Of course He did a service in English or Hebrew Oh And did the children participate? Did everybody participate? Or did he just read the service himself? Oh, everybody. And we were very religious goers to temple.
Friday night and Saturday morning. We were... Did you, in your observance of Passover, did you only have mantra and did you change dishes? Or to what extent was it? We didn't change dishes. We had all these symbols of Passover, but not just changing the tradition. What about the food? The food? Yes. They were strictly Passover, the monster and the mower. Mower and I just can't think. That's right. But they, like the bitter herbs you had and you had. All of the, all of the, all of the symbols of Passover. What about the New Year's and Yom Kippur? Did you fast on Yom Kippur? Oh yeah, did you fast on Yom Kippur?
Yes, we fasted. And what about the circus, the holiday of Boots? There was only one person in Galveston that had a sukkah, and everybody went to that sukkah. That was a Mark family, M-A-R-X, they spelled their name. But, of course, we had a sukkah at the temple, and I don't know of people who had sukkah in their homes. What about like rural, Was there observance? Was there anything special that was done in the home? As far as food you're concerned, and did your family go to the synagogue in Archdiocese as well? Or the temple I should say? Archdiocese? Oh, exactly. We were both, my brother and I were both concerned.
my brother was bar mitzvahed. Here or in Galveston? In Galveston, in Galveston. And my boys were both concerned. Now were they all? They were in Dallas. Were they bar mitzvahed at Temple? They were not bar mitzvahed. In fact, I don't think in those days Dr. Leftowitz was having bar mitzvahed. That came about a little later. Can you give me a time frame during that period of time where they did not have bar mitzvahs at Temple Emmanuel? Thank you. Well, I was just judging by my children's ages, say from 1935, around that era, 1935, 1945. I don't remember any bomb experts. That's just, that's come about later.
Did Lannoy Lufquist ever give any reason to his thinking as far as not having barmistrists at that time? If you did, I never heard him express himself. There was... there was still in spite of talking about brotherhood in spite of wanting and seeking of getting together there was still a little curtain, you might say, of force between the temple and the school. and I think we just took it for granted that the temple didn't have Bonnet's birth. Did the majority of the people in the temple ask for that to happen? Do you know? No, I know. You don't know what the situation was there. I know that they, let me pull that curtain.
It's not the one you didn't do. No. There's a string right at the back there. Yes, sir. I can't hold the light. Among some of the women, when it came about that there were bar mitzvahs, there was a little flurry of disapproval a little bit. This is not reformed Judaism. But I think everything is changing these days. What about your Jewish organizational work? What were some of the organizations you were a member of and participated in? Well, I was a member of the Council of Jewish Women, a member of the Sisterhood. There's one thing I would like to say that went through my mind and I didn't say it.
At the time that I was chairman of the Cause and Cure of War Committee, I invited the women of Jared Israel to be members of that Cause and Cure of War Committee We had a group in the temple It was called the Peace Group, but it was basically a branch of the Cause and Cure of War Committee. And I asked them, I asked them, this is Desmar, that's a familiar name. And those women were a part of our group. And I also asked the Federated Church Women to belong. Because I was believing in doing what Brotherhood said. I was really wanting to carry it out.
And there were wonderful friendships that grew up among the Jews, Jews, women, and the Gentiles. And really and truly, they didn't think about the barriers that were man-made, that separated us. There was a great feeling of humanity. We cared for one another. as friends. And I would add this one thing more that meant so much to me. During the war, the women left the Cause and Cure of War Committee. All the organizations just left left with that, foreign to a war committee. The sisterhood just flew away from it. They all went to do war work. And I held together a group of five or six women who still were carrying out the idea of working for peace.
And we were preparing ourselves for the United Nations that was to come after the war preparing ourselves to be able to talk to organizations about what the new United Nations might do to help establish peace in the world And it was only that small group of women, not more than six, who met monthly and sometimes twice a month. But we held on to our ideal. About what year was it that you took over? Was it causing terror of war? A war? A war. A cause and terror of war. Well, it must have been around 1932 or 30 years. Because it lasted up until the time of the Second World War.
What were some of the things you did by way of preparation for the United Nations, in terms of talking about it? Well, we had, at our meetings, we drew on the professors at the university to come and talk to us. the professors from the history department, from the psychology department, the psychology of war. And we drew on the rabbis and ministers in the community. And that is where we drew our program. And then we studied ourselves and would give some of the programs for one another. Now you tell me that you were active in the Council of Jewish Women. Yes. What were some of the activities that you participated in?
And what were some of the things the Council did in you? Well, I was president of the council of Jerich and what year, what was the time Jerich praying? Just general. Was it before the war? Was it after the war? Was it the 30s or the 40s? It was in the 30s. And after I was president of the council, then I was president of the sisterhood. And I hate to tell you what I did in those days. I only know that you have a tremendous amount of energy. What were some of the things that you did in the council? We'll start with the council. Well, we had our lunch and evening with our programs.
and we had our board meetings, and we had work for the blinds, we worked for the school, we had free lunches for the school. We had a study group. We had a drama group. We had also a Bible study with Dr. Leftwood's lay-in. What were the programs like for the council? Were they speakers? Were they stiff? What did they use your whips? They were a combination. They were very largely speakers. And then it would sprinkle the sticks in between. The drama group would put on a program, you see. and they... I can think of nothing else except speakers and skips What did those speakers talk about You know some general broad What were the interests of the group in that day Were they large meetings Oh the meetings were very well attended For the number of people that they had in the organization.
They spoke about the conditions in the world today. The rabbis, we would have the rabbis too, to speak. We would sometimes have two of them at one time to give talks. They would speak about the changing world. Did the rabbis from seraphs and the seraphs, did all the rabbis participate in the programs of council? Well, there was one that was very active. A rabbi. Oh, his son became a rabbi. And? And he was dearly beloved. He was a wonderful person. The Sisterhood had once a year, they had a conference, you might call it. The rabbi would tell about the Bible and he would very gently bring out the difference between Judaism and Christianity.
and he would tell about some of the ideas that Christians held about Judaism that were not really in keeping with the actual fact. We always invited the dedicated church women to those meetings, and they came and we put on our very best cooking spree and had a wonderful feast afterwards And always always like a stream of water running through there was always that desire, that feeling of wanting to have a brotherhood. a feeling of unity, that we are all people, God's people. Did you feel a response from the Christian women that came through the church? Oh, yes we did. Was it a positive response? They did, really.
There was a very positive response. Not a great, you know, not a great many came, but enough came to give it the flavor. And we also asked the Negro women from the Negro YWCA to come to those meetings. Did they come? came. Indeed they did. They sent representatives maybe four or five. How did they respond? How did the women respond to the blank representatives? They were, they responded beautifully. They didn't feel like they were choking? Not at all. There was not that feeling at all. It was a very, a very excellent response. Were these luncheon meetings? No, they were like, they were teas. If the all-day meeting was a luncheon.
We had an all-day meeting, say once a year. And that was a luncheon meeting, and we always played it low-key. It was never a very fancy luncheon. It was something simple. What about some of the other activities of Sisterhood Well I was the Interfaith Chairman of Sisterhood and the Honorary Interfaith Chairman of Sisterhood to this day so I don do anything Um, but, and Sisterhood, Sisterhood's interests were with our children. What did you do with the children? They had parties for the children, and they would, of course, chaperone them naturally. The mothers would chaperone them, but they wanted to bring the children together. and they didn't have any special study group for them or anything of that kind.
It was always in the field of something social. Now these were for the kids that went to religious school, as they were there. Yes, yes. And one thing that Mr. Israel did, he invited a church nearly every year, I would say, some church to come for an interfaith meeting for the children. I understand that you were involved in a girls' shelter. Was that-can you tell us about it and was that-what organization was that for? That was through the Federation of Women's Club. How did you happen to do that? Well, I just got paid. There were... To go back to the very beginning of the Girls Foundation, it's called, Dr.
Leftowicz was invited to the Federation of Women's Clubs to speak. And he said that there were many organizations, or many institutions rather, in the community for boys, but there was nothing for girls. And that took root in the Federation board, and they began to think about it. What could we do for the girls of our community? And 20 women met for five years working out plans. And Mrs. Dorrie Simmons was really the leader of that group. Greg Simmons, you know, she passed away just last fall, last fall. About what year was this that they started, Dr. Leftwood, Rabbi Leftwood, talked, you know, and started the seeds of the foundation?
Was it in the 30s? No, it wasn't that early. We're continuing with our discussion with Mrs. Marks since February the 17th, 1986, and you were telling me about when Rabbi Lefkowitz had suggested to the Federation of Women's Clubs that there were so many institutions for the boys and none for the girls, and then you started talking about Mrs. Demmons, to what her situation was. Well, this was five years after... It took five years to study all the plans and to find out how a girls foundation could be organized and how it could be run, what could be done. $50,000 had to be in hand before it could be started.
A home had to be bought. And so what happened with Mrs Simmons that she was able to do this Well of course she and Mr Simmons were very generous with the home always very generous in every way financially in every way She was the chairman and the home was to be limited to eight girls. It was not to be like an institution. It was to be like a home. There had to be a home mother, a house mother in the home to look after the girls. There is also a counselor, a psychological counselor, who guides the girls. They had to work with a psychiatrist. Those three people guided the girls.
They came from various places. Sometimes ministers who found the girls were in need would send them to the home. The girls are never girls who have gotten into trouble. They are girls who are on the verge of getting into trouble. And it's a preventive organization, a preventive institution, I should say. and there has been a complete prospection of the type of girl that has come into that home some from the highest so-called social category in the community some who have come from the very poorest homes that one can possibly imagine and the result has been so satisfying They have many of them have stayed in the home through their high school days And then a special fund was set up by the store, Starrie Simmons, to give them a further education after they left high school.
and I have to talk about what I did I don't know I don't know any other way to escape it when the home was being furnished I was called along with everybody else in the Federation to give something, coffee pots, sheets, pillow slips, bed linen, I mean, table linen, dishes, coffee pots, all that sort of thing. And when it came my time, I said I don't want to give any of those things at all. But I do know what I want to give. I want to start a library. And so that is what I did, and I named it in memory of my parents, Estelle and Herman Myer Library.
And when we started, we had 50 books, and I went down to Cokesbury and chose those 50 books. And the first book I chose was, of course, What Would You Think? The Bible. And then Little Women. And the books fell into categories. There were religious, spiritual books. There were books on art. There were books on music. There were the books that, the classics, like Little Women. There were books on how to do which were very very good very much involved in those days How to be a nurse how to be a whatever a gardener And we put on the shelves what a young woman should know about sex and how to have a garden, how to sew, the practical things.
But they fell into certain categories, and those categories have been carried out to this good day. We now have over 500 volumes in that home library. And it's always a great satisfaction for the house mother to say that the girls enjoy the library, that it helps them so much with their schoolwork. They have an encyclopedia and a dictionary, of course. And for eight years, I did that job. And during that time, we had two committees. One committee was made up of the women who were going to work with the girls. And the two organizations that have been most helpful at the home have been the Federation of Women's Clubs and the Junior League.
Not the Junior League, the... Well, the daughters, it's the women whose husbands are lawyers. Young Lawyers, okay? The Young Lawyers Club and the Council of Jewish Women. So representatives from those three groups met monthly, and we had meetings where the head of the children's department in the library here came and talked, where a teacher came and talked, where a newspaper man came and talked about the language that was used today. where a black person talked about the schools and the children and how she needed books and what books would do for her girls and boys. We learned what kind of books to get. we learned what sort of entertainment we could give to the children, to these girls, that would be both interesting and stimulating mentally for them.
And then we had the program for the girls themselves. and once a month we met with the girls and they had chosen a book out of the library to read and they had passed it around among themselves and we sat with them and asked them to talk about books and they discussed the books themselves and we, of course, helped them along. And they, we did it in a most informal way so that they would love the spirit of what books meant. We had a big bowl of popcorn on the table, some candy or something like that. And they just ate and had fun and still were learning.
We took them to the art gallery. We took them to see Shakespeare. We took them to the Little Theatre. We did all that sort of thing to interest them. And these girls, most of them, had never seen a play. They had never heard good music. And it was an exciting, fun thing to do. Is that program still in effect? Not that particular program. Now all that they do is to select books at Christmas time and bring them to the girls That is that all that the Council of Jewish Women do The junior bar wives have done a very wonderful job with the girls. They have truly done a very fine job.
And they took over what we had started. And as long as it's being done, you know, that's all that matters. So the basic program is still going on. And the girls that make up that group are these all walks, all races? All walks of life. And we even have them on the road there. We've had a Hawaiian. And it's been a mixture. And they're hard to handle because they are a part of the world today. They're charming girls, they're bright girls, but they have temptations. And the housemothers have had their hands full, but they have done a wonderful job with them. But you were Jewish for a girl, too?
We never had a Jewish girl. Do you have any ideas on why the Jewish institutions take care of the Jewish girls? Is there a better relationship with the Jewish girls? No, I don't know. Do you have any ideas on it? I think that they are taken care of by their mothers. I like to think that. Yes. Yes. Yes. What are some of the other civic and cultural organizations you remember of? I think that's enough. Okay, let's get back to your housing a little bit. You talked about your moods. What types of houses were they all a single-family dwelling with a duplex? They were all a single family dwelling With a frame were they brick Two of them were brick The first one we moved into was a fraying house And the second one?
And the second one was a brick house. And the third one was a brick house. And the fourth? That's this one. It's all just a fraying house. Uh-huh. You're saying this here at Golden Acres? Yeah. Okay. Um, did you have, when you were growing up, what was the family structure? Was it just the immediate family that lived together or did you have extended, like, your family? Oh. Extended your, you know, aunts, uncles, uncles. Well, you asked about Passover. Mm-hmm. I think the Passover table tells what the family was. It was my grandmother, my aunt, my uncle, friends who didn't have Passover in their home. But our family structure was grandma and aunt and uncle.
And then there were cousins who didn't live in Galveston. That would be Galveston. That's what you're thinking of. Well, you were growing up here, then in Dallas, and the changes in the interim. Go ahead. This is when you were growing up in Galveston. Yes. Did either of your grandparents live with you? No. And did any of your aunts live with you in a period of time? No, they did not. Did you ever have a situation where relatives lived with you or extended period of time? My grandmother lived with my mother and father in her latter years. For about four years, I think. She was an English.
And she stayed at home. Were you born at that point in time? Do you remember your grandmother? Oh, very well. This was my grandmother's latter years. And, yes indeed I remember my grandmother very well. I couldn have written this about Alfonson and Elizabeth Levy without knowing my grandmother You asked a lot of questions right I she had a book she had a big album that she used to love to open up and show me the pictures of the people and tell me something about them But I don't remember them anymore. Were there ever any borders that lived in the house? There was a couple at one time who stayed in our home for a few months.
Do you remember the circumstance? This was in Galveston? Was this in Galveston? I remember their name. Their name was Paulette. And she was a very ill woman. I don't remember the circumstances that she happened to be there, she and her husband, for a short time. Do you remember if they were recent rivals to the United States, or had they lived here, or were they natives to the United States? I think they were native to the United States. Now let's talk about your father's occupation. Oh, how many siblings did you have? Now you mean I don't know. No, when you were growing up, we need to talk about some of the girls.
Oh, I had one brother. Just one brother. Now when you came to Dallas after your marriage, did you have other people living in your household at any time? No. Okay. And now, what about your father's occupation when you were growing up? My father was the vice president of Salmon Dry Goods Store, and that was in Dallas. Now, did he change occupations when he came to Dallas? He came to Dallas. He was in the... Isn't that maddening? Turn it off. Please. Okay, so he did change it down. Um, occupations when he came in Dallas. He sold disinfectants or? He manufactured it and sold it. Um, what about your husband now?
He also changed occupations? Well, not really because he was the inside man. He was the-he looked after the books and the-as I say, he was the inside man. Now what about, did your mother help with your dad in business at any time? No. And did you help your husband in business? No, I never did. Is there change, are your children married now? We lost our second son, and our oldest son has four children, and three of them are married, and they have one 18-year-old girl in college. And the son who we lost has two sons, and by the way, one of them was here this weekend to see us.
That's nice. Were there, did you see change in family with, you know, their wives working, whereas you and your mother did not work? Has there been any change in our cetaceanl or your family? I was a teacher. Of course I didn't work teach when I was married. My little boy used to say to me, Mother, why don't you teach? How did you handle that? Well, I'm free of this way. Right. Right. Has there been any intermarriage in the family? Yes, there has. How has that developed or was there any conversion involved in either direction and what happened with the kid My older son married a lovely Scotch girl and she met with Dr Leskowitz But Dr.
Lefkowitz used to tell me, you know, I don't, I just like the idea of opening up my very personal life. I understand. But she is a Jewish, and the children were read as Jews and Jewishes. Unless we ask questions, we don't really know what happens to people in the community. And sometimes it's, you know, not easy for people to discuss that. But it's, again, it gets back to understanding of community and people. As long as Dr. Lesterwitz said it so often, I have nothing to teach Jeannie. She came to me not believing in the divinity of Christ. And all I have had to teach her was about the holidays, just like I teach any of the children who come to Sunday school.
And Jeannie has proven to be a wonderful woman and a wonderful daughter and a wonderful wife and mother. And she has been a good Jewish. What about the grandchildren? Have they, have they been into marriage in their lives? Yes, they have. And how does that work out? Well, they, it doesn't seem to bother them. Not all of them have intermarriage, but they care for one another as people. And I suppose the thing that I believed in so strongly all of my life you don believe in something that it doesn affect your family whether you speak of it or not And here I have worked all of my life for interfaith, for brotherhood.
It's been the very core of my activity. And I think it has affected my children. They have intermarried, except one daughter who married a Jew. And they are, they care for one another as people. How does it affect their Jewish identity? Or has there been any effect on their Jewish identity? I don't quite know how to answer that. Have they maintained their individual orientation as the non-Jewish spouse? Well, one of the grandsons went to Israel three times. And he went to find his identity. And I think he did. And so it's a very interesting, if you can be objective and see things in an objective way, You don't get all twisted up on the inside of you.
I had a letter recently from one of my granddaughters who said that she was here. She and her husband were here for Christmas and for my husband's 90th birthday. and some of the other of the family were here too. She said, tell me, grandmother, I wish you were right and tell me. You have such, you and grandpa have such a feeling of peace about you. How do you how do you how do you achieve that She said it would be very nice for us younger people to know And I think some and I quoting her and some of your compatriots as well How have you achieved that piece?
How do you feel in these latter days of your life? I would very much like to know if you would just write and tell me. If I have achieved peace, I think I want to achieve peace by accepting what comes along in life and not trying to reach out for something else. Reach out for what life brings, accept what life brings you. and Peace is a very wonderful feeling to have and If I do have it if my children feel that I have it, I'm very grateful In your grandchildren's situations, for most of them, or fewer, you know, how many ever, what are some of the differences you see?
Or do you see any differences as far as their own orientation, and does it make for conflict? It has not made for any conflict at all. You mean Jew or Gentile? Mm-hmm. It has not made for any conflict. There is no conflict between them. Mm-hmm. Do they feel then that Jesus is not a divine person, or do some of them feel that he is, or, as far as the general orientation? And have both parents agreed on certain things? How do I handle that? I don't talk a lot to my children about about how what they feel I only try to live what I feel and I think that I see no I don't see them discuss that at all I have never heard them discuss that and They seem to like each other and to get along together.
They were all here three years ago for our 60th wedding anniversary, and they were very joyous young people. What are their observances like? Well, we have Christmas as well as Hanukkah. And so they have Christmas as well as Hanukkah. Do they have, what is it, you know, like New Year and Yom Kippur, do they have atonement? Do they not? The ones that are Jewish do. And I think the one that went to Israel is observant. but there's no conflict with his wife. What about Passover? Well, they always... Our older son, they have Passover, and the Jewish couple have Passover. I don't know that the others do.
You were talking about one of your grandchildren had gone to a service and you were really as a Jew and something having been served at the service What service you know that made him change his mind Do you have any idea what do you remember which service he was at Any idea as far as the reference? As far as his own belief? About what age was he? Around Sunday. So it wasn't just like he was a young child? No, he was quite a... Has he ever mentioned it at all? No. Other than the one time? No, not at all. Has he refrained from any organized religion?
Yes, he has. Did he ever say whether it was by the rabbi or someone from something at the temple? I can't go into anything I say. I never discussed it just now. If you were to describe the Jewish community over the years, you said that it's changed, you know, since the establishment of Israel. Do you see a closure or how do you see observance within the community? and um, you need observance of the holidays. The holidays, yeah. Well, I think that they come for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And um, they come when there's a new rabbi. Mm-hmm. and they come to service but I don't know how to describe it.
I don't feel, I don't feel that, I just, I don't know, I don't know how to describe what the feeling of the community is now. There is The community got away from Judaism It became a sociological community. The federation, if you will, and the community of us, the Jewish community. It grabbed the people and took them away from the basic ideas of Judaism, the basic feeling. I don't say ideas, because I think that they still observe in a way, but the feeling of Judaism, they're more interested in things, in doing things. They're much more interested in having big parties than anything in the world, and having a big show and asking three or four hundred of my most intimate friends, as Rabbi Oran used to say, three or four hundred of my most intimate friends.
As I see, I'm somewhat secluded out here. I don't get into the town too often anymore. But I, as I observe and as I hear, I feel that the community is much more social-minded than it is anything else. Why do you think you do? Why do I think you do? Well I think people have so much money these days that they want to use it to advantage and that one way of doing it They can express themselves in a glorious way of wonderful clothes and wonderful food and big numbers. Everything is big. Everything must be big. There isn't the caring for the little finer things.
I don't know that there ever was. We commented that the Federation had done some, you know, to change the value of the community, if I understood you correctly. Do you think the value of the Federation itself has changed, or do you feel their methods may be different? Well, I don't know enough about the workings of the Federation to have a comment on that. I really don't. Do you see any kind of coming together of all groups, you know, segments of Jewish community as opposed to, say, the 30s or the 40s? Do you see more interaction between all the parts of the community? Or do you see less?
What is it? Well, in a way I see more. I see more because there is much more of a mixture of whatever the final, ultimate goal of all of them are. There is much more of a mixture of people today than there was in the early days. There is that, I think, is absolutely true. Okay, are there any other things that you can think of that you would like to Um, add, are there things that you have been involved in that you fail to mention? I don't. That you'd like to add? I don't think so. I don't think so. You, can you tell us a little bit about the, uh, I understand that Council of Jewish Women, I believe, I believe was involved in the mini Hexter milk program.
That was in the early days. That was before my time. Except that the mini Hexter milk fund is still in operation. You wanted council activities? Well, yeah, some of the things that you remember as they started and progressed and developed, how did they start some of these activities that you remember? Well, they had Braille reading. That was the work for the blind. Did someone just make the proposal and they, you know, said, yes that was a good idea and call for volunteers That was before my time That was one of the earliest activities that the council had I suppose that the way they did was to have the questions come up at the board meeting and they made the decision to have a committee to look after the braille.
Mrs. Gus Root, I happen to remember, was chairman of that committee. There was also a sewing committee in the council. What did they sew? Do you remember? Or were you a part of that? No, I wasn't. Okay. These are the departments, the present departments of the council. They had three lunches for the children at school. That was one of the very earliest activities that they had. They cooked the lunch and took it to the school for the children in the poor school area Were there other activities that you were involved in that were part of or through council? Yes. Or through women's federation, or federation of women's clubs?
Well, that was those, pardon me, were the main things that I had spoken of working for the Gerald Foundation. That, I'm still on that board. That's 22, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27 years. One last question. How has your observance changed over the years? And if so, how? Yes, my observance has changed on account of the conditions. One thing that I did out here that was of very great importance in my life, I gave the services on Sabbath morning and I used to say that everything that I had ever done in all of my life and everything that I had ever learned culminated in that activity I dated up four years ago after we lost our son But I still occasionally will give a sermon, a talk, and I take part in the service on Saturday morning.
But I can't go to the temple because I can't, I don't drive. There's no way to get there. And so my activities are basically here at Golden Acres and by our center. Now did you go to the temple when you gave the service or did you give the service here? I gave the service here. I was the first woman volunteer rabbi. Wonderful. I loved doing it. Have you thought of going back to doing it? No. No, I haven't. Well, just occasionally, you know, just occasionally, that I would do it. I no longer have the strength. Will?