Martin Kahn
Martin Kahn was born in Milwaukee on September 8, 1944, a second-generation American whose father's family was born in New York and whose mother's family came from the Odessa area of Ukraine in Russia. His grandfather briefly came to El Paso, Texas after the war before returning to Wisconsin. Martin was raised in an Orthodox home on Milwaukee's west side, where his hardworking father ran a downtown dry cleaning and laundering business and his mother kept the home. He grew up with an older sister, who became a school superintendent in Madison, and a younger brother. Bar mitzvahed like his siblings, he attended Hebrew school under the noted longtime teacher Harry Garfinkel.
Encouraged toward dentistry by an oral surgeon mentor who was a customer of his father, Martin studied at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and earned his dental degree at Marquette in 1967. He served two years in the Navy on the West Coast in California, then practiced in a group in Milwaukee before deciding it was time for a fresh start. In 1971 he moved to Dallas, not knowing a soul, passed the Baylor board exam on his first try, and opened his own practice. He was struck by how warm and friendly Dallas people were, and he came to love the city as a place to raise a family. He practiced for 43 years, closing his office in June.
Martin's first marriage ended not long after his move to Dallas, and in 1981 he married Bonnie, a school psychologist from Panama who deepened his connection to his Orthodox roots. Together they raised four children, Adam, Sarah, David, and Lauren, and belonged to Shearith Israel for about 30 years. A member of the Alpha Omega dental fraternity since 1963, he helped care for hundreds of Soviet Jewish immigrants during the 1980s resettlement and supported Jewish Family Service. He cited his friend and colleague Michael, a devoted dentist who served the immigrant community, as a great influence. An avid runner who completed nine marathons, Martin found deep meaning in family, humility, and giving back to his community.
Full Transcript
member kait 2010 my name is Rosalyn Ben jet and we are here today to receive the oral history of dr. Martin Kahn and he is going to be telling us about his experiences tell me about your family my family second generation Americans they were born in Chicago and in Milwaukee we wound up in Wisconsin I was raised in the City of Milwaukee and that went to school all the way through went to Wisconsin in Madison went to Marquette in Milwaukee in dental school after school in 1967 is when I graduated I went into the military and the Navy in the west coast in California for two years after that I came back to Milwaukee and practiced in a group practice for about three years before coming
down to Dallas in 1971 my parents were hard-working people as the Jews were in those days my dad had a dry cleaning laundering store downtown I worked there of course as a kid my sister I have a sister who's older and a brother who's younger and in fact his birthday was just this week he just turned 60 and my sister was the superintendent of schools up in Madison Wisconsin my dad worked very very hard he passed away 1988 my mother in the year 2000 she was 90 my dad was 88 my mom never worked never drove a car always was home and then of course
she would take the bus darling to work with my dad I guess that's about the history you mentioned that second generation where did your grandparents were they born into us as well my grandparents on my my dad side yes they were born in New York on my mom's side they came from Russia from Ukraine from Odessa area my granddad actually almost longed up in El Paso Texas he had come down after the war but for some reason went back to Wisconsin Ike there was more opportunity up there and we were raised in an orthodox shul a small sure we were on the west side of
town I have a lot of wonderful memories of that area of those people it's a good town a lot of great cheese and beer of course I went in school in Milwaukee from most of the time a little bit in medicine at the University well both were Wisconsin universities and then I went to dental school and at Marquette what made you decide become a dentist well I had a choice at the time to go into medicine or dentistry and knowing my nature knowing the fact that I was a homebody wanted to have children wanted to be home and not to have a life where I
I loved science I loved the health field I loved being with people and I had one mentor at that time an oral surgeon dr. Bob Schwartz who was the customer of my father's who encouraged me to go into that field and it was the best thing I ever did I feel very very fortunate I practiced for 43 years I just closed my office the end of this last June and in almost 41 of those jurors was in Dallas let's go back to your Jewish affiliations when in well growing up in an orthodox home my grandmother lived with us after my dad passed away after my granddad passed away in 1950 we moved in with my my grandmother on 47th and Locust in West part of town we lived there about
seven years until my my brother was born and then we moved up to the west side on 77th and Keefe Avenue and we always belonged to a small Orthodox shul on Burleigh and Ron I think was 52nd we we went to shul not real often as a family my dad worked an awful lot of hours in those days in that small business I was bar Mitzvahed as was my brother and my sister at a bat mitzvah we were lucky enough to go to Harry dar finkles Hebrew school on Center Street Harry Garfinkel was a landmark teacher for over 50 years in Milwaukee on the west
side of town he was a very short man from Russia a staunch teacher he was he was the man of such known and and renowned and of course torski family the four brothers who had a shul up in that same area of course the sons became quite famous the psychiatrist writing books and the rabbi and the doctors and I mean they're quite quite well known so that's the environment I I was raised with but when I came here I didn't we belonged to a to a to more but reform shul to start off with to meet people and now we belong to Sheriff Israel here
and we have for about 30 years what what actually made you decide to settle in Dallas well it was time for a change I was in a group practice in Milwaukee downtown and the older member his son was about to come into the office graduating and their thought was a little bit different than mine I'd been out of the military just a couple years and I didn't want to I felt like I might be in the way since I was the oldest associate there so I chose to and in the military in California was with a couple of Texan Texas dentists and so I came
down didn't know a person here took the board exam here in town at Baylor I was lucky enough to pass my first time and they weren't too great on passing Yankees that first time you know and so I told my senior member that I was leaving it was that it was the right time to break and to begin over and I guess I always wanted to go on my own also just start over fresh what are you married then I was married at the time when I came here that was one reason I left I thought it would be good for our relationship it's a
long story but trying to remember I did not remain married to my first wife maybe two years after we got two or three years more after we got here I was married almost 10 10 years my first marriage and I remarried and my wife and I are about to celebrate our 30th anniversary I met my my wife at an monique at a someone's apartment after show laughter services at someone's place in 1970 1970 [Music] 1980 that we actually met and we got married 1981 and it's been wonderful that's why I I know all the reasons I got married in the first place the first time
and I just glad that my kids I have one daughter that is married with a grandson but but I have a three that are single and I'm and they're younger and I'm glad that well one is actually older my oldest son but it's it's wonderful with the right person so I have four wonderful children well Alpha Omega the dental group is an international Jewish dental group it's in many countries of the world it's a it's a it's a group that has a foundation that gives a lot to the into dentistry we help build to dental schools in in Israel we also give money to every
graduating top senior of every class in the country we also help to support immigration a relocation health care we give a lot to Jewish Family Service we help out we'd have a Mizpah day to ourselves and we do volunteer work I do some right now with with as a retired dentist I still go on a couple days a week and help out not in the name of Alpha Omega but just to do some some volunteer work I got a I got going with Alpha Omega in dental school the Jewish chapter in Milwaukee was large and active and so I became a member in 1963 I've
been a member ever since all 47 years I held leadership roles and to me now I've it's been so much to me to be part of such a wonderful organization well I suppose one of the highlights was the Russian immigration settlement in the eighties we took in we had weekends we would meet at some of our offices and we would take in many of these people dozens at a time and examine and then after they were more or less triage and identified as far as need wise we took him into our offices and we would do do treatment many we found from Russia even though
these were educated people had very poor oral care just extremely either poor care and no care and you were filled with disease and so it took a while it took several years to resettle them and to get them you know healthy I used to teach them and I saw some really interesting dental work yeah it really was a very low low quality material wise and technically as well aesthetically yes yeah so how many people did you generally see well but they were we had several weekends we would see probably about 50 or 60 or 70 each weekend we probably had three forward oh I'd say
we saw at least two to three hundred people during the course during the course of I'd say at least 12 to 18 month period I say about I fear on 20 our chapter was more than that of course but you know it so there's those who will find the time to help out more than others you can't let's say or there were a lot of them of course our specialists I mean if you're an orthodontist or an oral surgeons you really don't do much of that kind of care did you work in digital interior did that we would be called Mike Fletcher the director would
call us every so often to treat people and they would it be more of a one-on-one thing they was sending a my usually was senior members of people who would come in and they would we would help Maude with some dentures often it was dentures I saw some myself enough oh happy wouldn't be more than three or four or five a year it wasn't a lot of people for each office yeah and supposed Jewish Family Service was the most is where I was most involved with not just dentally but of course giving food and clothing to the people especially at Katrina or after some other
disaster you know what was Dallas like when you moved here Dallas was a was a big change from where I was coming from Wisconsin that's for sure the people were sold so warm and friendly they said hello to you in the street they would take time to visit with even the young people the ones that University was amazing Dallas was at the time had a good-sized Jewish presence an active community and of course being in Dallas being a Jew for some reason a lot of the large Baptist community here I loved having Jewish professionals as their doctors dentists attorneys accountants there was a mystique somewhat
about Jews being very at what they do in business and making wonderful husbands too by the way do you think the city's changed since you've moved here yeah I think it probably has changed as has the entire country well I think course the population girl with the demographics I don't know if they've changed too much the size of the community but of course the attitudes have changed a lot not always for the better either job opportunities maybe aren't as easy to come by anymore of course we know that all over the country and polarization attitudes I think are worse elsewhere but there's also in Dallas
attitudes about what's ought to be and what is right or wrong and do you fit into this mold but it's a great place to be I love Dallas I promoted every time I go back to Wisconsin I know when I was first came down here people thought I I would pull my horse up to the water trough in the morning at the office you know and but my buckles on my boots and honestly god that's what they think in Wisconsin so it was a lot of fun and of course they also think those was a strong accent they think that they're you know Hicks and
whatnot but we know different so but it's a great place to be is in Dallas in Texas my kids love especially Austin of course the home went to school there and I would recommend it to anyone to come here it's a very loving place I think it's a very positive place to raise a family and that was one of my main focuses when I came here was a place but would be good to raise a family and tell me about your children now I have four kids Adam Sarah David Lauren Adam is our oldest he'll be 37 at the end of this month my daughter
Sarah is 34 my number son David 28 and my youngest Lauren is 22 she's in her last year at Austin Davidson business and nuclear medicine here in Dallas Sarah is married and lives in Austin with our grandson and her husband Mark who's a college professor down there and then Adam is a nurse anesthetist in Austin also so I've got three kids in Austin Adam just bought a home moving in next month he's all excited about that single fellow just Laura I just Sarah's married I'm very close to all my kids and I can't imagine not not B not having the time with them I'm very
very blessed with wonderful children a wonderful wife really and you mentioned that you recently retired just close the office the end of June after 43 years in practice arthritis is one of my biggest problems and my hands in my back and that's one reason I had her quit but I've been very lucky that I've been able to do that Bonnie my wife works yet she's a school psychologist in Plano has been for about 35 years she's bilingual she's from Panama the country of Panama and very observant when they met her she brought me back to my Orthodox roots a little bit so we've both mellowed
to be honest with you a little bit and is there a typical day in retirement now I suppose someone away I was getting ready for this for quite a while and it's several years I cut my my workload down I knew I had my lease to a certain point I knew I was going to be leaving the practice and I'm busy busy all the time i I I enjoy doing things around the house I like to refinish furniture I do all the cooking in the house I've always done the cooking and the shopping for food I've always loved to cook I always told my son's
to impress a woman you learn how to cook give him a good meal and my wife enjoys a nice hot meal on the table when she comes home from work and I do this volunteer thing a couple days a week and Medicaid schools mostly and I love being outdoors I'm a homebody I do like to be home I fix stuff a lot around the house I do read I'm learning always working on my Spanish and it's been wonderful in fact I tell the guys at our at our meetings at the alpha-omega meetings I said you know my hats off to you I guess it takes
a leaving act of practice just to realize how stressful and exhausting and how demanding full-time dental practice is and so I said then you're gonna love retirement as long as you prepare for it over a period of time it's wonderful I don't miss one day of being in the office you mentioned that there were people who influenced you yes there's been many but probably the greatest was Michael Cole writer Michael was someone who was here when I came here he was new from the Army he was in the Dental Corps in the Army in West Texas and Michael over the years opened up a practice
in an area where a lot of the Soviet people settled and his door was always open he was always available he and his wife Laurie who worked in the office on I never said no to anyone in the need he would go and see them another day and Mike passed away about four years ago and he will be very very fully missed Michael was a extraordinary person active at his shoe he was president of his shoe Brotherhood he was a master in in the scouting movement out of Temple it was a manual I believe and he was the most giving person I've ever known and
I suppose Michael was the greatest influence on me although my nature is to help those in need and I think that's what we should do if we've been so blessed as to be able to have a very healthy life and that's been I think we need to give back to our to our people and the old saying is if we don't give to our own Jewish people who will and that means to support our shul our jccc our Jewish Family Service and our own you know immigrants so what are you most proud of you know probably proud of is to to raise my children into
for adults who I'm I think are wonderful people they're honest they're had very good values they take care of themselves I also feel like I guess that I've helped many people I at my retirement my wife and my office manager had contacted about a hundred and fifty patients patients I had had for many many years and they've sent in letters and telegrams how they felt about me and they made up a scrapbook for all of us with pictures and and our that are going away luncheon you Bonnie my wife came and she introduced this huge scrapbook and the letters were unbelievable I guess knowing that
I helped others to come to the dentist to get what they need done to maintain their hygiene at home and and to be so thankful you know I meant a lot to me I think when the best thing is to be for people in general is to be humble and grateful and and those are qualities which I feel go a long way they could make us more vulnerable somewhat but I think if we're so blessed we need to be to be humble and to give back there anything that you'd like to add I just am so pleased to see this being done I think and
to be asked to do this I feel honored I can only say that I enjoy being here I enjoy being part of this history and I will only hope that those after me will have I'm sure a lot of positive things to also say and I hope that we'll see a continuation of the Jewish presence in dentistry I think our field is a wonderful field getting better and better every year and I just wish that we'll all be taking care of our own health because we're all going to be living longer we need to make sure we take care of our teeth we didn't get
where we when and where were you born I was born in Milwaukee September 8 1944 I'm 66 my you know to me especially as I've gotten older with my arthritis I could not begin to assume I still be working or practicing or oral or anything without the exercise and eating right I think it's so important for all of us to watch what we take some supplements but mainly to take the time to become obsessive about exercise programs something that we enjoy doing and make sure it's at least a 5 time a week activity doesn't have to be a lot of time but I ran nine
marathons in my day I loved everyone it was a goal of mine it was precious my first one I was single and I had I told my employees that you better meet me at the finish line if you want a job Monday and I I mean nothing is worse than the run for three hours or more and have nobody there so that was my first marathon and then I remarried and my wife would come and especially she would have the baby in the pouch and she would be meeting me at various points giving me my my drinks and a lot of memories a lot of
pictures my wife gave me a surprise party at my 60th and it's some rest room a lot of people there and she had a portrait blown up a big picture of my my marathon when we first met mind you I met my wife it wasn't that soon after I ran a marathon I ran all these races and here she's coming to this races and I had two small children you see with my first wife and I had the kids with me in the house so she has these small kids and she's seeing this this new husband running for hours exhausted you know and so it
was a but she was the best about it she knew how important it was to me and not that you have to run marathons but I think that it's good to exercise I did New York once at this Houston woodlands and the rest in Dallas at White Rock and it's it's something which we know it's not easy to do and that's what made it so special anyway but those days are over now I have I go to a club now but I quit running because of a knee problem so but that's okay it's worth it the elliptical exactly it's exactly right it's exactly right yeah
thank you for letting me share that I mean a lot thank you you