Milton Loeb, Jr.
Milton Loeb, Jr. came from a family with deep roots in Texas and beyond. His paternal grandfather emigrated from Weisenheim, Germany, and settled in Dallas by the 1880s, working for Sanger Brothers. His maternal grandfather, born in New York State, spent time in Palestine, Texas, in the wholesale grocery business before moving to Dallas in 1920 to join the Higginbotham Pearlstone hardware company. His father worked for Pollock Paper Company. Milton often shared a family story about his own birth in 1933, during the Depression, when the banks were closed and his father had to pay cash to bring his mother and new baby home from the hospital.
Born in Dallas in 1930, Milton grew up in University Park and recalled a happy childhood, attending Bradfield Elementary before moving to Turtle Creek and University Park Elementary, then Highland Park High School. He remembered Sunday school bus rides, dances at Lee Park, and lively parties among his friends. He was confirmed at Temple Emanu-El in Rabbi David Lefkowitz's last confirmation class in 1948. After high school he chose Tulane University over Vanderbilt, and in his senior year he met Joni, then a freshman. They met in November 1953 and married in December 1954. Following his service in the Army Transportation Corps in Virginia, he and Joni returned to Dallas.
Milton built a long professional career, beginning with Roger Snap business forms, followed by twenty-five years with Dallas Federal Savings and Loan Association and about five years with Southwestern Life. Beyond work, he became known for extensive community service. He served eight years on the Citizens Police Review Board, appointed by council member Lois Finkelman, and volunteered with Jewish Family Service's Personal Resource Organizers program, helping older people manage their bills. He also prepared tax returns for years as an AARP volunteer at the Preston Royal Library. Reflecting on his life with his wife, daughters, seven grandchildren, and a first great-grandchild, Milton repeatedly expressed how fortunate he felt.
Full Transcript
this is January the 14th 2013 my name is Pauline Revere and I am interviewing Milton Loeb who has been a Dallas resident since he was born and Milton good afternoon oh hi I've been looking forward to talking with you as a Jewish resident since you were born well would you talk a little bit about some of your earliest memories of Dallas the first thing I remember is when my sister was born I was 3 years old 3 yeah I was 3 and that your sister may buy sable and she was did I say that right yes ok and a three years younger and you remembered
that if your very first thing it's amazing yes okay so go on tell me some more what was it like growing up in Dallas at that time so that was 19 33 33 33 I had a really idyllic upbringing you would idyllic upbringing an idyllic upbringing tell us about it this born in on Versailles in University Park so you lived in the bubble and right with the Bradfield elementary until we moved to Turtle Creek where I started University Park Elementary that was I would have been eight mm-hmm and that point and then you went to Highland Park High School well it ended up for a
year at a year or two it Armstrong that was when they were heading toward middle schools and then now I'll import junior high at Highland Park High School now there weren't a lot of Jewish kids who were at Highland Park at that time still are not an awful lot a great number mm-hmm did you ever have anything happens that I had was it all pleasant memories or was there anything at all that had any optimism all Pleasant it right was aren't you lucky mm-hmm and then of for college where did you go Tulane I was accepted at Vanderbilt and Tulane and New Orleans appealed more
to me than Nashville oh and then tell us about your career at first I want to know something we want to know something about your professional life well let me sub ject of Tulane mm-hmm tell me something my senior year Joanie came to school there and that's how we met she was a freshman and I was a senior I never knew that was it love at first sight pretty close what knowing pretty close yeah it was so how long after that did it take you to get her to marry you well let's see we met in Oh November of 53 and December of 54 we
were married whoa pretty fast worker and then did you come immediately to Dallas no because I was in ROTC I had a two-year sir active obligation and white was unless that's where that's so we started off married like I think where I was just Virginia uh-huh and I stayed there for training and my specialty and then also I ended up being stationed there for two years what kind of work did you do you said training in your specialty well it was actually it was called that was the transfer it still is the Trenton army transportation Corps Center and I took the transportation officer basic course
which is required and then from there we got our assignments and I was assigned to stay there and for most of the time after the schooling there I was a Supply Officer for stevedore training facility mm-hmm did any of that help you in your future career just out of curiosity homey and managing people no no other part of it really I don't think sounds like a lot to me when you talk about managing people you sure had some different people there I would imagine yes and then you did you then come back to Dallas yeah we did so you go from an idyllic childhood and
all the way up and then you go up to the service for a couple of years which sounds very pleasant it was a good way to start a marriage because we were on our own and then that was good for us can you think of before we come back and start on your adult time can you remember how your parents were very prominent members of a Jewish community that was relatively small did you celebrate the holidays our reform were you we did we did celebrate now and you went to Temple emanu-el yes so that means you were confirmed was there even a thought of a
bar mitzvah no I would think many people were really doing it at their own in the Reform congregation max talking says he was the first bar mitzvah Emmanuelle really hmm that's interesting - who was the rabbi when you were growing up David Lefkowitz rabbi left always confirm me I think I was in his last confirmation class 1948 mm-hmm and so there you were can you think of anything tell me about the dances do you remember when you were a teenager and junior high in high school do you remember the dances at Lee Park oh yes lots of entertaining I think yeah there was people people
really had parties a lot did nice yes not much more than now did you have a girlfriend you don't have to tell us who but did you well I've got it I think it's a funny story I'll tell about a girlfriend you know Janis Cohen was in my confirmation class and we had been we liked each other and we were in services if it would have been on it I guess they had Sunday services because of the Sunday school back then along with Friday night and Saturday and we were sitting in a row and I took off my ID bracelet to give her but she
was sitting several people away so I simply passed it down to her that wasn't very direct was it yeah but she accepted it except it didn't what were you 16 15 something young something yeah yeah something in there then we rode the bus from out here to sunny school there was a lot of cutting up on the bus back in sort of been 1998 we had a to confirmation classes it was our 49th and 50th anniversaries we got together the class of 47 the class of 48 and had a dinner which was a lot of fun that must have been fun at that dinner one
of the girls that I had dated and had hardly seen since told me that one time was I when we were on the sunny school bus my fly was open I said now you tell me I got a kick that's pretty funny and she waits them all those ears letting you told her you know it's starting to happen again you have a good sense of humor very dry sense of humor Milton I understand that you know a lot about your family that you've you've sort of kept up yeah I see in this room there are pictures going back many generations can you tell us anything
about your parents and their experience coming into Dallas and and maybe their parents and where they were from can you give us any of that history well my paternal grandfather was from weisenheim Germany and moved here in the late moved to the u.s. not directly to Dallas I'm not sure where he went first but he was in Dallas by the 1880s and my maternal grandmother I mean my paternal grandmother was born in this country and my mother's father was born in New York State and moved to Palestine at some point and in 1920 moved to Dallas you're talking about Palestine there was a distinction yes right and at some time at Point moved to Dallas yes okay what kind of business were they in my father's father worked for Sanger brothers good old say our brothers for years mm-hmm and my mother's father was in the wholesale grocery business and
Feldstein and Buffalo Texas that's where it's close to yeah they lived in Buffalo at one at one time too not Buffalo Gap but buffalo Buffalo which is not far from Palestine and Palestine is where in Texas around it because I don't even know these Texas East Texas okay and then they came to to Dallas and okay so do you know why they came or came here because I think the pick at that time the wholesale grocery business was kind of on its way out and he was asked to come here and work with a another family and wholesale hardware the Higginbotham's the Higginbotham family mm-hmm
and it was Higginbotham prost own hardware company the sigh in the West port is now called the West End mm-hmm and the name of the business is still painted on the side of the building even though the building's been converted Higginbotham pearl stone right well isn't there a pearl stone building that's close to Fair Park there is that was his brothers aha a grain elevator then I think you can still barely read the name pearls were loaded and supposedly there was a rock group years ago and what I hate rock music band okay it was looking about to have a name what they were gonna
call themselves and they saw this sign and call themselves pearl stuff I don't know anything about except that well how interesting so this was pearl stone rather than being remotely Jewish any other crazy names they sort of a man says that's I was going to say pearl stone Higinbotham it's pretty long just pearl stuff okay I I understand that's very interesting so did that remain the family business until they finally went out of business back in I think it was the early early 1990s quick no kid and the fam actually the only person who was actually in the business from the family was my grandfather
and so your mother and father your your mother did she ever work or did the people didn't didn't work in those days so your father did he remain he didn't remain in that business what did he do actually my father was never in it dude just my grandfather okay and what about your father he went to work in the 1920s for Pollock Paper Company and he tells the story I was born in 1933 in the compression and as you know in those days women who gave birth stayed in the hospital maybe a week the tank came time for her to get out and the banks
had been closed by President Roosevelt so my father went to Lawrence and asked to get an advance in cash so he could bail mother out of the hospital couldn't get it from the bank and I guess the bank I guess nobody was accepting checks because the banks were closed and they didn't know when they were gonna open again so he had to pay cash for whatever you wanted what a story that's amazing and that was when you were going yes 33 that's a heck of a story I could just see a headline it was fun yes it is it is can you think of anything
else that stands out in your memory what kind of did you have any hobbies were there now when you came back from the service what kind of work did you do I got a job with Roger snap business forms my father had been selling Pollock paper products to them and my first job was there for about four years and then I I was ready to move on and got a job with Dallas Federal Savings and Loan through my grandfather who knew the chairman of the board it's always good to have some yes yes you have to work hard once you get there but that's time
I was there 25 years really Dallas federal that wasn't the Fed Dallas Fed you know Dallas Federal Savings and Loan Association the private okay and then I was with Southwestern life for about five years after the savings alone debacle where Dallas federal well it had already been a bought by someone who was absorbed into another one you probably recall those bad days I certainly did yeah certainly do just about anybody knows what happened during that during those days yes so you had a thriving career for thirty years approximately yeah okay thirty thirty thirty-five so Milton what were your major influences would you say on on
your life in Dallas I know that you've been active in various organizations have any of them been particularly your passion well one of the the most interesting was being appointed to the citizens Police Review Board of the city by Louis Finkelman when she was a city council person I had worked on her campaign and she gave me the choice of several boards and I chose that one and I was on it all of her eight years why did you choose them I just thought it really sounded interesting can you think of any of the things that you did or heard about that was that we'd
be interested in it started as a result of a the board was created by the City Council directly out of a problem with the police and the black community a young black boy was shot in the back sitting in the back seat of a police cruiser and there was as you might imagine a lot of controversy about that that's when hello Milton this is a continuation of the interview that you had given so graciously a week ago we had a little camera trouble so I'm back again and we had come to a stage where I said let's let's stop and you said that you had
some other ideas and some other stories to tell me about your your ancestors parents grandparents what was it my maternal great-grandfather Henry Ashe was recruited out of Huntsville Texas into the Confederate Army at the age of 19 he was a recent immigrant from Prussia and didn't understand English very well I don't know how long he was in the Confederate Army before he was accused of leading a revolt of several men who deserted the army but he was accused of being the leader so he was court-martialed and I have a wonderful copy of the file from the National Archives with the information in it he was
sentenced to wear a 30 pound ball and chain while he was in prison of course he was released and pardoned like everyone else was after them into the civil war but during his incarceration the citizens of Huntsville wrote a letter and it's signed by several dozen of them I have a copy of that too saying that he was a recent immigrant didn't understand English was a fine person and that they should go easy on him Wow he ended up in Palestine Texas as a leading citizen so all's well that ends well what a remarkable story it's fun do you know what year he came over
from Russia not exactly no but the civil war was in when when did when did he go in I'm assuming about 1862 that's a heck of a story Milton I don't think he thought it was fun when he was in prison with the 30 pound ball and chain not exactly Wow Wow I wonder how long it was before he was pardoned how long was he in there's nothing in this record indicates that and he went on to be a leading citizen of Palestine yes your family really goes back pretty far yeah now that was on which side of the family it melted the mother said
your mother's side darn it that's really something anything else to tell us you had asked about the influence of my parents had on me yes that was one of the big questions it was really by example I don't recall I'm sure they told me from time to time how long I act I don't remember that as much as I remember them setting examples by the way they acted and I took my cue from that is that the way you raised your daughters yes definitely with some verbal instructions well you had you had no older brothers or sisters you were the oldest of the family and
then you had your baby sister who were your role models do you remember who who were the fellows that you ran around with in high school you I know you were part of an active crowd yes there was lived across the street went into advertising right and in 1946 Donnie Zeile moved here from Wichita Falls that's all the sale stores and still are you so those were your two best friends yes okay we're gonna turn this off I read okay I'm not sure that was on it should have been but let me try once more you're you do political work and you've mostly worked for
candidates for City Council yes uh-huh and that has been Martin frost was nice last campaign for the US House and then as far as City Council though it's been Louis st. Coleman and Linda coupe mm-hm and now Lee quietly close now you've done a great deal of volunteer work in the community would you tell us about some of those things well I mentioned earlier about the Citizen Police Review Board which counsel people a point well tell me what the citizens Review Board it hears citizens who are not satisfied with Police Department investigations of their complaints so for an example unfortunately it doesn't have a lot of power to do much about it and frankly some of the people who appear before it are way out of line they really didn't have a complaint we've we've found certain
officers have a tendency to get a little out of line in their enforcement so have you ever found and we as just a police department nobody we pointed out to them if that comes up in one of our cases so give me an example of the case that you would hear a typical case oh they they ranged all over the place all traffic stops domestic disturbances so someone can come before this Police Review Board which is they would have complained to previously complaining the police department I see and Internal Affairs Division would have investigated excuse me citizen didn't like it they could appeal to the
the board and then you would make recommendations but they weren't always paid attention to but at least you at least we gave the citizens the opportunity how long were did you serve in that capacity for eight years and tell us about working with the Jewish Family Service I was involved with pro personal resource organizers which it was a very successful program it is still going on I can't hear him out personal resource organizers which they abbreviated to pro vro which is designed to help older people who are having trouble keeping up with their business there was no no advising about investments or anything like that
it was paying their bills if that's what they wanted that sort of thing what seeing that their bills got paid and they would be bringing their receipts and you would be trying to sort them out go to them and and other people they were mostly like you from the banking business from the professionals in funk and the financial world is that what you're saying to you soon okay you think of any interesting stories or anything that happened well people were very appreciative it was a very rewarding project to do they really appreciated the help thing today they paid on a sliding scale what they could
afford paid well Jewish Family Service I think that's the way Jewish Family Service works isn't it many of their and there was something else that you did for many years prepared people's tax return is that right dude tax returns as a volunteer for AARP who puts volunteers in libraries and rec centers all over town I was at Preston Royal very handy freshman Royal Library indeed that was also very rewarding people really appreciated the not having to pay their tax returns prepared did you find any unusual challenges oh yes but argue about the way I had handled their tax return what I had included in it
is taxable income etc etc and your answer to then we had people who really shouldn't have come to us because their income was enough that they could they could afford to pay some but if it if it was within the scope of the things we could handle we go ahead and do it DJ lives present courtesy I was gonna say did you ever say to them you know you might send a donation in or something occasion yeah that's do you pressed on the off-chance do you prepare your own tax return it's got my it's got some things that are out of scope and that I
never learned as a result because it was out of scope for what we could do as volunteers that sounded some more than I want to get involved in so I met somebody else to do it I think that's probably a very wise thing to do Milton will so tell me as you look back on your life right as you look back on your life what you have said to me last time and this time is we've been so lucky and it's true you have two daughters where do they live son and a son and where do they live in the woods Texas and Columbia Maryland
our son is in Atlanta and how many grandchildren do you have seven recently won the first great-grandchild very rewarding that's very exciting in a different way than grandchildren what's it feel like they describe it but it's just different and Joni agrees I notice what are your grandchildren call you they they call me grandpa was that just grandpa Joni says that they adore you they want to be around you off is that right and they adore her too I'm sure I assure you I can't thank you enough for agreeing to be interviewed in the first place I appreciate you and coming back so letting me come
back thank you so much it's been a pleasure thank you you