Miriam Glatzer Funk
Miriam was born in Klesk, Poland, and came to the United States before she was three, arriving in New York with her mother and older sister to join her father, who had already prepared a home in Passaic, New Jersey. Her father, trained in Europe as a craftsman, quickly learned English, read building plans, and became a respected contractor who built Hebrew schools and other buildings. Four more children were born in America, giving Miriam five siblings. The family was strictly observant, and Miriam recalled staying home from school on Jewish holidays while other families did not. She thrived in Hebrew school, often serving as a student helper, and enjoyed Young Judea, Jewish National Fund flower days, and summers in the Catskills near Monticello.
After graduating from a business course, Miriam worked as a secretary and estimator in a glass company, the only woman among men in the building trade, where colleagues kept a pushka for anyone who used bad language. She married young, at nineteen, to the principal of the Hebrew school, a rabbi more than ten years her senior, and had two sons before he died after about five years of marriage. Widowed, she returned to her mother with her young children. In 1936 she married Mr. Glatzer, a traveling representative for the Jewish Examiner devoted to spreading Yiddishkeit, and the couple settled in Dallas after a month of travel. They had two more sons.
In Dallas, Miriam and Mr. Glatzer built a life around Jewish learning and community, running a Jewish book and supply business from their home beginning around the 1940s so they could remain free to travel and serve. She worked as a secretary for the Hebrew and Sunday schools and remained active across several congregations, including Shearith Israel and Tiferet Israel. Her sons included a violinist who studied in Switzerland, a son who settled in Israel after being a Young Judean, and an airline pilot. In 1959 she and her husband took their youngest son to Israel. Later she married Mr. Funk, a well-dressed haberdasher, and cared for him until his death. Her lasting message to her grandchildren was to be patient and always ready to help others.
This is her third and final marriage summarized here.
Full Transcript
Were you born in America or were you born in Europe? No, I was born in Klesk, Poland. Oh, I didn't know you were a lunchman. Where was Klesk? Do you remember anything about me? No, I don't remember. When I came here, I was, I don't think I was three years old. So I have a little strange recollection of getting to after the ship to New York to an uncle's home. Do you remember Ellis Island or staying there? No, I can't remember that. Okay. So you came over to Canada, America when you were a little girl? to New York, and we lived in, my father was already here, and he prepared a nice little home for my sister and I, and, uh...
Where was your mother? My mother, too. Yeah, we were just two of us. I still have a picture of it. That's interesting. My mother and my sister will be here tomorrow, and my father was already in the building business. and he had a little apartment ready in Passaic, New Jersey. That's where he came. Oh, I know where Passaic is. So what was he in Europe? He was a builder here. He learned he must have worked as an architurist. Uh-huh. To make furniture. But here he went right into building. And he was building for someone else or on his own? He would take contracting jobs. Put up nice buildings.
and built the Hebrew schools and the schools. That's amazing at that time. He took a contracting job and he learned English so quickly. It was amazing. He knew how to read the plans. He had a very good life as children. That's wonderful. What do you remember about Passaic and growing up your sister? Is your sister older or younger? Yes, she's a little older. Okay. There were six of us now that have been born. We have two brothers and three sisters. So, but you came over with your mom and one other sister. What about the other sisters and your brother? They were all born here. Oh they were born here in America Yeah I had a beautiful home all the time I had a horse and wagon You were rich I was fine standing My father was a great one for bringing people home all the time President of the Hebrew School, president of the show, aggravation galore.
Oh, well, listen. We had some more trouble in the show, yes, yes, this one said that. Were your family always very observant? Yes, they were. We were one of the few families who were strict about staying home from school on the holidays, and so many other families already got away from it, even though they were observant and cautious and so forth. It came to observing in school, and so the teacher used to say, why is it that you stay home while the others come? That's the way my parents wanted. And my mother and father had a nice way to say, don't worry if you'll miss a little.
Other people get sick. If you stay home on holidays, you'll never have to be home for illness. and by golly, if that wasn't so. We'd go to school with never missing a day of illness. You were rewarded for your... We always felt that way. Right, right. What about, how many Jews were in Passaic at that time? Was there a large Jewish community? Yeah, they already had several congregations and need for a Hebrew school. Did you go to a Hebrew school? Oh, sure. A day school or a synagogue? No, they didn't have a day school in my day. It was an afternoon Hebrew school. What do you remember about your, like, teenage years, your growing up years, your adolescent years?
Young Judea and going out for Flower Day on Jewish National Fund. And having nice times in connection with school and Hebrew school. But holidays were very important. Clothes were bought for that holiday. And things went pretty well. Did you have any responsibilities as a teenager? or did you have to, any chores or responsibilities at home, or did you have to go out to work? I didn't work until, you know, during the high school years, during the summer I was there. I wanted to work so I had to sign up for Superior Union You had to have working papers there So I would get this happened to be in a handkerchief factory Oh that quite interesting What did you do?
Oh, we made sure that the handkerchiefs were inspected properly. It was just a summer job. Did you ever go to Kath? No, we would go on vacations. What do you remember about family vacations? Oh, they go to the mountains and have a bowl. You go to the... You said so. Drive up there, do things, and a lot of it kind of. It was a nice family reunion. Was it the Catskills? Yeah, it was like in Monticello. Oh, yes, yes, that's lovely. Now, Miriam, did you have any hobbies or interests when you were, you know, a teenager or an adult? I was so good at, you know, in Hebrew, and whatever I did, I would be like a student teacher.
In school, when the supervisors would come by and the teacher wanted to show, you know, what she was doing, she would select me to do board work and answer the arithmetic questions, and I was always kind of proud of that. And I would skip. I'd skip from the fifth to the seventh. I skipped, too. I skipped from two to four, and I still don't know my nine times table. I think I always forgot. Were you ever very athletic? No, not too much. Just in gymnasium, we would have basketball. I can't say that. And what about, were you ever interested in politics as you got into an older age, or is that something you never...
Not too much. No, I'm... Okay, what about higher education? Did you go beyond high school? No, I didn't go beyond high school, but I always enjoyed going to, you know, lectures and trying to improve myself. Well, you certainly have. ...around people that I could learn from. Okay. What job did you take then when you were finished school? I graduated from a business course and worked in a glass company As a secretary Yeah an estimator I learned everything in the building business I read plans and estimate. Were there many women working in this job factory? No, it wasn't. There were mostly men who did glass installations.
So they had to... I was the only girl when we started there. Did you get ever any harassment because you were the only girl? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they had to behave because I was around. They had to watch their language? They had to watch their language, and there was a, oh, I said a bad word, put something in the push gun. Oh, good for you. You had a push gun you did. Yeah, oh, a quarter in the box. I'll never forget the guys. Isn't that, that's fun. There was something about my growing up that, oh, no, that isn't for her. You were special. And today, they see me at home with them.
You better not do it that way. You can't have it in this brochure. I mean, I don't know why they do that, but this is what it is. That's interesting. You know that, Miriam, and your business with the Pushka on the desk, my son's youth group now have decided that when the children speak out of turn in a meeting, they'll find a nickel in the pushka. That's it. What about your salary? Did you feel that you were being paid a lot less than the men, or you never really did? Oh, those days, if you got $25 a week, you were paid well. Yeah. Oh, then I went to a...
When this place closed down... No, what was it now? and I had a lot of trouble after my first marriage. They knew that I was good in this, so I heard that I could come back to work. One firm wanted me, and the other firm wanted me. Of course, it was a special field. That's wonderful. I went to the one that was more progressive, not that the salary was so great. And that was... When you were a young Jewish girl in this community, how did you meet other young Jewish people? We had young Judea clubs. Boys and girls. But when you got older, was that still the older kids?
Well, I married very young. I was 19 when I married. How did you meet your husband? At Young Judea? Well, this is where I'm saying I married the principal of the Hebrew School. Oh my goodness. He recognized that I was a good student, and even though he was a bit older than I was, he didn't settle for anyone else. How much age difference was there between you and he? More than 10 years. That's not much, though, in 10 years. So he was a young principal? Yeah, he was, well, when we married, he was almost 30. You lived in Pisaic? Yeah, he became ill, 30. He followed me in five years.
Did you have any children? My oldest sons. I have two oldest sons. Remember the Zimmermans? Oh, so their father was Zimmerman. How long were you married to him? Hardly five years. Such a young man. Yeah. I had to go to... No, no, that's fine. Yeah, and then for five years I was five, let's see, 28, 36, seven years. Went back to my mother, and she counted me with the children. They were three and five, I guess. and in 1936 I met Mr. Bronson. He met very interesting. How did you meet? That really is something. I was coming home because I didn't want to work on the Shabbos and we had this job and it was quite late in the evening.
I was walking home and somebody walks in front of me and says, Well, young lady, do you know where there's a show in the neighborhood? With all the people. Yeah. Do you know a Hungarian show? Yes, I'm hungry, very proud and dear. Oh, well, yeah, I do. He had lost his mother. He was traveling around the world, seeking his fortune or what to do with himself. He was a very nice type of family. What was he doing? Well at that time he was a representative like going out to solicit funds for some of the institutions because he wanted to travel Right. Right. And then he brought you to Miriam.
He was as far as Hawaiian. He even worked in the Hawaiian Hotel, what do they call that? a very important place with many thousand powdered girls. Oh, I don't know. White Kitty or whatever. He lived near White Kitty Beach. So you met him? I met him. I'm saying he came home because he lost his mother. Right, right. Came to visit the family. So did you take him home with you? No. No, I told him where it was, and he was staying with a relative who lived two blocks from where we lived in Jersey. And we had our first date, the temple, which was a conservative temple, you could say.
So I went with my mother to services, and we met them. And they never forgot me. They said, well, you'll marry me or I'll be an old bachelor. How much longer after you did? Seven years later? I kept him waiting. I was from 1928. Why did you wait seven years? Was he not around? Yeah, he was traveling around, and his financial situation was hardly enough for himself, let alone take on a responsibility. So when he married, did he settle in for say? No, no. He became the representative of the Jewish Examiner. Remember that paper? Yeah. And then the hurricane saw his ability. So, two dollars a year subscription.
Oh, boy. And people used to say, why do you sell a menial thing like this? Why, with your ability and your salesmanship, why don't you take on something, make just as much selling 100 books as you do with newspapers. Right. Anyway, but education wasn't sealed. We wanted to bring Yiddishkeit to people that didn't have access. That's why you two had so much in common. Absolutely. Anyway we went there and we traveled Where did you live Then we moved to Dallas right away We traveled for a month seeing the world and then settled in Dallas When? That was 1936, the year I was born. So you settled in Dallas.
How many children did you have? Two. The violinist and his brother who lives in Israel. Yeah, that was the Glatzer boys. That's what that means. All right, so you have the Zimmerman boys and the Glatzer boys. And you're very proud of all of them. I know that one Glatzer boy lives in Israel. What is he? He's working. He was a young Judean. Got his education when the Hillel school started. And he really became a very staunch Jew. and he didn't want to be apologetic for being a Jew. And that's why he lives there. And his wife was born in Fort Worth, and I knew her parents, but he didn't know that I knew them.
They met in the Hebrew University. That's just a share to them. Poor Mr. Glottsy was to say, that boy's going to be our real numbers. Because to us, Yiddish kind to pursue it It was very, very important. What was the Dallas Jewish community like when you moved here? Not milk, not milk. But he liked, and one of the reasons that he came to Dallas is that he liked the type of people that were connected to the chair of Israel. There was a rabbi over here. And he liked the way, and even today there are some very fine members attracted to Stereo-Visro. Not that they own, others aren't, but in those days they were the elite.
And even today, I wouldn't say elite, pompous, riches, but they had good values. They wanted to carry on tradition. So how is it that you are now at Teferi? I'm in all of them. Pages everywhere. Pages everywhere. You're like me. Amiri, Mishakar, I never, uh... Okay, so you have four children, the two Zimmerman boys and the two Glasser boys. What do the Zimmerman boys do? The oldest is a captain No I trying to say Texas International Oh a pilot Oh I call him Natasha He a rascal He's terrific as a pilot. If you see Love Boat, that's the way he looks when he comes home from a trip.
Otherwise, he's such a cut up. I hear people coming on the plane. Oh, there it is. I know your mother. You give me some. She'll make an impression. and that's the way it goes. Oh, that's interesting. That's our... No, not Shrinkanuga. I'm enjoying this very much. Is there anything that you've gone... Is there any family trip that you ever took or some family situation that you remember that was significant, that was... Well, in 1959, when Melvin had his bar mitzvah, we had the bar mitzvah in Tepereth Israel. Because by that time, Tepereth Israel was served. In order not to have any impartiality, being that we were involved with this Jewish business, We registered one boy in one university, the other, and the other.
Oh, gosh, I can't think of it. So, Melvin had his parmitzvah at Teperit. No, I mean, Sherrod. And I see the other boys. The oldest boys had their both parmitzvahs at Sherrod. And then later we lived closer to Teperit. And Melvin had his farm, and so did Jack at DeFerre as the walking distance to share it with so much further. But we never dropped our membership anywhere. And so in 59, Mr. Glass-Roll, who's a great traveler, and he'd take me around the world, and I always did work for my Hebrew school, Sunday school, secretary for the Hebrew school. I'm my own time. And he said, I don't want any of that money.
And we were able to save that money. And that's why we went on a trip. Where did you go? We went to Israel when he was 13 years old. We took Melvin. The other boys were already grown. And we went on a trip. Israel, in addition to Melvin always being connected with young Judeans. So this is the young man who now lives in Israel. You took him, not your other boy. No, the others were in Gromery. Right. I don't know why Jack was already a violinist. He lived in Switzerland. Now Jack is a violinist. You must have tales of years and years of practice. Oh, yeah.
People say that. Oh, there's so much conviction. Well, he closed the door. Was he self-motivated? I mean, right from the beginning, this is what he wanted? His father really started him off. Of course, he had a village in him, physically. His father never had a chance to have lessons, because in those days, all that money... Well, that's true. What I wanted to ask, now, when I met you, you were Miriam Funk. Yes. All right. How does that part come into your life? Well, the Funk family have boys who are good friends with my older children, especially the olds. And we were friends from practically the year that we arrived.
And Mr. Funk had two sons. His wife was sick so much, and he was, you know, up and down. I used to invite him to the house when his wife was not home. And we just had good companionship, you know, all three years. Then Mr. I met Mr. I knew him before the center, but it was joining the center that, you know, we saw more of each other. and then we'd always see each other at parties. Everyone, we were invited to go to sleep. And then he was getting ill and he needed someone to take care of him. Instead of letting him go to the home, he married him.
Such a git Well that all right He was a nice kind of guy He was different than I was religiously I couldn understand how anybody could be so dedicated So I said, oh, look, when you come to school, they make more of a fuss over you than me. They don't even look at me. And when you come, they don't know how to greet you. Come on, get dressed. Let's go. So he would go. So when were you, when did you marry Mr. Funk? in 70. And in 77, we lost it. So you had seven years? Yeah. The doctor said. He says, oh, well, we have a little chair and then we have five years.
So we had seven. You were very good. Well, we tried. We tried. He'd stay home and say, yeah, this one calls you, that one calls you. And he teased me and said, what do you want to do all that business for? And he tells people that I'm not bothering with it. I said, don't do that. I don't want to lose my connections even if I don't get rich on it. And I want to keep it up because... Okay, when did you, speaking of your connections, when did you go into this business that you're in now of Jewish supplies and books? When Melvin was born in 1946, Mr.
Brotts thought that he better stay home a while. You know, the children are small. So people, no one had these things here. So some of the members of the sheriff's history said, why don't you start a business on plant if you need help? We don't finance you. He says, no, I don't want any help. When we started at Criminal Home, we started communicating with the publishers. Oh, so you and Mr. Glatzer started this in 1946? Yeah, I would say that it was then. But it was always... It came in 1936. Right. Was it out of your home always? Always out of our home. But he wouldn't be tied down to a business in any other neighborhood away from the home because that would interfere with The wanderlust and the wanderlust and the wanderlust and the many social things that we like to attend and we worked out So you know what I'd like to do?
It's interesting. You've had three wonderful men in your life, but three completely different personalities. Well, the first one was studious. He was a rabbi too. And a rabbi. We were married in Brooklyn Jewish Center in the New Lots of Amatory. And so that he perhaps was the one of all three who shared more of the religious commitment with you. Yeah. And then Mr. Glatzer. He was an outgoing salesman for Yiddish Patti. Right. Yeah, and then he was a cousin. He was in a wonderful camp, but he didn't want to have a job to be tied down. How did you tie him down to getting married?
Of course, it took you seven years. Were you chasing him for seven years, or was he not around for seven years? No, he chased me. My mother said, oh, there's another letter from the wandering Jew. And people knew him, and they would say to him, well, where is he getting married? He had some other dates, you know, as he traveled around. And she says, well, I'm waiting. If this woman who, if I ever hear that she's married, then I'll look for someone else as long as she isn't old. I'll keep after her. Did you have to finally give them an ultimatum? Well, no, I realized that money isn't everything and that together we make it.
Very interesting. And then Mr. Bought a car and drove, packed up and took the children and came from Poseidon to make tourists, even by way of Mexico. So we should see them as much as we could, because he was so good in his geographical travels. And then settled in Dallas, and he made many trips by automobile. He traveled all over the country? Sure. With the children? Oh, yeah. Always with the children. And I have to tell my second son he a dealer and dealer he would fall asleep in the car and when he would wake up buy me something Well, that's true. Did you ever release the expression, the child is the father of the man?
Yes. He became a big industrialist, buying me something. He's always buying and selling him. It's a very good thing. And Mr. Funk was just a very... He was a merchandise in the haberdashery. He was one of the best dressed guys. People used to ask him to go to select suits with him. You have the picture of him. There's a very good picture of that Dallas community center. I think Werner had his dress suit when we were at a meeting. I was in 69. We were married in 70. I said, I'll admit it. He's in it. Gosh, did I change in these three words? Well, we all get more beautiful after we get older here.
But that picture really doesn't look good. All right. Well, listen, I've enjoyed it. I've enjoyed talking to you and hearing a little bit about your life. One last thing before this side of the tape ends. I think I know what your philosophy in life is, but what would you, if you had to tell your grandchildren, give them an example of your life or how you succeeded or how you felt, what message, when you're gone, your grandchildren come to the center and they come to this file and say, here's Miriam Funk's tape. I'm going to listen to it and hear all about my grandmother's life. What message would you like to give to them when they listen to this tape?
about life, about... Be patient and always be ready to help someone. Don't think of what you're getting out of it because you're going to get more than you do by knowing that someone needed you when you were there. Thank you, John. That's the best thing I can do. I have enjoyed talking with you. Very much.