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all Oral History
August 31, 2018

Paul Singer

Paul Singer's father was born in Russia and his mother in Lithuania, both arriving in the United States in the early part of the twentieth century. His father was a deeply religious man who came from the old country and settled, along with several brothers, in Baltimore, Maryland. Paul's parents met in Baltimore and eventually came to Dallas, where his mother had a brother. Paul was the youngest of four boys, following his brothers Frank, Milton, and Urban, and at the time of the interview he was the only surviving sibling at 89 years old.

Paul grew up in South Dallas, which he remembered as the best place in the world to grow up and a wonderful Jewish community. He attended Colonial Elementary School and Forest Avenue High School, and he was bar mitzvahed and later sang in the choir at Shearith Israel from age 14 to 21 under Cantor Kaplan. His father was in the grocery business, losing everything in the 1929 Depression before opening a new store around 1940 or 1941. Paul and his brothers took turns working there, keeping the store, located on Meadow Street, until it was sold in 1973. After serving two years in the military, Paul attended SMU for a couple of years.

Paul married his wife Edie, a cousin of Selma Segal, after being set up on a date, and he called it the best decision of his life. Together they raised three children, Mitchell, Julie, and Lisa, and had three grandchildren. After leaving the grocery business, Paul went into food sales with Guaranteed Foods, rising to sales manager, and later spent decades selling and managing in the hearing aid business until age 82. He and Edie were longtime members of Shearith Israel and also active in the Temple Emanu-El Couples Club, where Paul twice served as president. He treasured his close family, taking them on cruises and, at nearly 90, planning a family trip to Alaska.

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