June 15, 2020

Rhonda Duchin

Rhonda Duchin grew up in Dallas with an unusually deep connection to her maternal family, including both grandparents and great-grandparents. Her great-grandmother came from Poland and her great-grandfather from Russia; the two met in Kansas City, where she was about fourteen and he about twenty-four, and married quickly. Her great-grandfather, a tailor, is remembered for having pretended to be his married older brother to spare him army service in Russia before defecting and eventually settling in Kansas City. Rhonda's grandmother lived to about 106 and a half, passing away around 2018. The family moved to Dallas in the 1950s, and through a relative's research Rhonda learned she is directly related to a family line spanning thousands of names.

Born in Dallas after her mother, whose maiden name was Coff, met her father from California, Rhonda grew up first on Marsh Lane and later in North Dallas. Her Jewish name is Rivka Miriam. Her family celebrated the holidays with large Hanukkah gatherings and family Passover meals. Her parents married at Shearith Israel, but Rhonda preferred Tiferet, where she became deeply involved in USY before shifting her energy to BBYO. Her early exposure to diversity, including a close bond with the family's housekeeper Margie and her husband Henry, shaped her choice to attend the diverse Skyline High School rather than Hillcrest, an experience she treasured.

Rhonda met her husband David, from San Antonio, at the University of Texas at Austin, after also spending a year at San Diego State. They married when she was twenty-four and David twenty-five. After college she joined the family business, a children's clothing manufacturer's representative firm run by her father, brother, and sister, working there for about twelve years and traveling to regional markets including Houston, Lubbock, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, and New York. She is a life member of Hadassah and the National Council of Jewish Women, has been active with Federation, and is a member of congregations including Anshai Torah. She serves on the board of the Dallas Jewish Historical Society, where she has helped preserve wartime letters.

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