Sarah Goodman
Sarah Goodman was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1897. Her mother came from Lomza, Poland, and her father, who had studied at a yeshiva in the old country, died when Sarah was only two years old. Her mother, left to raise the children, took in sewing work to make a living. When a widower named Mr. Tobolowsky came to St. Louis looking for a wife, he met Sarah's mother in a bakery, and within two weeks they married. He brought the family, including Sarah and her twin brothers, to Texas. He proved to be a kind and religious stepfather, but he grew ill after a trip abroad and died a little over two years later, so Sarah was largely raised without a father.
In Dallas, Sarah grew up in the Jewish neighborhood around Caroline Street and Alamo, attended Cumberland Hill School, and completed two years of high school before helping her mother at home. Her brothers went to work young as cash boys at Sanger Brothers and eventually built a home in Oak Cliff, where Sarah lived until she married. She met her husband, who came from Poland, through family and synagogue connections, and they married within three months. He and his brothers worked in the produce business, and they raised four children, two boys and two girls, all educated and confirmed at Shearith Israel.
Sarah was deeply involved in Jewish community life. Though her mother had belonged to the Orthodox congregation that became Tiferet Israel, Sarah joined the conservative Shearith Israel when she married and remained a member for more than sixty years, helping prepare Sisterhood luncheons for over forty years. She belonged to many organizations, including Hadassah, Federation, Pioneer Women, and others, volunteered for sixteen years at Parkland Hospital, and made surgical dressings during the war. A member of the community center senior group for about twenty years, she enjoyed crocheting, sewing dresses for her family, and reading. At eighty-three, surrounded by devoted children, nine grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren, she summed up her philosophy simply: tell the truth, be honest, and lead a clean life.
Full Transcript
I'm sitting in a ray of beautiful sunshine looking at my friend Mama Goodman. Mama, good morning. Good morning to you. Mama, we're going to go back a little, trace the clock back in your life. As you know, I've been doing this every week with all my favorite people, and I've been looking forward to this morning with you. Where did it all begin? Where were you born? I was born in St. Louis, Missouri, 1897. St. Louis, Missouri. Where were your parents from, Mama? My parents, my mother was from Poland. My father died when I was two years old. Your mother was from Poland. From Lomze. Okay, what kind of a business, or what did your dad do in America?
Do you remember it all? He was a prector in an establishment. In the old country, he was a yeshiva booker. Uh-huh. And then he came to America? And my mother had four children when she came to the United States. And then she had five more here. And he died. And Mr. Kowalowski came up to St. Louis looking for a wife. And he was ready to come back to Texas, and he saw my mother. He was in a baker's shop, and my mother passed by, and the lady said, this lady said would you like to meet her and she said yes i would and in two weeks they were married and that's the way we came to Texas so mr trabiloski married your mother and she was had nine children no eight well some of them passed away she had when they married how many children did she have three of us smaller ones and then the the other ones were married and away from home but she brought three of us here my twin brothers and me and you were the baby i'm the baby oh isn't that interesting so that's how you got from st louis to texas do you remember so you were seven years old do you remember it's the period between your daddy dying and your mummy marrying Mr.
Tablaski, you do... No, I don't remember that. I know my mother took in a sewing, the pants bottom. Uh-huh. I remember that she, they used to bring them to her house, and she used to sew the bottom. That's the way she made her living. And the older boys were still home and they helped out Okay My sister was married Your sister was married Okay so you came down to Texas Your mother married Mr. Tobolowsky. Yeah. Was he a widower at that time? He was a widower. How many children did he have? He had two children in Arthur's home, but one of them Mr. Goldman adopted.
and the other the little girl was in an orphan's home and when we came here the daughters the married daughter says papa how come you got stepchildren and your children have to be in the home so my mother said well they got a home here so she went to miss goldman she said no i don't give him up he said he's mine he said nobody wanted him when he was a baby and i took him in and she wasn't a wealthy woman herself. And to this day, it's Goldman. It's not Kabalowski. What about the girl in the home? Did your mother take that girl? The girl came back, and one of the sisters that was a half-sister saw that she was a big girl, and she took her into her house to be a nursemaid for her children.
So she didn't come to our house either, but he was very good to us. He was a very good stepfather. He didn't last too long, because he went to a Greece and something happened to him there. I don't know. He came home sick and he was sick two weeks and he passed away. How old were you then when he passed on? Who? Mr. Tobolowsky. He was 63 or 64, I think. And you? How old were you when he died? Well, I was seven. I was about nine. Oh, he only like two years. He only lived a little over two years. I see. So you really were raised without a father.
Yeah, I didn't know what a father was. No, I didn't. All right. And what do you remember of growing up in Dallas? Yes, my mother. What did your mother do then to support you after she lost your husband? Well, we were already, my brothers went to work early, the Sanger Brothers here. They were cash boys. At that time, you know, they had cash boys. And they were there when they were just little boys. And pretty soon, when they were 16, they bought a lot, no cliff. Oh my, they were very... And they built a home in Oak Cliff, and we lived in Oak Cliff, that's where I got married.
All right. And we had to take a streetcar, and we had to walk about three blocks in the mud where we lived It was rough So what school did you go to when you were growing up Cumberland Hill It still standing there I think it not a school anymore They remodeled the whole thing. Did you live in a Jewish area without a Jewish family? Oh, yes, on Caroline Street. Oh, yes, that was good. Caroline and Alamo. That was the Yiddish Shedding. All the schools were there. Right. Did you belong to any club, Jewish clubs, with the kids when you were growing up? in the garden.
I still have a picture but my great grandchildren tore off just me right here. We used to go there every week and things and I was about 10 or 11 years old. Right. And I enjoyed that. Did you belong to any youth groups when you were growing up? No. Who had youth groups? They didn't have any in those days, I don't think. No? I belonged to the uh Ms. Decimer, Jenny Decimer downtown, drive us upstairs. They had a club and we used to go in our midi blouse. Yeah. And we called them bloomers. Uh-huh. And we used to have exercise and we used to enjoy that.
So you had an exercise group with the Pierce girls. Oh, yeah. What shul did you belong to? Well, in those days, my mother belonged to the, it's now the Teferit Israel. That's the oldest shul in Dallas. Right. But I belonged to Shara Dizzle 61 years now. But it was Teferit. When I got married, we joined the conservative shul. Okay. Was your mother an Orthodox woman? My mother was a real Orthodox, a real religious woman. And I still keep a cultural teaching. What about Hebrew school? Did you get any Hebrew education when you were growing up? No, I didn't get any. My brothers went. In fact, they were born initially when my stepfather was still living.
And he was a very religious Jewish himself. And he was so proud of them that he was very good to us. In fact, he carried his name until he died. Isn't that nice? He was a very fine man. That's the only father I really knew. Right. And he was very good to my mother. Of course, my mother was a younger woman and he was. Tell me, did you go and finish high school? No, I had two years. Two years of high school. And then what did you do? Go out and work? No my mother didn work My brothers worked My two brothers And you didn work No I never worked So what did you do after two years of life I helped my mother Okay what did you do at home I had a clean house I helped her wash we washed on the washboard you know it not my modern, you know, you snap a button.
Right. You had to wash the hard way with a black tub in the yard, you know, and punch the clothes. It was rough in those days, but we enjoyed it, so I helped my mother. Okay, how did you meet your husband, or where did you meet your husband? Well, my husband came from Miseric, Poland. Uh-huh. And his two brothers lived across the street from us, and my mother fixed one meal a day for them. And I knew the family from before, and when they brought my husband here, I had a dear family friend we used to stay in Kipra over, so my mother would not ride.
So he saw me at Shil one day. So this friend of mine says, how would you like to meet this girl? She's just like my daughter. She comes to the house right off. She says, well, the back looks all right. Now I got to see the front. So we met, and so in three months we were married. Oh, he swept you off your feet? Yeah, he said it lived it. Oh, isn't that nice? Could you speak Yiddish? Oh, sure. You spoke Yiddish at all? All the time. He spoke Yiddish to my mother all the time. Ah, that's nice. How old was he? He was 24 when he got married.
All right. What did he do when he came over here? The produce business. All the brothers were in the produce business. All but the younger one, he worked for A. Harris and Company. Well, when they moved A. Harris over here, he went into the insurance business, and he just passed away a year and a half ago with the younger brother so your husband saw the back and the front of you back and it suited him it suited him what how did he court you where did you go what did you do you know what did you do in those days we went walking and you know to oak cliff he had to come on the streetcar yeah and you know that was the even from the the streetcar to my house was about four blocks so we took a walk and we went to the movies sometimes but he didn't look at the movies he looked at me.
What about dancing? Were you ever a dancer? Was he ever a dancer? No, I didn't dance too much. Yes, he liked to dance. Oh yeah, he danced. In fact, when we were married 40 years he danced, although he was six then. Uh-huh. That's wonderful. So he was in the produce business with his brothers. Okay, and how many children did you have? I have four. Four children. Two boys and two girls. What do you remember about the children growing up or any experiences? Oh, yes, ma'am. They went to Hebrew school at Sharet Israel, and they were all about Mitzvah, and they were confirmed, all of them, in Sharet Israel.
Did you ever take trips or vacations with the children and your husband? After 10 years, we took a vacation and went to Galveston to visit my brother, and they had a storm. So I stayed two or three days, said we better go home. It turned so black I got scared, so we went home. So you really didn't do much traveling? No, my husband wasn't a traveler. What about the children? Okay, so tell me about the kids. They went to Sheriff Israel, and they were confirmed. My oldest daughter met her husband and lived in Carpet City. Very nice, very wonderful man. In fact, he could be a rabbi himself, as well-educated as he used to.
In fact, he used to write to his father in Lushankiewicz letters. Isn't that nice? The hipster got them all there. And he's still wonderful to me. When I come there, he don't know what to be for me. He'd take mama here and take mama there. My daughter comes to see me. Now that I'm not able to travel too much, she comes here to see me every few months. And then my oldest son, he's in the grocery business here. The two live here, and I have a... The younger son isn't married. He lives in San Francisco. How old is he? He never married. He never married.
He just was 60 years old. He doesn't look it, but he is. And he owns an apartment house there, and he's very comfortable. He comes in to see me once in a while. He never married. Mama couldn't find him or should, okay? He wasn't interested. I thought he was going to marry a wonderful girl with his dearest friends to this day to my daughter that lives here. but she was crazy about him, it was during the war and he used to come here, he was in the government during the war and I said well why don you marry her when they come in and bring her across by He said mama I don love her as a wife He said I said a fine girl And she married somebody else He says, married children ourselves.
No, and he's still single. Well, some people... He's just not the marrying person. No, I was just going to say, some people never... And he's a good cook. And he's a good housekeeper. Everything has to be just perfect in his home. Uh-huh. So, that's... He just celebrated his 60th birthday. And I have ten great-grandchildren and one coming any day. Isn't that wonderful? I have nine grandchildren. Nine grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. And the eleventh one is on its way any minute. And are they spread all over the United States? Well, my grandson is in New York. He's a professor there. He's got a PhD degree. and then I have grandchildren who live here, and I have grandchildren that live in Papaz Kishti.
Wonderful, that from two people, from two people comes such a... They're all over. Yeah. Tell me, did you ever, in your marriage, you never worked then, you were always a mother and a housekeeper. Did your husband stay in the produce business all his years? All his life. What about organizations? Did you ever belong to organizations? Everything. I belonged to everything in Belk. Hadapra, Nusrati, Khabib Kaddishi, Sisterhood, Federation, Pioneer. Which one did you devote more time to? We made lunches in our show for 41 years. At Sherath Israel. You were active in the Sisterhood then. Oh, yes. I still would if I was able to stand on my legs.
Well, listen, I think you could have been doing marvelous. Now the younger group took over, and they don't have the crowd we have, but I guess they do the best they can. Absolutely. Well, you know, the drawing... There's a time when you have to give it up. Absolutely. We enjoyed it yesterday there, you know, they had... They had a luncheon and the cantor sang. And they have 92 members. Isn't that nice? They had nine new members yesterday. And the cantor gave a program of Jewish music? I tell him to sing me a Yiddish Mami during his singing. I'll do it for you. I will do it for you one day.
Did he have someone play the piano for him? Oh Mr Uh that professor he teaching music that tall man I don know He lost his life He going to have somebody Well I glad that he has the money Oh sure He high priced I told him you got a fine accompanist there Tell me something. When and how did you get involved with the senior group of the center? Like, do you remember when you first came to take part of this? I've been a member here about 20 years. Of the senior group? Yeah. I've missed, I knew all of these presidents. So they took me in here.
It was a dollar a year then. And then I got involved. I worked 16 years at the Parkland Hospital. And it happened to be the same day that this group met. We just met once a week on Thursday. And we worked on Thursday at that time at Parkland Hospital. and we worked four hours we don't work like here you see what did you do there we made surgical dressing and i made surgical dressing downtown during the war in fact you got the letter there in the envelope yeah that's your letter so you've always been and afterwards when i couldn't come here when i was working at the hospital our chair lady's daughter was ill and she had to take treatment on Thursday so we changed it to Friday so then I came back here that's how I came back to the center so I've been here ever since how many days a week do you come to the center now well I used to come on Sunday but I can't walk way down that hall on Sunday morning so I would come on Sunday I come on Monday and Wednesday you don't come on Thursday yes I come on Thursday I don't come all shopping, just usually.
It's very crowded on Thursday. There's nothing doing here. Oh, there is. There's lots of programming on Thursday. What? There is Jewish Heritage, and there is the Yiddish Hour, and the Luncheon. They always have a program. Well, I go in the big mall and play cards. Yeah. What are your hobbies? What do you enjoy doing the most? I make a lot. I used to do the once and the more. I just finished a little ask for the new baby that's coming, just sent it. And my daughter-in-law found a cap and a little sack that I made for the father to leave. Oh isn that beautiful Yeah The cap that you made for the father of the baby The cap for the little sack the father she sent it to him She kept it all 32 years Isn't that beautiful?
So I made a napkin, and she sent that. And I made 26 ribbon dresses. For your grandchildren? Yeah. For my daughters, for my family. The whole family's got ribbon dresses that I made for them. cocktail dessert all kinds so you crocheted i made 34 afghans i made sweaters i made the bouquet foods i needed a whole lot i still need some i still have the patience like i used to and i read a lot that's very good what are what kind of reading do you enjoy doing oh i just got through reading the rings by Janelle Steele, very fine books that the Nazis really suffered.
But there's a love story through there, and even the library didn't want to leave it out too long because it's such a popular book. A popular book. So you do a lot of reading. Well, that's wonderful. Yes, I do a lot of reading. My daughter's in the library, and we just have a cup of wine, and we fill it with books also. I have paperback books, that's it. And I enjoy reading. I read a lot. That's wonderful that someone of your age can still do all that reading because reading is... Hard on the eyes. Yes, I know. I get tired when I read, too. My eyes are tired.
Well, on Saturday, you know, I don't miss and I don't sit on Saturday, so I read. That's nice. You're showing your Shabbos in your way. I have a lady friend that calls me quite often. And on Saturday, oh, I sit outside and need it. I said, you got all week to need it. That's right. Maybe I shouldn't tell her what to do, but it makes me angry when she... And she said her husband was a yeshiva with her. I said, and you said you kept a kosher home, and he was so frum, and she eats ham. Well, everybody does their own... I said, you ate ham when you were married too?
He said, yeah, I used to sneak it outside. That's very nice. I said, I never tasted ham in my life. Not that I'm so religious. But I said, I have never tasted ham in my life. I think it's nice that we sat Shabbos is a day where we know we don't have to do our everyday things. No, you've got to always do that. Absolutely, it is a special day and it's a day that you can read and relax. You have to relax one day. Absolutely. Well, what I'm doing with these tapes and these stories of everybody's life is I'm going to be making up a booklet.
But in addition, we're going to put this tape in the archives, in the library. and let's say mama goodman 20 years from now one of your great grandchildren comes in the library and they see paid by mama goodman and they'll hear your voice and if they turned it on and they listened to your story and they listened how you grew up and how proud you are of your children and grandchildren what would you like to tell your great grandchildren when they hear this tape what would you like to tell them about life or how should they lead their life or what have What have you learned in your life?
Well, it's their life. I can tell them what to do You know every life is different Is there no advice you could give them on how they should what they should Just to tell the truth and be honest I have a little great granddaughter that comes here. To the nursery. Oh, yeah. I think you have a good philosophy. Tell the truth and be honest and really it's their lives and you can't tell them how to lead it. I can't tell them how to lead it. How did you, what was the philosophy that you led your life by? I will just clean, just lead a clean life.
Don't talk about anybody. Don't slander anyone. Just lead a nice, clean life is the best way, just with the truth. Okay, now, Mama, how old are you now, you said? I'm 83. 83, Kunohora. I heard someone ask an elderly grandfather how he lived to be to the ripe age that he is, And he said I stay young by doing a mitzvah every day That right By doing something good every day That why I come here on Monday Sometimes I can hardly walk and I say Well, I feel as though I'm doing something for somebody. It needs it. And if I can help somebody in any way, I try my best to do it.
Absolutely. And that's, I think, a wonderful thing. If you can keep up knowing that there's always somebody you can help. That's right. And I have wonderful children. You know, I have fluid in my legs, but thank God I have a lovely, lovely daughter-in-law that's just wonderful to me. And she brings me and my daughter picks me up, takes her lunch hour, especially at 2 o'clock, to come get me. That's really beautiful. And I have wonderful children. I don't know what I do without them. and my daughter from Carpenter, she didn't know what to do for me. Of course she can do nothing for me physically but she does the best she can Mama what you need and what you got and let me know and I your daughter she says don hesitate you come and tell me i see that you get anything you need that wonderful i just had my soul she left the check for me mother when you get through you could tell the doctor to fill that out and pay it well i'm sure that you gave your children over the years love and respect and in in turn they're giving it back to you.
That's right. I tried my best to raise them up nice and clean, not to take nothing from nobody that doesn't belong to them. And thank God I got a lovely, lovely family. Well, Mama, it was a pleasure hearing a little bit about your life, and it's nice to look at that beautiful face in the sunshine, and I wish you a lot of gazin. That's amazing. many more years to enjoy your life. Oh, man. And thank you for spending the time with me. Oh, it is great to play.