Susan Candy Luterman
Susan's paternal grandparents, David and Fannie, immigrated between 1906 and 1908 and met in Nebraska, where they married in 1911. Her grandfather, whose family name was Kandinee, had grown up in Russia, and her grandmother came from Poland. After an accident ended his ability to do hard labor, the family relocated to San Antonio, where they raised four children including Susan's father, Al. Her maternal grandparents, Abraham and Sadie Samuelson, came from Odessa and Warsaw; Abraham was a skilled woodworker. Their son Martin's move to Dallas to attend SMU eventually drew the family to the city. Susan was born in South Carolina in 1943 and was brought to Dallas as an infant.
Susan grew up in the Park Cities, attending University Park Elementary, Highland Park Junior High, and Highland Park High School, where she loved journalism and worked on the school newspaper. She graduated in 1961 and briefly attended the University of Oklahoma and SMU before entering the workforce. She met her husband Alan Luterman through mutual friends, and after a courtship the two married in December 1964, followed by a large wedding in February 1965. They adopted two children, Steven and Adria, and Susan remains close to her brother Jerry. She worked for jewelers Max and Herbert for many years before freelancing from home.
A self-described member of a service family, Susan has led many organizations, including serving as the first woman president of the Dallas Hebrew Free Loan and later as an officer of the International Association of Hebrew Free Loans. She was president of the Jewish War Veterans locally, a life member of BBG, and an advisor to B'nai B'rith, and she volunteered for the Salvation Army and ran bingo at a retirement home for 25 years. She established and administers scholarship funds honoring her family. A passionate family historian, she has researched her grandfather Samuelson's role in the Lindbergh kidnapping case, placed a grave marker for a relative in San Antonio, and preserved family furniture her grandfather built for local synagogues.
Full Transcript
tell me when you're gonna start someone you know why can't I know that's it today is Monday June 26 2017 my name is Joe Rheingold and I am here interviewing Susan Letterman good afternoon Susan good afternoon tell me a little bit about what you know of your family your parents your grandparents where they were from and how did they get here okay let me start with my candy grandparents which weren't David and Fannie they both came over here between 1906 and 1908 my grandfather candy you grew up in a village he called mesh mesh but it's really a different name I just can't pronounce it
that was in brush' my grandmother grew up in Poland they came here through Ellis Island my grandfather and my grandmother went to Nebraska that's where they met and they were married June 18th 1911 okay what was their real last name do you know Colusa nee was my grandfather's name right now I can't remember my grandmother's name I do know it I just don't remember it they had four kids my uncle Lou my father al my aunt Josephine and my uncle Ralph Ralph died in 1926 he was 10 years old from an infection okay that's where they stayed and then they finally my grandfather fell off
a building he was at he was a worker I mean he did not have education neither one of them did and they told him he couldn't do hard labor and that he needed to get away from the cold weather so he moved everybody to San Antonio ok now my other grandparents were Abraham and Sadie Samuelson my grandmother's maiden name was shortened and I know because I named for her father whose name was Solomon grandma came over here in 1906 with her father and she stayed in New York she was a seamstress and they were from Odessa Russia grandpa came over in 1908 he was born
in Warsaw Poland but after his Bar Mitzvah he went to be apprenticed in Germany in Italy he was a woodworker okay and they had two children my mother Florence and my uncle Martin and they were married September 1st 1912 it said it was great to know anything my grandparents the Samuelson's lived with us from 1951 until I left the house in 1965 so I have a lot of clothes time with them where do they eventually settle here they settled here because my uncle Marty wanted to be an attorney he graduated from City College in New York and he was going to start st. Mary's but he had asthma and they said to him you need to go to a warmer climate so he wrote to SMU he wrote to the University of New Mexico in Arizona he got a broken response from SMU so he moved to Dallas and my money he's apparently wrote home and said things were wonderful my mother moved down here and she lived here with him until a war broke out and she went to San Antonio she was government rated to have a government job and she okay so when did they eventually come back or do they come back to Dallas oh they came back right
after the war in 1945 I was in Dallas already I did not stay with them which is I was born in Charleston on September the 11th 1943 and that date will live in infamy at the Naval Hospital in Georgetown South Carolina but months later or two months not Rocher because I was young my grandmother came up from Dallas my Samuelson grandmother and brought me home and I lived with them and I'm called Martin and Nikki Samuelsson until my mom came home from staying with that till that shift out and we all lived together until we moved into our home which was 1949 and what address
was that where was that Dallas the home of my parents bill was I remember where I look first that was 2916 yell Boulevard and is this now important to George Bush library parking lot 7231 centenary which was in Dallas but Park City Schools and they lived there until I got married in Jerry graduated college then they closed the house and they bought a place on Del Norte and my grandparents went to live on Turtle Creek in what were the red apartments at that time but now they you know torn him down and have built other apartments back to my grandfather kandi and my grandmother my
grandfather kandi moved to Dallas when my father moved to Dallas he was the Shamas at d'affaires Israel unfortunately he died he had a stroke and he died right before my sixth birthday I remember him and it's clear as you I can see him sitting on sitting on it slab then my grandmother decided in Miami Joe her daughter was in California she decided she wanted to be with her daughter so she moved to California okay okay what are some of your speaking of schools you said you were in the Park City school system tell us a little bit about some of your really fond memories of
school they're gonna I think I love to everything about it I was at University Park Elementary I was at Island Park junior high and senior high graduated in May of 1961 I loved it all I mean I especially loved journalism and we had a class in psychology I thought about being a psychiatrist and I didn't got to college and it was too boring I worked on the bagpipe which was the newspaper there I've always done writing and I didn't do much of anything had a Roccat boyfriend which I started dating and probably the end of elementary school beginning of - junior high and we dated
until October of 1962 do we in planned on getting married but you know things don't work out that way and I'm glad because I married Yellen I just like I say I remember everything is being fun I love my senior year which is what got me into I'm vice president of our class today I do the reunions and I start very active I have a scholarship at the high school that Michael Martin put in under mine and I give that to a graduating student every year that's wonderful did you feel back then any type of anti-semitism at all in Holland my ever or university never
I don't feel it today I mean maybe some people have encountered it but in what I've done and where I've been or in and around down ever okay nothing you said you went on to college I went to the University of Oklahoma I stayed there 61 through 62 then I came home I didn't like it and went to SMU and I went from 62 to 63 and I decided that college was not for me and I looked for a job I work for an insurance company called Argonaut insurance for a year and then one day Sylvia Michaels who was executive director at the center at
one time said there were two Jewish men that we're looking for a secretary she sent me up there and that happened to me max drilling in Herbert Goldberg they were jewelers and I got the job and I stayed with them probably till around 1977 from 60 63 to 60 70 seven and then I worked at home freelance but they helped me a little bit that's great now when you were growing up here what type of activities are Jewish organizations were you and your family involved in if any my parents I can't tell you what my parents did because they were involved in in everything I
can't tell you what my grandmother grandfather did because they were involved in everything we're a service family and that's what I have done all my life a couple things that stand out for me is I was presented to the Israeli ambassador in May of 1959 and that was the Jewish version Idlewild but they stopped doing it after 1960 I was a member of and I am still a life member Jenny says Murphy BG I was active at the synagogue my synagogue at that time which was two farad Israel and that's where all of us went when I married Alan he goes to shared Israel so
we go to shared Israel but I still maintain the membership interference and have done innumerable special projects for them involving research and history and in fact they're looking for another one for me to do they asked me to be on the board with the view toward becoming president at my age I don't want to take on their young at heart well that's it but I'm not I like what I do now and I do not want to take on another presidency I've had three and it would be a major job and it would be for two years and I just I think it's time for
Alan and me to be together now when when and where did you meet your husband that's a cute one too I was backing out of the parking lot of SMU and I was going slow and I bumped him with the car his body or yeah oh he was standing and he was ten oh boy that was the first time I met him I thought Levi was sorry and went on then about six months later I was over at my girlfriend's house Cynthia dying and Alan was friends with her brother so we were there on a Saturday night our blind dates had stood us up and
we were talking and Alan came in he worked the docks for college he made extra money he wanted to take Cynthia's brother Ronnie out for dinner well Ronnie was already out so he took Cynthia and me and I remember telling Cynthia please let him take me home first I don't know it I mean I knew his family but I didn't know him and he did and that was a Saturday night the following Wednesday I was playing mahjong with my ex-boyfriends aunt and mom calls me and she says Ellen Lederman just called he just got off for work and he wants to take you out I
said mom it's 9:30 in the evening I'm not coming home she said Susan he's a nice boy come home from now so I went home he took me out and we started dating we got engaged in April 6064 he graduated college in 64 and I got my ring in July of 64 and we got married in December 27th 1964 then my parents and his parents had found a big wedding so we got married again in February 14th 1965 we had a big wedding Valentine's Day yes so he wouldn't forget not never has forgotten either anniversary but he's very good now is he from here at
his house he was born and raised in Dallas and I consider myself a Dallas site since I was brought here a month oh but yeah he I think he was born Florence Nightingale which was part of Baylor at that right right and he lived in South Dallas only lived in South Dallas a month or two and my grandparents moved north so I really never knew much about South Dallas except to go to shoulder now you've mentioned quite a few wonderful religious organizations Jewish ones are there any civic organizations you feel close to or that you've been involved in a few of them you want to
get that I also want to tell you because I'm very proud of this I was the first woman president Dallas Hebrew free loan 19 2001 and 2002 I was the second woman president of the International Association of Hebrew free loan and that was to 2011 to 2013 involved in other civic activities we volunteered for the Salvation Army for 10 years from 84 to 94 I'm listed and notable women of Texas I'm post I also was president of the for veterans the Dallas when the Jewish War veterans here that was president there and I received the National Leadership Award from the Republican National Committee and was
appointed honorary chair for the state of Texas that was 2003 a lot more activity sir for you know religious organizations I was an advisor to B'nai B'rith from 1982 to 1988 but I also stayed close to Highland Park and to help do our reunions in 1971 1981 and 1985 then the girl that was doing and retired and Allen and I had done a reunion all of us who are in BBG in Dallas until 1960 62 so I had some experience with doing that so I went to this girl my classmate I said will you give me the reunion and she did and what I did
with it is I called three other of my classmates Judge John Marshall he's now retired David Bywaters who was vice president of Texas Bank and on a floor smile who was my counterpart we set up the class we incorporated it John drew a particle particles have been corporation and everything and we set up a foundation for scholarship and in the last 27 years we have given out $28,000 in scholarship money that's to be very prevalent that I am very proud of and of course to go with it is my scholarship fund and I've had that since 2007 fabulous so yeah I mean I'm very very
proud of those I'm proud of the articles I write that get printed which they do and I was writing a book I keep getting sidetracked about my grandfather because he was involved in the Lindbergh kidnapping case grandpa Samuelson when they were still living in the Bronx Richard Hammond came into his shop and asked him to cut wood for him of certain specifications so my grandfather did and that was the ladder that was used to kidnap the baby John Condon came to him in April of 32 and said when you make a box we have to put money in it and that was the ransom box
and I have a cop the copy of the ransom box that he made for the trial in New Jersey he identified Hellman in the lineup my grandparents and my aunt my uncle and my mother got a lot of death threats their phone was and they were followed by the FBI it was a really very stressful time for all of them that they wouldn't let my grandfather testify for the simple reason that he said there was more than happening involved well David Wilentz had happened he wanted to try and fry him and close the case and they did but they didn't close the case and I'm
living proof of it they're like a hundred websites about the Lindbergh kidnapping I wrote a pamphlet that put part of it in there and what I'm gonna be doing this fall is I approached Hillcrest High School Highland Park junior high and senior high and the Carrollton Farmers Branch Independent School District and I'm going to be speaking to the kids about the Lindbergh trial and what my grandfather did very interesting yeah it was interesting in fact when Anne Heldman was here in 1990 her attorney called me he wanted to talk to my mother or uncle Marty because he wanted them to clear Hammonds name well my
mom unfortunately had dementia so I couldn't let him talk to her and uncle Marty didn't want to be bothered so we let it go well she never stopped trying to vindicate him but I will say this and this is my opinion that I've done a tremendous amount of research because of the book is helman was not the same singular kidnapper he was part of the gang that he was not the only one and that I know for a fact I think you should definitely get on the book yeah I've got to get it above us yeah I've got to finish it um now I would
love you to touch on how your family has grown if you have any children and where they are what's happening okay we have two adopted children Steven was our first in 1969 and Adria was our second in 1974 and if I'd known then what I know now we probably should have adopted a third but it was it was not as hard as it is today Stephen lives in New York City he's married and he's got two children Chloe who's 12 and Harrison who's 9 and Adria is not married she lives here and she has a live-in boyfriend and she has one child her granddaughter Katie
what is Stephen doing but I'll be doing Steven works for Morgan Stanley oh he's a vice president in charge of other computer technology and everything Stephens brilliant that we had a problem with that because we didn't know how to handle it and he was yes he's brilliant he never finished high school and he never finished college and he's got this tremendous job and he's had it for probably ten years and he's good Adria works for a medical company that assists people on Medicare or Medicaid and they live in Farmers Branch how often do you get to see your grandkids in New York we don't nothing
wrong we don't we saw the last time we saw him probably was 2008 and Stephen like I said we have a lot of trouble with him and he is I've been a great child I love him but he has not been forthcoming with the kids and the only way we get to see him is if we go to New York and we stayed for a weekend well the hotels are three four hundred dollars a night we only get to see the kids maybe three hours on Saturday and Sunday and then that's it and it's just it's been real hard and his wife unfortunately it's not
cooperative so but you know as long as he's happy doing what he's supposed to be doing and not home with us I'm happy you're okay with that yeah my daughter is wonderful she takes care of our granddaughter she's become a troop leader Kenny crow joined the Girl Scouts and she that are just coming back from Savannah on a Girl Scout trip they went to see the home of Juliet Lowe who served the founder of Girl Scouts and we seek any probably about once or twice a week she plays volleyball would go to her volleyball games we are together every major holiday and we go out
to dinner that's yeah that's good okay look into and caddy is 10 and looking toward the future think for a minute if you can tell us who won or some of your role models have been through you through the years well my grandmother who never had a bad word to say about anybody my uncle Marty who was exactly like my grandmother and they probably influenced my life more than anything and showed me the way to go and I did and then later on of course you know we're going to lose him Ellen and I took care of my grandmother Samuelson in 85 my aunt Nicky
who died in 88 Samuelson my Uncle Joe who was my father's sister's husband in 94 I was back and forth to California then my father who died in 95 my mother who died in 2001 and then uncle Morty who just recently died 2010 so we were caregivers and it was great I do not regret a minute of that also in addition you know to what Ellen and I did in the community you said for a second about Jerry I know Jerry but tell everybody who that is and what your relationship is and Jerry is my younger brother growing up we were extremely close we're only
18 months apart and we did a lot of things together of course when I got married that changed things a little bit and when Jerry got married that changed things a lot but Jerry and I made a pact when I got engaged to Alan that no matter who we married we were going to stay close and we had is he still very active it to farad no Gerry like me had a stroke and his eye and lost the sight in one eye and then they're trying to save his other eye he was very active you know he has had a voice he wanted to be
a cantor but when he saw what Cantor's man he said no and he became a CPI English he has he's retired now he had to retire and he splits his time between Dallas and they have a home in Montana which he lovingly told me a couple of days ago it's so much cooler here Susan I said just brag on Jerry so yes we have stayed very close before we close can you tell me something that you feel you're the most proud of or very proud of in all of your illustrious wonderful careers and everything else what I'm most proud of besides my children and my
husband is the scholarship that I do because I do the scholarship at Highland Park High but I also do this the scholarships uncle Marty had to at Dedmon one in the community put the foundation here and one directly for Dedmon and yes I'm proud of that because we help children get an education and move forward and it is so important these days and then of course really I'm proud of everything I did we did bingo at golden acres for 25 years Alan and I for the Jewish War veterans we caught once a month for 25 years we caught bingo and Michael Marty's retirement home it
was 10 North Village I'm not sure what now I'm happy with my work for international and then in 2012 I did something very proud of and I think you will be too we went to San Antonio and I'm doing research on my family as well as writing a book my aunt Nikki unfortunately was mentally ill her father would came from the family and her father was sent away to him in 1923 so she never knew her father and her mother died or very shortly after she was born we went to San Antonio because that's where my dad met my mother and we had friends there
and I also think I went to speak for International and we went to the cemetery and I asked for a grave where Peter testa which was my maiden name was born I mean was buried and we looked and looked and look we couldn't find the grave finally I had to call a congregation or gonna sock him to San Antonio they told me where it was there was no stone on it there was no mark on it so I got my cousin's buckle Marty's daughter and her granddaughter my cousin and Houston and one in San Antonio who were all his grandchildren and I had a marker
made a stone made and in August of that year we went and the rabbi from a good Asylum came and we had a minyan and we unveiled the stone that time it was probably 65 years later but the rabbi said it was wonderful because you can unveil a stone at any time but this was a mitzvah which it was and the other thing I'm really proud of and this will probably the last thing I'll tell you is my grandfather made he made a lot of stuff I have furniture in my house my house his father ensure that was passed down to me from my uncle
from my mother that he made he also when golden acres was built built the ultimately or Aron Kodesh the Torah reading table and there are two cabinets assited to Perth Israel well when Michael Ellen Tech's old golden acres I said what are you going to do look at the stone and he said I don't know I don't know if we're going to take it if we're not why don't even didn't trust him so I had my next boyfriend who was an attorney draw up a contract and the contract read that if a year after he sold it that he still hadn't done anything with it
that we could take it well he didn't so I called him and I said Michael I'm going tomorrow I'm gonna take the stuff and I trust you have no problem with that meaning don't have a problem with it because I'm doing it anyway we took it to fair in Israel and the furniture now sits in the chapel up to Perth Israel and when we donated it we dedicated it to our grandparents mom and dad and Lamar DNN Nicky that's wonderful and I've seen it yeah I'm know you had he made a lot of furniture in that synagogue and I still you know and I feel
fairly young to go on I still have things to do and Ellen I've been married now 53 years now Mazel Tov thank you so that's I mean unless you have been out of their questions expertise and thinking about you