Shine, Sellie 2012-06-07
This interview features Sellie Shine as she discusses her faith, work, and involvement with the Lubbock community. In this interview, Shine describes what brought her to Lubbock, joining the Congregation of Shaareth Israel, and how she got involved in the community and created change in Lubbock.
General Interview Information
Interviewee Name: Sellie Shine
Additional Parties Recorded:
Date: June 07, 2012
Location: Lubbock, Texas
Interviewer: Robert Weaver
Length: 01:31:07
Abstract
Abstract Short Version: Background information; meeting her husband; Joining the synagogue in Lubbock; Continuing her education and going into nursing; How Food-o-Rama got started; involvement with the sisterhood; Founding the Rape Crisis Center; Her involvement with Civic Ballet; the league of women voters; Being the president of the sisterhood; Rabbi Klein; The schism that occurred in the synagogue and transitioning back into the congregation; The new synagogue building; Three generations of her family attending the synagogue
Abstract Long Version:
Life, Born in New York City in 1931, Born in Bronx, Family moved to Queens, Her and husband lived to Manhattan, Moved to Queens when she was 18 years old, Started going to college to for Socio-Drama, Decided to double major in both Sociology and Drama, Worked for Gene Rosenthal, Husband decided he wanted to teach, Came to Lubbock in 1954, Her husband is from London, Culture shock coming to Lubbock, He came to Lubbock to do Post- Doctoral work, Then went into Industry, He got a job with the US rubble company in New Jersey, Lived in real residential place, They met through mutual friends, Their mutual friends broke up but her and Henry (her husband), They’ve been married 59 years, Jewish Life, Was born Jewish, Father was from Europe and mother was from the US, All orthodox Jews, They didn’t go to the synagogue when they were here, Wasn’t used to people being s friendly here, People only this nice in New Zealand, Parents didn’t really know what she was doing in college, Henry got his PhD in London, Weren’t really interested in joining the synagogue, Most of them were businessmen at first but not more Dr.’s and teachers, Jobs, Both of her children married non Jews, Taught post biblical history, In NYC worked in theatre and with mentally disturbed children, Worked at Red Cross as a social worker, She was working at the Lubbock community theatre, Applied for teaching position at Lubbock schools but didn’t want to take classes, Stay at home mom because couldn’t she couldn’t find part time, Milo’s children’s home, Wanted to know what was going on politically in Lubbock, Joined on the health board, Education, Got an RN at Methodist hospital and was a psychiatric nurse, Got a masters in social working, All Henrys family is in England, Her son daughter in law and two grandchildren all live there also, Was an on-call nursing job, Jobs (cont), Worked at St. Mary’s in the psychiatric unit, She was a social worker there, They closed it down because of non funds, Got a job with Caroline New at South Plains food bank, She loved that job, Never knew what her day would be like that day, Head of 25 branches in Lubbock, Son in England was shot, She left for 6 weeks and when she got back decided not to work there anymore, Food-O-Rama, Made all kinds of Jewish foods, During food-o-rama days they had lots of women with free time, They joined the congregation when her daughter was 4, Her daughter is now 55, Eventually people got busy and they could no longer do it, Knew a lot of people outside of the synagogue, Norma Skibell was a wonderful cook and had great cakes, Didn’t get involved with the sisterhood here, Didn’t get involved with congregation itself until daughter was 4 and son was 2, City was doing things they weren’t supposed to, Appointed to Humans Relations Commission, She was in the branch that did everything, If she found something that needed work she could work to fix it, Woman was raped, She wasn’t interviewed by a female cop, She was interviewed by a police secretary, They needed start up money once it was approved, All the women organizations agreed that they should have a rape crisis center, Did interviews for the center once they were getting it started, Committee of three to look into getting one, Had 98 applications for the executive director of it, Narrowed it down to 5, One of them wind up being a convicted rapist, Some of the women didn’t want men on the board at all, Started around 35-36 years ago in 1975, She was involved with the Civic ballot also, Suzanne Akers founded it and was a dance instructor, Got a ballet barre so they could use it to practice, Board of directors worked hard to make it happen, No one wanted to help Suzanne make it happen. Trained she trained members of the board to become public speakers, Told them “it’s good to feel anguish”, Use to have night meetings but now they are done, President of the sisterhood one year, Jewish Community, Everyone loved Eleanor Kline, Received picture from metropolitan museum of art, Wife wasn’t allowed to have it Husband took it from her, Her husband was president for a while; Transition back to congregation, They wouldn’t have gone back if not for their daughter, Daughters husband isn’t Jewish but is very thoughtful about hers, He offered to change his, He is a Muslim, He agreed to raise the children in the Jewish faith, Content to be around non- Jewish people, A lot of the older people left and younger people didn’t know about them, Everyone but one person were glad to have them back, Didn’t really like the new building but they supported it, Sellie’s husband liked the library, The congregation isn’t getting any bigger, A lot of Jewish families are doing fine without joining, A lot of the families are known they just don’t attend, Henry was a good president, He use to mow the lawn and take good care of it, Old congregation being used by boy scouts and family auras, Also used by League women voters, Rabbi Kline moved into a different community, Old house used as Sunday school, Don’t have a parking problem at the new synagogue, Parking was hard at the one on Q because of business, There was a grassy area that was turned to concrete for more parking, Had to learn the post biblical history a week ahead of the kids, The Sunday school amount of kids has dwindled, Son would never find a job here because of his interest, He was working in Dallas once he got his masters, Most children don’t stay here, Rabbi was pleased because 3 different generations were reading from the torah, Hasn’t had a family with 3 generations that could, Never been to any funeral, They have stained glass windows, Just not being used because they don’t have enough people
Access Information
Original Recording Format: born digital
Recording Format Notes: access copy available in reading room
Transcript: Transcript available in reading room
Thank you for your interest in this oral history interview. Our oral history collection is available to patrons in the Southwest Collection's Reading Room, located on the campus of Texas Tech University. For reading room hours, visit our website. Please contact Reference Staff at least one week prior to your visit to ensure the oral history you are interested in will be available. Due to copyright issues, duplications of our oral histories can only be made for family members. If an oral history transcript has been made available online, the link will be provided on this page. More information on accessing our oral histories is located here. Preferred citation style can be found here.
