Compiled by Sharon Wisch-Ray

Annual Goldman Dinner
honors youngest daughter

Beth-El’s Men of Reform Judaism’s (MRJ) annual Mickey Goldman Spaghetti Dinner was held March 25 with one of the largest turnouts in the event’s history. The 2018 honoree, Carol Minker, Goldman’s youngest daughter, brought a large contingent of family and friends from near and far to help her celebrate.
The Mickey Goldman Spaghetti Dinner is legendary. Mickey, who died 45 years ago, would prepare spaghetti sauce from scratch and provide a family meal “with all the fixin’s” for the congregation. After he passed away, the Men of Reform Judaism continued the traditional dinner in Mickey’s memory. Thirty-three years ago, the MRJ added an honoree to the celebration — the person who most exemplifies Mickey Goldman’s spirit.
Twenty-six Goldman family members gathered in Fort Worth for a weekend-long reunion/celebration to remember their dad, grandfather and great-grandfather, as well as to celebrate Minker, who has helped her dad’s spirit live on through her own good works. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
In her remarks, Minker said how overwhelmed she was to see so many family and friends at the gathering. She was especially proud that her children, Melissa and Scott, and their families were in attendance.
With regard to her husband, she added, “Richie… has carried on the good deeds of Mickey Goldman by not only serving as president of Beth-El, but also he continues to work behind the scenes to help Beth-El move forward. Without his love and constant support, I would not have been able to do half of what I have done to carry on my mother’s and father’s legacy.”
In closing, Minker summed up her hopes for those in attendance which captured the spirit of her father. “Take a little bit of Mickey Goldman with you too, and each week, show compassion to someone in need, offer a kind word to a complete stranger and make someone feel better by doing a random act of kindness.”
Congratulations, Carol, for continuing the legacy of your mom and dad. The Fort Worth Jewish community and community at large are the beneficiaries of your service.

Wanted, information
on WWII Soldiers KIA

During World War II, Fort Worth mourned five Jewish soldiers killed in action. The Fort Worth Jewish Archives has a great deal of information about two of the young men, but very little about the other three.
Perhaps publishing the few facts we have unearthed will lead to readers who recall these casualties. An honor roll scroll listing 226 Jewish GIs from Tarrant County has a gold star next to their names, indicating their wartime deaths.
• TEC4 Richard H. Burt, 19, died in Belgium Sept. 8, 1944, a day after being wounded in battle. A native of Los Angeles, Richard Burt was a graduate of Fort Worth’s Poly High School. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. A.L. Burt, and sister, Elaine, lived at 3505 Rosedale. His brother, TEC5 Warren Burt, served with an armored unit in France. When Fort Worth’s B’nai B’rith lodge held a memorial service to honor fallen soldiers, Richard Burt’s name was on the handbill publicizing the service.
• Staff Sgt. Walter C. Sanders, 19, died June 26, 1944, in Italy. He was a nose gunner with the 449th Bomb Group that was based in Italy and flew missions into contested skies over Hungary. Walter Sanders’ parents, Henry and Francoise Becker Sanders, lived at 1103 S. Henderson. The soldier’s remains were repatriated in December 1948 and placed in a mausoleum at Greenwood Memorial Park. A Jewish chaplain officiated at his funeral. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, he was survived by his son and namesake, Walter Charles Sanders Jr. The soldier’s name is on a yahrzeit plaque at Beth-El Congregation.
• TEC5 Saul Mark, 30, lived in Terrell in Kaufman County. His family was affiliated with Congregation Ahavath Sholom. He is buried in Ahavath Sholom’s cemetery next to two fellow soldiers, Alvin Rubin and Harold Gilbert. The trio have identical tombstones. Each grave marker is embedded with a photo of the deceased. Mark was survived by his mother, Ester Rachel Mark, an immigrant, who died in 1953, and his father, Russian-born Sam Mark, who resided at 4813 Hildring Drive when he died in 1963. The soldier had two brothers, Phillip Mark and Hymie Mark of Dallas, and four sisters, Ann (Louis) Cohen of Fort Worth; Rose (Walter) Baross of Dallas, Fannie (Jake) Alexander of Irving, and Mollie Mondkowiez of Los Angeles.
• Alvin Rubin, 22, and Harold Gilbert, 22, were sons of well-known Jewish mercantile families that came to Fort Worth in the late 19th and early 20th century. The city’s Rubin-Gilbert AZA chapter was named in their memory. The Gilbert family donated to the archives all correspondence related to Harold’s death on a troopship torpedoed as it crossed the English Channel on Christmas Eve 1944. Flight Officer Alvin Rubin was in the cockpit of a B-24 that crashed on take-off from Dakar, French West Africa, March 25, 1944.
— Submitted by
Hollace Weiner