Generations of generosity and Jewish community service will be recognized next Wednesday evening as Dallas chapter, State of Israel Bonds honors Marilyn and Harrell Pailet.
All the couple’s children and grandchildren will be present to celebrate with them at a special event that will also honor the memory of Mrs. Pailet’s parents, the late Frances and Ervin Donsky.
This 60th Anniversary Israel Bonds Awards event will be a seated dessert reception at Congregation Shearith Israel, spiritual home to four generations of Donskys and Pailets.
The family tradition of community commitment is a legacy of Ervin Donsky, a native Dallasite who passed away in 2006.
“He was supportive of every Jewish cause there was, and many, many secular ones,” according to Harrell, who enumerated his father-in-law’s presidencies of Shearith Israel, Golden Acres, the Jewish Community Center, and of course Israel Bonds, among other leadership positions. “Israel Bonds was one of his favorites,” he said.
“He believed that you’re only stewards of God’s wealth and you need to share it,” daughter Marilyn said.
Organizers of the awards event called family members “tireless in their commitment … lifelong community supporters … trailblazers … ardent advocates of the state of Israel and Israel Bonds.”
The current honorees post an extensive record of community involvements mentioned here only in part. Attorney Harrell Pailet, now on the Bnai Zion board, was a president of Schepps B’nai Brith Lodge and served on the boards of Shearith Israel, the JCC and Jewish Family Service. Marilyn is a past B’nai B’rith Women chapter president who has also served on the national Hillel board; a previous Dallas Federation Women’s Division and Teen Tour chair, she is now on the board of Dallas Hebrew Free Loan, continuing Frances Donsky’s work.
“My mother loved being on the HFLA board,” Marilyn recalled. “I still remember her telling me about a woman who was able to earn her living as a seamstress because a free loan made it possible for her to buy a sewing machine.”