Herschel William Wilonsky

Herschel William Wilonsky lived in three houses his entire life. One was on Park Row in South Dallas, which he left when he was 11 years old; the second was on Walnut Hill Lane, built by his father Harry in 1955. The third was on Countess Drive, where he and his wife of nearly 55 years, Margaret, raised their boys Robert and Michael, before he returned to the Walnut Hill house following the death of his parents in 1988.

Herschel and Margaret traveled often, but Herschel always returned to the only city he ever called home. And on the morning of Dec. 14, he will return to South Dallas – Dolphin Road, specifically, to Shearith Israel Memorial Park, where he will be reunited with his father, his mother Frances, his stepmother Mildred and so many other family members who preceded him in death.

Herschel died Dec. 12 at the age of 77 in a place that had become something of a fourth home in recent years, William P. Clements, Jr. University Hospital, where too often and for too long, the man bravely battled the numerous ailments that spent decades conspiring against him. He was a wonderfully stubborn and resilient man who battled pain and illness without complaint and who walked out of the hospital every time doctors said he would not or could not. Except this time. Blessedly his was a quiet, peaceful farewell, after time spent with the family and childhood friends who loved this “gentle and honorable man”, as one friend so aptly described him. Another childhood friend remembers Herschel as “the happy giant”, referring to his height – he was, once, 6-foot-7 – and character. He was, in so many ways, larger than life.

He was born March 8, 1944, to Harry and Frances Goldstrich Wilonsky and lived at 2521 Park Row until he was in fifth grade. Frances died when Herschel was 6 years old. Yet when he spoke of his childhood, he did so with great fondness. He spoke often of playing ball in the street. Of shooting BB guns with friends. Of walking to Hebrew school or the movies at the Forest Theater. Of riding the streetcar to and from his father’s S&W Auto Parts store which, until 1955, was in Deep Ellum, on Elm Street, next door to the former Knights of Pythias Temple.

He spoke with a deep, singsong Texas twang. Every day on Park Row was a good day. “I mean, just pick a day”, he said earlier this year. “Any day.”

Herschel could remember every one of those days and all those that followed – not to mention the phone numbers of childhood friends and forever-ago dates of footnote moments to most. So detailed was his recollection that South Dallas and Deep Ellum historians – and, most often, Robert – turned to him whenever in need of memories to borrow.

He first attended John Henry Brown Elementary, then Preston Hollow Elementary, then Benjamin Franklin Middle School, then Hillcrest High School, where he would later be followed by son Michael, the Marine he revered and adored with all his heart; his daughter-in-law Holly Hammond and grandson Harry. He graduated from Hillcrest in 1962, but never really left. He counted among his closest friends many schoolyard buddies and basketball teammates, was active in the alumni association and attended nearly every one of Harry’s baseball games until his graduation last spring.

Herschel stayed close to home for college, attending Southern Methodist University before joining his father behind the counter of S&W Auto Parts, which, until Herschel’s reluctant retirement in 2009, sat at the corner of Second Avenue and Scyene Road, down the street from Fair Park. He never intended to go into the family business – Herschel often said, only half-facetiously, that he dreamed of being “a performer of some kind” – but loved the time he spent with his dad. The patch on his work shirt read “Honch,” a nickname later used by his grandchildren, and even now he’s fondly remembered by the former customers who call him Mr. S&W when they see him out in South Dallas.

He met Margaret, then an X-ray technician, in April 1966. They went out on a Friday and were engaged the following Wednesday, and married in her hometown of El Paso on July 2 of that year. They were inseparable forever after, so much so he was often “Margaret’s husband”, especially to her colleagues at the AT&T Performing Arts Center, to which she would take Herschel even when he wasn’t up for another opera performance. He said only recently how grateful he was for those outings: “She introduced me to things I never knew I liked. Like opera.”

In a letter to the AT&T Performing Arts Center staff members and volunteers Monday morning, senior house director Charles Moore wrote that “while not a volunteer, Herschel was frequently at Center events accompanying Margaret, bragging he had the honor to be her escort for the evening. Herschel was a tremendous force towering over most everyone in the room especially Margaret. You knew when Herschel was in the room. We will miss his kindness and that dry humor and wit that made him unique.”

That force is now gone; that twang and chuckle, now silenced; that knowing grin, erased from this world. He will be deeply, profoundly missed by so many. He remembered everything and everyone he ever loved, every memory they ever made, to the very end. He, too, will not be forgotten.

Herschel is survived by his wife Margaret; his sons Michael and Robert; his daughters-in-law Holly Hammond-Wilonsky and Mary Feldman Wilonsky; his grandchildren Barrett, Harper and Harry; his sister-in-law Marilyn Weiss and Betsy Burns. and nieces and nephews Greg Arens, Christae Kutnick, Brandi Burns Lutzker and Brett Burns.

A Graveside Service for Herschel will be held Tuesday, December 14, 2021, at 10:30 AM at Shearith Israel Park Cemetery, 4634 Dolphin Rd., Dallas, TX 75223.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.Sparkman-Hillcrest.com for the Wilonsky family.