Scope and Contents
Certificates, correspondence, event materials, memorabilia, news clippings, photographs, scrapbooks, and publications document the lives of members of the Gaber and Kline families and their involvement in the Houston Jewish Community from 1916-2017. Of particular interest are the Gaber Family Haggadah produced in 2017 containing an extensive Gaber/Kline family tree, as well as the "This is Your Life Leo Gaber" scrapbook compiled by Morelle Gaber in 1954.
Forms part of the South Texas Jewish Archives.
Conditions Governing Use
Permission to publish material from the Gaber/Kline Family Papers must be obtained from the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library.
The Woodson Research Center use policy is that researchers assume sole responsibility for any infringement of privacy, literary rights, copyrights, or other rights arising from their use of the archival materials. In addition to any restrictions placed by donors, certain kinds of archival materials are restricted for the life of the creator plus 50 years. These materials include, but are not limited to, student grades, transcripts, and any job applications or recommendations.
Biographical / Historical
Jacob Gaber and Ernestina Grunberg Gaber were born in Romania and married in Bucharest in 1896. In 1900, the two immigrated to Houston where they founded the J. Gaber Company, a dry goods and plumbing supplies company. They had four children, Hermina, Fred, Sophie, and Leo. Jacob died on November 3, 1927, and Ernestina died on January 2, 1963. Both are buried at Beth Yeshurun Cemetery.
Hermina was born November 22, 1897 in Romania. She married Morris Rosen on December 14, 1919, and died on August 26, 1981. She is also buried at Beth Yeshurun Cemetery. Sophie was born on June 4, 1903, in Houston, Texas. She married Leo Block in 1922, and died on April 2, 1994, in Houston. Leo Gaber was born on June 11, 1904. He followed in his father's footsteps and ran the family business. Leo Gaber married Morelle Solman on June 14, 1927.
Morelle's father Phillip Solman was born in Riga, Latvia on July 15, 1867 and immigrated to the United States in 1887. Morelle's mother, Hattie Perlstein, born 1872, immigrated to the United States in 1889. Phillip Solman and Hattie Perlstein married on August 23, 1891, in Houston, Texas. The Solmans were grocers and had four children: Libbie, Winnie, Jerome Benjamin, and Morelle. Libbie Solman was born October 10, 1892, and married Ben Scheps. She died October 31, 1963, and is buried at Beth Israel. Jerome Benjamin Solman was born on February 15, 1902, and died January 3, 1968. Morelle Solman was born on April 28, 1908.
Morelle and Leo Gaber had one son, Jacob Arnold (J.A.) Gaber, born on March 30, 1930. J.A. also followed his father into the family business and the Gaber Company later became primarily a plumbing supply company. Morelle died on November 22, 1986. Leo died on September 23, 1990. Both are buried at Beth Yeshurun Cemetery.
J.A. Gaber married Sara Jo (Dodie) Kline on May 14, 1952, in Houston, Texas. Dodie Kline was born in Houston on July 29, 1934, to Harry J. Kline from Tyler, Texas, and Adrienne Fibush Kline from Oakland, California. J.A. and Dodie Gaber had four children: Bradley Edward, Gwynne, Kerry Wayne, and Ellen Ann. Bradley Edward was born August 17, 1954. He married Ellen Brodsky in 1978, and died on June 30, 2012. Gwynne Gaber was born June 2, 1956, and married Alan Ross in 1979. Kerry Wayne, was born September 12, 1958, and married Mary Perrinod in 1981. Ellen Ann was born August 3, 1962, and married Marc Sands.
J.A. Gaber died on February 18, 2017.
