Annette Mayer, March 24, 2016

Annette Mayer, March 24, 2016

Annette Mayer describes the circumstances in which she and her family moved to Lexington, Kentucky following the attack on Pearl Harbor. She describes her parents' relationship to Judaism and her upbringing as a young Jewish girl in Lexington, Kentucky. Some stories include purchasing kosher meat, celebrating Jewish holidays such as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and her recollection of attending Hebrew School.

Mayer began her undergraduate studies at the University of Kentucky in January of 1950 and was inspired to pursue a major in Radio Arts and Television with a minor in Journalism by the founder of KET, Len Press. She joined the Jewish sorority Phi Sigma Sigma in 1952. The sorority was struggling to find members because of the small number of Jewish women who attended the university. Mayer describes some of the student activities the sorority participated in, including the homecoming parade and socials with the Jewish fraternity Zeta Beta Tau. After college, Mayer moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where she began working for the television station WLWT as a publicity writer. After about three years, she began working for the United Way which was known at that time as the Community Chest and Council of Cincinnati. Mayer has been involved in numerous Lexington Communal Organizations including the Pew Civic Entrepreneur Initiative and the One World Film Festival.

Mayer discusses raising her children Jewish in Lexington. Annette talks about the differences between her own Jewish identity and her children's, and her thoughts on Zionism and the state of Israel.

Family histories.

Jewish children

Jewish families.

Jews--Kentucky--Lexington.

Lexington (Ky.)

Worship (Judaism)

Jews--Identity.

College students--Social conditions

Greek letter societies.

University of Kentucky

Judaism.

Religion

audio

2016oh048_jk016

Janice Crane

Annette Mayer

Communities.

Community development.

Anti-Semitism

Fasts and feasts--Judaism.

Holidays.

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.