Fielding, Donald

Donald Benjamin Fielding was born in Dallas, Texas on 7 July 1922 to parents Nathan and Bessie (nee Mesiroff) Finkelstein. In an autobiographical sketch (in this collection), Fielding notes important life influences were an education that began early, with his mother teaching him to read and write before entering kindergarten, and an incident he witnessed when he was eight or nine years old. The incident and its effect are described as "the abuse of a black woman by a Dallas policeman. It remains ingrained in my psyche." Also a member of the Temple Emanu-El and confirmed in 1935, many of the items in this collection convey Fielding's interest in religion and religious tolerance.

Fielding graduated from Forest Avenue High School in 1938 at age 15, the youngest in his class but top in academics with a 94.36 grade average. He chose to attend the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. His goal was a career in foreign service. Noting that career ambition as motivation, Fielding changed his surname from Finkelstein to Fielding at the end of 1941, due to persuasion by his foreign trade professor.

Fielding attended the Wharton School between 1938 and 1942. Immediately after graduating, he went to the University of Havana.

Fielding was inducted into the United States Army in November 1942, when he was 20 years old. He attended Infantry Officer Candidate School and served his last 18 months of duty as a Field Training Lieutenant. In November 1944, Fielding achieved the rank of second lieutenant and was discharged in April 1946. During active duty, Fielding was an Operations and Training Staff Officer, a position at which he was noted to excel. At one time, he was also involved with the Armored Command and the Air Force (at the University of Havana).

After serving in the military, Fielding exchanged his earlier desires for a career in foreign trade to more local aspirations and employment in his father's business. Nathan Finkelstein had opened National Shoes in 1929 at 1403 Commerce Street, and from the 1930s throughout the 1970s, the enterprise was very successful. In 1958, Fielding and his brother, Paul, bought a building at 1505 Commerce, from which they ran a National Shoes store. In addition, two other stores were opened locally in 1968 and 1977, but declining business at the downtown location resulted in the closure of that initial store in 1995, after 66 years of operation. When it closed, it was one of only two significant pre-World War II retailers remaining in the downtown area.

In December of 1951, Donald Fielding married Virginia (Ginny) Lee Tipton. His wife had been born Viola Lavada Tipton in Marietta, Oklahoma, on 4 March 1925. She changed her name during the early 1940s to Virginia Lee Tipton.

As reflected in the collection, Fielding appears to have become increasingly interested in politics during the late 1950s. During this period, he became interested in and involved with youth, particularly through the Boy Scouts of America. He began taking leadership roles in scouting circa 1954, and in 1961 he was named chairman of the High Trail Scout District and its 35 cub scout packs, 34 boy scout troops, and 8 explorer units. It was at this time that Fielding also became more involved in local politics, running for the Place 2 position on the Dallas Independent School District Board in 1961. He lost to the more experienced and better backed John Green, supported by the Committee for Good Schools. Fielding felt his loss was due to his lack of experience and so worked with political publicist Hildred Barker to improve his political savvy. Along with a better understanding of politics wrought by that tutelage, Fielding broadened his areas of interest in Dallas schools and was instrumental in the establishment of the Citizens' Committee for Better Schools.

Fielding ran for the school board again in 1963, but his interests were expanding beyond education to encompass race and equality in the local political establishment. Particularly through the organization called Citizens for Representative Government (CRG) that Fielding established, he became a spokesperson for anti-establishment perspectives. The CRG worked hard to change the election of council members from at-large voting to single-member district representation. Fielding was also instrumental in the establishment of another important Dallas educational organization, the League for Educational Advancement in Dallas (LEAD). Fielding was involved with several different organizations throughout his civic career, including the Greater Dallas Human Relations Council.

Fielding has continued to be involved in politics in the twenty-first century, contributing to the campaigns of Dallas mayor Laura Miller and others. His penchant for politics has been passed on to his children, and his daughter Linda Koop was elected to the Dallas City Council in 2005 and was reelected in 2007 without an opponent.

From the guide to the Donald Fielding Collection MA 05-4., ca 1960-2007, (Texas/Dallas History & Archives, Dallas Public Library)