Page 66 - Senior Link Magazine Spring 2026 - Online Magazine

HONORING
SMALL BUSINESSES
The Power of
STAYING
The Masso Family
by Ted Wilson
he Masso family has been
a mainstay in downtown
TPlainview for nearly 63 years.
In November 2013, Masso’s was
recognized by the Texas Historical
Commission, receiving the Texas
Treasure Business Award for fifty
years of “exceptional contributions
toward the economic growth and
prosperity of Texas in a historical
building.” In a climate where
many downtown family-owned
businesses have retreated to the
outskirts, and national chain stores
are predominant, Jacob Masso, and
his sisters Jacqueline, Georgette, and
Josephine have been anchored north
of the county courthouse near Sixth
and Broadway for a long time.
66 Lubbock Senior Link
of WWII and the Zionist movement in
the West established the state of Israel
in Palestine in 1948.
Born in Jerusalem in 1942, Jacob
left with his family in 1952 because
the economic situation was so bad.
His parents, Jesse and Fernand,
along with three young sisters,
emigrated from the Middle East
by ship and train to Brownsville,
Texas and took up residence in
Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico.
Jesse’s parents, Jesse and Linda, had
already immigrated to Mexico before
WWI. Their family grew to include
Jesse and four sisters born on both
sides of the U.S./Mexico border.
But revolution in Mexico and the
destruction of their business and
One of the most interesting aspects property forced the family back to
of the Masso family is their heritage Jerusalem around 1924.
and how they came to be established Jacob and his siblings were educated
in Plainview, Texas. The Masso in private school in Brownsville,
family have roots traced back to crossing back and forth across the
1500 in Beit Jala about six miles Rio Grande each weekday. Jack (as
south of Jerusalem, near the sister
city of Bethlehem. Their Palestinian
heritage is Christian, Greek Orthodox,
and Roman Catholic. During the
Turkish Ottoman Empire, life was
difficult for the Arab Christians in
Palestine, until its demise just after
WWI. Arab Christians often found
themselves caught between the
political and cultural enmities of
Muslim Palestinians and Jews, who
immigrated in force to Palestine. After
a long conflict, the victorious powers