Jonah H. Berman was born in Baltimore, Maryland September 15,1908 to Moses Joseph "Joe" and Mary Berman. They had immigrated to America from Russia around the turn of the 20th century. Jonah was the youngest of three children; he had a brother, Isadore "Izzy" and sister, Bessie. When Jonah was very young the family moved south to Andalusia, Alabama. It was there that his father created and ran a dry goods store in addition to raising his family. Jonah's parents were orthodox Jews and brought with them some of the culture of their heritage. His mother Mary spoke a good deal of Yiddish, and called him Yankl. This was Yiddish for Jonah. Eventually, it was shortened and most would call him "Yank." In 1918, at the age of nine, Jonah lost his left arm in a hunting accident. The bleeding could not be stopped, and it became a lifesaving decision to amputate. As tragic as it was, he excelled in school and adjusted to his changed life. Jonah entered the University of Alabama at the age of seventeen where he studied law. He was a brilliant student there, and became a member of Alpha Beta Kappa. In 1931, he graduated with a law degree and moved to Montgomery. Jonah began his thirty-four year career in law at the age of twenty-two. He started out with the public defenders office representing criminals. Practicing law as a public defender wasn't easy, especially when some of the clients were in for murder. Jonah had one such case in which he lost. The client was executed at Kilby Prison while he witnessed the event. This experiance motivated him to leave the public defenders office and start his own practice. He rented space in the Bell Building practicing family and collections law. In addition to his law practice he became a city judge for Montgomery, doing so for sixteen years. The turning point in Jonah's career came in the 1950's when he hit it big with "The Alabama Quickie Divorce System." Jonah was one of the originators of the "Quickie," the concept was that if a couple had the "intent to live" in Alabama they could get a divorce there. Intent was defined as renting an apartment, setting up bank accounts, etc. The whole process took a couple of weeks. Aristotle Onassis and his first wife Tina used an Alabama Quickie Divorce. Jonah's most famous client was silent movie great, Conrad Nagle. During this period Jonah had a staff of four helping with the scores of divorce clients. The practice made him a wealthy man. When Alabama laws changed regarding the loopholes in state residency requirements, Jonah stopped doing them. He then focused on his collections law practice representing several major Alabama banks. He also practiced family law, and was appointed State Chairman of Family Laws by the American Bar Association.

In 1955 at the age of 47, Jonah met Billie Jo Barnes in the record section of Liggett's Drug Store. He had previously seen her walking down the sidewalk while on his way to work. She had come to Montgomery recently to train as manager for a clothing store chain. She was attractive, personable, and 22 years of age. Jonah asked her to marry him after she moved away to Columbus, GA to start her new store management position. The Berman family would call her Joby, short for Billie Jo. Within a year, Billie gave birth to a baby boy, Walter. They named him after Jonah's longtime friend and next door neighbor, Circuit Court Judge Walter B. Jones. He was a noted jurist, and founder of The Jones Law School. Walter Jones' father, Thomas Goode Jones had also lived next door, been a federal judge, and Governor of Alabama. Jonah's son Walter would visit the judge in his library often, always getting a Nehi strawberry soda on those visits. Walter was the 3rd generation of Bermans to live in the family home, which was on Adams Avenue overlooking downtown Montgomery. Jonah had bought out his siblings share of the large house in the early 50's, after the death of his mother. He took a section of the house, cut it up into apartments, and rented them out. Jonah and his new family lived there under less than ideal conditions. The house was old and there was no privacy because of the tenants. Walter would often ask, "Who are those people living in our house?" In addition, the furniture was very old and in need of replacement. The only positive thing about the living arrangements for Billie were the two maids Emmi and Birdia who cleaned the house and cared for Walter. There was a great deal of dissension between Jonah and Billie, which led to frequent quarrels. The main problem was that she wanted a renovated house and new furniture, and he didn't. Also, she was a woman that appreciated the finer things in life, and he was a very frugal man in some ways. There was no compromise, and after five years of marriage they divorced. A Quickie Divorce had been used to Billie's dismay while she was visiting her sister in Louisiana. Although they couldn't live together, there still seemed to be affectionate feelings between them evidenced by things they would do and say after the "so called" divorce. Jonah asked Billie to move to Columbus, GA, closer to her mother who was in Moultrie,GA. He bought a nice house for her and Walter to live in. It had a gold fish pond and patio, lots of flowers, and pecan and magnolia trees in the backyard. The house also was located in the Wynnton School District, which was one of the best in town. Jonah would drive over to see Walter and shop for groceries every weekend. On some occations he would bring Billie several boxes of clothes. He also would bring Blackie, a half-cocker spaniel along with him. Jonah and Walter would usually stay at The Martinique, a fancy motel in downtown Columbus. The Martinique had a nice pool in which Jonah liked to swim. He would float on his back for hours! Walter learned to swim in the pool by an instructor Jonah hired. The motel also featured a good restaurant where they would sometimes eat.

Jonah was truly a complex multi-dimensional character. He had a very serious side, and a very playful (almost childish) side. He also could be very frugal, yet quite generous depending on the circumstances. Jonah was very serious about his law practice and investments. He wore a suit, complimented by a bow tie seven days a week. He always had his big briefcase with him, although it was said he had a file cabinet in his head concerning all his cases. He took the money he earned in his successful law practice, invested most of it in the stock market, and did very well. He was a savvy investor, and would be seen at Merrill Lynch watching the stock ticker during lunchtime. He also had some rental property consisting of a row of houses in a low-income section of town, along with a small grocery store on the corner. In addition, he had four apartments in the family home on Adams Avenue. In spite of being wealthy, Jonah cared nothing about material things or status symbols. He drove an old Chevy Bel Air to work, which just so happened to be the first with air-conditioning in Montgomery! He also had a pre-owned Lincoln Continental which was a repo, and the only reason he bought a luxury car. He only drove it on weekends for traveling out of town. Jonah was a very practical man, ordering all his suits in bulk, and not paying a dime more for a haircut than he needed to. However, on his generous side he always picked up the tab when dining out, no matter how many were eating. He also bought poor children ice cream, and tickets to the movies. On one occasion he was asked for a new tire by a man down on his luck. He gave him a set of four instead. Jonah had an interesting cross section of friends too. His most famous buddies were heavyweight boxer Jack Dempsey, comedian Jimmy Durante, and Alabama Governor, James "Big Jim" Folsom. Jonah also became friends with sex symbol and movie star Jayne Mansfield when she was in her prime. One of Jonah's favorite activities was eating, and he spent money freely on this pleasure. All of his relatives and friends have a "Yank" eating story. He used to frequent a restaurant in Montgomery called Chris's, which is well known for their delicious hotdogs. The owner named one of the dogs, "the Yank Special"; which was two wieners in a bun! When he ordered a steak, which was frequently, and even for breakfast, it came pre-sliced and on the "pink side." He loved to play games and tricks on the waitresses. He had a coin game that consisted of two brass caps. He would make pennies turn to nickels, nickels to dimes, then disappear. The astonished waitress would always say, "where did they go?" Jonah would always reply, "Honey go look under your pillow at home!" He had another coin game in his house. It was an authentic Las Vegas slot machine, which he affectionately called the "Rosco Machine." It took many a coin from unsuspecting young nephews that visited him, but no one remembers it ever paying out. It seems the only one winning was Jonah! Finally, there was his trick dog named Blackie. Blackie was not really black - he was black and white. This was just another example of Jonah's twisted humor! He taught Blackie to do an assortment of tricks such as roll over, shake hands (paw), dance etc. Blackie had a diet of dog biscuits and raw hamburger meat. Jonah and Walter stayed at The Martinique almost every weekend for four years until Jonah's untimely death. Jonah had created a trust fund to care for Walter, who was only nine years of age at time of his death. He also had appointed one of his nephews to be co-trustee along with the bank. The trust terminated when Walter reached thirty years of age. Jonah's diet was not healthy, and his decadent lifestyle of overeating fatty foods finally caught up with him. In his late forties he became very obese and developed diabetes. On November 23,1965 at the age of 57, he died suddenly from a heart attack while at home sleeping. Although he never got to retire and enjoy his fortune, he did have nine years towards the end of his life with a son whom he loved and was very proud of. There will always be the question of what it would have been like for Walter if he had lived another twenty years. One thing is for sure: Jonah was a real character and accomplished a lot in his relatively short life.