The Marlin Democrat

April 12, 2005

Saying good-bye to noted historian: Wolfram touched many lives throughout dedicated career

     On March 20, 2005, Falls County and the nation lost a woman who lived a full and extraordinary life.

     Joydelle Wolfram was a wife, a writer, a noted woman in medical circles, and a strong American.

     Born on July 4, 1926 to Sanford Quay and Agnes (Mitchell) Garrett in the Stranger community, she was the sixth of seven children. Her maternal grandfather, William Henry Mitchell, was born in the Blue Ridge community on July 4, 1846. Her maternal grandmother's father was born on July 4, 1818. All of her ancestors came to Texas between 1834 and 1860 -and her four pairs of great grandparents are all buried in Falls County, only 4 miles apart, in the Garrett Cemetery in Stranger and in Blue Ridge Cemetery in the Blue Ridge community.

     Joydelle married Bertram Wolfram, Jr., a native of Galveston, and a geophysicist, on July 4, 1950 in Lubbock. Two years later, on November 12, 1952, he died of Hodgkin's disease. The couple had no children.

     In August 1942, Joydelle left Falls County and did not return there to live until October 1977. In those 35 years, she spent two years of work for the senior vice president of Twentieth Century Fox, two years with the Veterans Administration - one year in a Neuropsychiatric Hospital, and one year assisting a pathologist in autopsy examinations, two years as one of the first "female detailmen" in Texas for Texas pharmaceutical company, and the remainder of the years in association with various medical professions - including positions of senior secretary to the Dean of Medicine and Professor of Pathology and administrative assistant to the Executive Dean and Director of The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

     Joydelle was the world's first medical administrator of a chronic hemodialysis and renal transplantation program. Working with the renowned and combined program of the Veterans Administration Center and the University of California, Los Angeles, she was subsequently the administrator of a national committee on kidney disease by serving on an elite committee that wrote the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, which regulates the donation of organs for transplantation.

     She served four years as a director of volunteer services in a large hospital, and then became administrative assistant for the Director of Medical Education in Fort Worth Osteopathic Hospital - with responsibilities for the students of Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine at the hospital, as well as the intern and residency training programs.

     Joydelle was published in medical journals that include the International Journal of Chronic Diseases, the Transactions of Artificial Internal Organs Association, and Texas Journal of Medicine. She has served as a member of the board of directors of the American Heart Association - Texas Affiliate in Fort Worth, Texas, and was a member of its speakers' bureau.

     Joydelle participated in writing and producing various television spot announcements for use in public service advertisements on the subject of end-stage kidney disease and treatment - recruiting many Hollywood stars and in conjunction with her appointment as director of the Kidney Foundation of the Texas Gulf Coast.

     In the fall of 1967, Joydelle was one of a two-member team selected to tour eight European countries for the Veterans Administration to study facilities, equipment, rehabilitation of patients, and methods of financing treatment for end-stage kidney patients. She was awarded the Director's Commendation by the Veterans Administration for her contributions to the medical, administrative, and scientific programs of the Veterans Administration Center.

     She was a published poet. Joydelle had her work included in two consecutive editions of the National Anthology of Poetry, as well as having co-authored with her sister, Marian Mitchell (Garrett) Gibbs, a book of poetry, "In Our Hearts" which was named the best book of poetry published in Texas in 1962. She also published a two-volume set of the Garrett - Harlan family history.

     Joydelle was named "Outstanding Citizen" of Galveston County, Texas in 1963, and of Tarrant County, Texas in 1972. She was named "honorary director of medical education" in 1977 by the Fort Worth Osteopathic Hospital's interns and residents, and "Woman of the Year for 1985-1986" by the Beta Sigma Phi Chapter of Alpha Omicron Omicron in Marlin.

     She was a past first vice president of Texas Press Women, a member and delegate of the National Federation of Press Women, and a past member of the Poetry Society of Texas. In 1970, she was nominated for membership in the International Platform Association and American Biographical Institute.

     After returning to Falls County in 1977, Joydelle served with the Falls County Historical Commission until June 30, 1986. She was a member, secretary-treasurer, and chairman of the Falls County Historical Museum's Endowment and Memorial Fund. She was one of the founders of the museum, which was dedicated in November 1983.

     Joydelle participated in the research and preparation of many historical markers for Falls County.

     In March 1984, she was appointed by Burke Kirkpatrick, then Falls County judge, to serve as chairman of the Falls County Sesquicentennial Committee, design and carry out plans and activities developed to celebrate 150 years of Texas.

     Joydelle designed the adopted Falls County flag, which was honored by the Texas Senate and House of Representatives on February 14,1985, and recommended by those bodies to be adopted by the other counties of Texas. Since then, many other Texas counties have adopted the flag design.

     Joydelle was a lifetime member of the Stranger Community Church, and member of First Presbyterian Church of Marlin. Until becoming housebound, she was an active participant in the affairs of the Women of the Church. Beginning in 1977, she was told she would die within 6 months, then within 4 months, etc.

     "Only the good Lord knows, and when he calls, I know he needs me," she would say in response. "I have had a very exciting life and traveled all over this country as well as Europe, and met hundreds and hundreds of wonderful people. I will continue to do what I can, while I can."