Typed by: Kay Ward
WOLFRAM,Joydelle (Garrett)
Surnames: WOLFRAM, GARRETT, MITHCELL, BASSET, BLYTHE, TIERNEY,
NABORS, RUBINI, JOHNSON, KIRKPATRICK
Joydell Garrett, b July 4, 1926 at Stranger, Falls County, Texas-resides in
Marlin, Falls county, Texas-was a daughter and sixth child of Sanford Quay and
Agnes Estell (Mitchell) Garrett, and is the fourth generation of her father's
family, and fifth generation of her mother's family, in the county. She is the
widow of Bertram Wolfram, Jr., b February 22, 1922 in Galveston, Texas, died
there November 12, 1952 and buried in Calvary Cemetery in Galveston-the only
child of Bertram and Elizabeth (Basset) Wolfram, natives of Texas. Bert and
Joydelle were married in Lubbock, Texas on July 4, 1950; and he was a 1943
graduate of Texas Technological University-and practiced his profession as a
Geophysicist until a short time before his death.
Joydelle completed Stranger School, attended Marlin High School two years, and
graduated from Lubbock Senior High School, Class of 1943. Departing Falls County
in August 1942, she did not return to live until October 1977, and has made her
in Marlin since that time. Her thirty-five years away from Falls County
include two years of work for the Senior Vice President of Twentieth Century
Fox, a year as one of the first "female detailmen" for Texas Pharmacal
Company-showing an increase of over 200% during that year; and thirty-two years
in association with various medical professions-including the position of
Administrative Assistant to the Executive Dean and Director of The University of
Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, during which time she was in Hospital Control
during the September 1961 Hurricane Carla, and also serving as the
representative from the Medical Branch at the Dedicatory Ceremonies for the
Torbett-Hutchings-Smith Memorial Hospital in Marlin. She was the world's first
Medical Administrator of a Chronic Hemodialysis and Renal Transplant Program,
working with the renowned and combined program of the Veterans Administration
and UCLA in Los Angeles, California; and subsequently as the Administrator of a
national committee on kidney disease-serving on an elite committee which wrote
the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act which regulates the donation of organs for
transplantation.
Mrs. Wolfram has been published in prestigious medical journals, including the
International Journal of Chronic Diseases, the Transactions of Artificial
Internal Organs Association, Texas Journal of Medicine, and others. She is also
a published poet. She has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the
American Heart Association's Texas Affiliate in Fort Worth, Texas, and was a
member of their Speaker's Bureau. She has participated in writing various TV
spot announcements for use in public service advertisements, funded by the
Detroit Committee, and related to better understanding between races; and
recruited Hollywood Stars (including Ann Blythe, Gene Tierney, and Jim Nabors)
for recording special public service advertisements relating to endstage kidney
disease and treatment. She participated in writing and producing a special
curriculum for training patients and family members to carry out "artificial kidney" treatment.
Mrs. Wolfram, under the direction of Dr. Milton Rubini, participated in a study
for the California Department of Public Health to determine the feasibility of
state-supported artificial kidney programs in the State of California, and two
such centers were established as a result of the feasibility study. This same
report served as a National guideline for the White House Committee on Kidney
Disease, established by President Lyndon B. Johnson. In the Fall of 1967, she
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; and
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. Named Outstanding Citizen of Galveston County in
1963, in Tarrant County in 1972, and selected "Woman of the Year for 1985-1986"
by the Beta Sigma Phi Chapter of Alpha Omicron Omicron in Marlin, Joydelle has
been named to the International Who's Who In Poetry, in the National Register of
Prominent Americans, and honored by the Dictionary of International Biographies.
She is a past Vice President of Texas Press Women, and a member of National
Federation of Press Women, and Poetry Society of Texas. She was nominated in
1970 for membership in International Platform Association and American
Biographical Institute.
Since returning to Falls County in 1977, she has served with the Falls County
Historical Commission as a member, Secertary-Treasurer, and as Chairman of the
Falls County Historical Museum Endowment and Memorial Fund-being a Founder of
the Museum. In 1984, she was appointed by Falls County Judge, Burke Kirkpatrick,
to serve as Chairman of the 1986 Falls County Sesquicentennial Committee to
celebrate 150 years of Texas. She is amember of First Presbyterian Church of
Marlin, and active in the Women of the Church Circle. She 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 various counties in Texas. She has participated in the research
and preparation of a number of historical markers which have been approved by
Texas Historical Commission for Falls County.
Copyright Permission granted to Theresa Carhart for printing these bio of these
Falls County Families to this Web page
"Families of Falls County", Compiled and Edited by the Falls County Historical
Commission,
page 496-497, column 1 and 2, column 3
Member of Falls County Historical Commission
