Mrs. Flora Arrowood, president of the Austin Branch in 1936-37, headed civic drives in Austin in the 1940s, campaigning for better schools and the creation of what is now Mainspring Schools, for passage of bonds to get Brackenridge Hospital accredited, and for adding bookmobile services for the Austin Public Library. To learn more about Mrs. Arrowood, see https://austin-tx.aauw.net/files/2017/01/arrowood.pdf.
Natalie Balden was born and raised in the Ukraine, immigrating to the United States in 1947. She was a graduate of California State University Northridge, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a minor in Russian. She was a long time member of the Austin Branch, participating in Fellowship Fairs, chairing the Books and Brunch Southwest and Art Tour interest groups, and being honored with named gifts from the Branch to the AAUW Education Fund in 1999-2000 and 2010. She also donated many hours to the Austin League of Women Voters.
Dr. Natalie Barraga earned a bachelor’s degree in home economics and child development from North Texas State Teacher’s College in 1938, a master’s degree in educational psychology (special education) from the University of Texas at Austin in 1957, and a Doctor of Education from George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University in 1963. She joined the faculty at The University of Texas in 1963, advanced to Professor of Special Education in 1971, and retired as Professor Emerita in 1984. During her teaching career, she conducted pioneer research in visually impaired, and developed low vision assessment instruments and instructional materials for students with low vision. She taught courses and held seminars and workshops for teachers in 22 different countries around the world and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to spend a semester doing research and lecturing at The University of Zagreb in Croatia in 1986. She was active in several international organizations and her writings and materials are used all over the world. Her publications included books, monographs, book chapters, and numerous articles in professional journals. Her autobiography, If Anyone Can, You Can was published by the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired in 2007. Dr. Barraga was a member of the Austin Branch and also the honor societies of Phi Kappa Phi, Kappa Delta Pi, and Pi Lambda Theta. The Austin Branch honored her with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 2000.
Lilac Bauer began serving as the Austin Branch’s Girlstart liaison and volunteer coordinator in 2012 and took on the same role for Latinitas the following year. Prior to those responsibilities, she had served on the EYH Committee in 2010-2011. All these efforts evolved into an expanded STEM committee for the Branch. She built on her experience with the Nacogdoches AAUW Branch where she had also served on an EYH committee from 1995-2007 and as program chair in 2007. Lilac has been honored with gifts from the Branch to AAUW Funds in 1997, 2012, 2013 and 2016. Lilac has a BA in English/linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin and an MEd in English and ESL from Stephen F. Austin State University.
Myrtle Bell earned a BS in accounting from Hampton University in 1962 and a MBA in accounting from Ohio University in 1965; she worked as a Financial Analyst at IBM for 29 years. Myrtle’s Aunt Eva encouraged her to join AAUW, and she joined while living in the Binghamton, New York area. While still living in New York, Myrtle co-chaired a Coretta Scott King Scholarship Fund and became an AAUW Life Member. Since joining the Austin Branch, Myrtle served on the State Planning Committee in 2012 when Austin hosted the Texas AAUW Convention, has participated in program planning committees, and is a member of the Culture & Cuisine and PEARS interest groups. She also is an active Life Member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) – Austin Section, and the Wally Byam Caravan Club International, Inc.
Ann Berasley earned a BBA in marketing in 1985 and a MBA in business administration in 1987, both from Texas A&M University. In her career, she has worked as Senior Policy Analyst at the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission, Revenue Estimator at the Texas Comptroller of Public Affairs, Senior Auditor at the Texas Department of Assistive & Rehabilitative Services, Governmental Affairs Analyst and Outreach Coordinator and more recently Special Projects and Continuity Coordinator at the Texas Medical Board. Ann joined her mother, Dorothea Berasley, as an AAUW member in 1988 and is a Life member. She served as Austin Branch president in 1994-1995 and as Texas AAUW president in 2008-2010. AAUW Texas named her an Outstanding Woman of Texas in 1992-1993, and she served on AAUW National’s Governance Committee for 2015-2017 and fills AAUW Texas’ Parlimentarian/Bylaws position for 2016-18 She was also elected as AAUW’s National Governance Committee Leader for 2015-2017. Ann is also a Governance Committee member at Girl Scouts of Central Texas.
Dorothea Berasley was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. She graduated from Purdue University with a degree in pharmacy in 1943 and married George Berasley in Texas in 1961. Dorothea was active the Phi Mu Fraternity, Girl Scouts, and the Austin Branch for many years. She loved to do all types of needlework, from counted cross-stitch to quilting, and enjoyed the camaraderie of the stitchery group. Dorothea also served as communication director for the branch for years and was active in the contemporary literature interest group. She received a Branch President’s award in 2010 and 2011, and the Branch honored her with named gifts to AAUW Funds in 1997, 1998, 2000, 2009, and 2010.
Jean Bessent is a native Texan and considers Austin her hometown, though she’s lived and traveled throughout Texas and overseas. She received her BA in political science in 1984 from Southwest Texas State University and her Doctorate in real estate and environmental law in 1990 from St. Mary’s University and has practiced law and worked in the Texas Legislative Council. Since joining the Austin Branch in 2013, she has served as Co-Chair of Public Policy and as a member of the UT Fellowship Committee, was honored with a gift from the Branch to AAUW Funds in 2016, has been a member of the Culture and Cuisine and PEARS interest groups, and is Co-Chair of the UT Fellowship Committee 2018-19.
Diane Brewer graduated in 1964 from the University of Houston with a BA in theater and English, capping earlier studies at UT Austin and University of St. Thomas in Houston. Her lifelong passion for theater was fed by the Country Playhouse and the Alley Theater in Houston. As a fairly new teacher, she was honored in 1966 to replace Houston’s legendary Lamar High School teacher, Ruth Denney, who left to create Texas’ first High School for the Performing Arts. At Lamar Senior High School in Houston, she was honored as Outstanding NFL coach in 1968. After her marriage to Charles Brewer in 1969, she focused on church and family; returning to teaching in 1981, she spent the next 20 years at Hill Country Middle School in Eanes ISD, where she worked to build both the theater program and the University Interscholastic League Literary Contest, coaching Poetry Reading and chairing the school’s UIL Teams. In 1995, she was honored by the faculty and designated that year’s Spirit of Education. Following several years of chairing the Middle School division of the Texas Educational Theatre Association, she was designated Middle School TETA Educator of the Year. On the occasion of the ceremony, her mentor Ruth Denney was a part of the audience, which thrilled Diane. Diane joined AAUW- Austin in 2006 and is a member of both Austin AAUW and Georgetown AAUW. In the Austin Branch, Diane served as Membership VP 2012-2015 and continues to support the branch wherever she can. She chaired the Art Tours special interest group for 10 years, writing up accounts of the tours as well as organizing them, still leads the Out to Lunch group, enjoys playing bridge, and loves being a part of a group of awe-inspiring women. The Branch honored her with named gifts to AAUW Funds in 2012 and 2016.
Dr. Mary Braunagel-Brown (r) endowed The Mary Braunagel-Brown Excellence Fund for Young Women’s Leadership at the University of Texas at Austin in 2013. Under the direction of the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies, this fund supports women undergraduates selected for INSPIRE Leadership, a three-year revolving program serving sophomores to seniors to help develop the skills they need to achieve the highest levels within their chosen academic fields. Mary earned a B.S., an M.A., and a Ph.D. all in French history and all from the University of Texas. She served the Schenectady, New York AAUW Branch as treasurer and was treasurer of the Austin Branch from 2004 to 2008. The Branch honored her with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 2004, 2009, and 2013.
Gigi Edwards Bryant was featured with a cover photo and feature story in the August 2011 issue of Austin Woman, focusing on how she became a skilled and well respected child and community advocate. Gigi received a bachelor’s degree in business and computer science from St. Edward’s University in Austin and an MBA from UT Dallas. She has organized several non-profits and worked in state-level appointments from three Texas governors. Gigi was honored as a community leader and fierce advocate for children in foster care at the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) in Travis County’s CASABLANCA event in February 2012. She was elected to the Austin Community College District Board of Trustees in December 2014.
Faye Carpenter graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1969 and was well known and loved in her many circles in Austin and the greater Texas community. She was a long time member of the Texas State Speech Association, where she served as archivist from 1990-2005. Because of her dedication to perfection, the final archival publication of the association went through six revisions before it met her standards. As a member of the Austin Branch, she focused on the need for coordinated adult education services in Austin and helped start in 1983 and acted as the branch’s representative to the Adult Literacy Council (now Literacy Coalition of Central Texas). She also organized two book groups for the branch and phoned members about upcoming meetings. The Branch honored her with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 1997.
Randi Carter is a fifth generation Texan who has spent most of her life in Texas. She received a BA in English from University of Mary Hardin Baylor in 1958 and an MA in environmental management from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1976. After college, she taught in public schools in Dallas, Phoenix, and San Antonio. After graduate school, she was an executive director of governmental and non-profit agencies until her retirement in 2005. She joined the Austin Branch in 2015 and is Secretary for 2018-19. She volunteers at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and was involved for 17 years in Friendship Force leadership positions and exchange trips abroad.
Geraldyne (Jerry) Cassidy earned a BA in English and Spanish from the University of Louisiana in Lafayette in 1946. She served as President of South Carolina AAUW and was on the AAUW Educational Foundation for 3 years. While living in South Carolina, she played violin with and was President of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, served as President of the Alliance of Charleston Unitarian Universalist Churches, and was active in the League of Women Voters and her Wednesday Music Club. She is an honorary member of AAUW and joined the Austin Branch when she moved to Austin in 2012.
Fern Chester earned a BS in home economics from Abilene Christian University in 1950. She began working at age 15 selling Fuller Brushes door-to-door and later worked for General Electric, demonstrating new electric ranges all over Texas. Then she learned shorthand, wrote a thesis in 1934 and worked for 21 years at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. As the Dean’s secretary and administrative assistant, she arranged logistics for speakers and lecturers and directed the Christian education ministry and continuing education programs. Fern met with President Nixon at the Conference on Aging and has worked for housing for the elderly, taught defensive driving, and volunteered for Meals on Wheels. After her husband Ray died, she joined the Austin Branch in 1989 and moved into active leadership, serving as secretary, State membership chair, and interest groups, hosting a book group in her home and also participating in Culture & Cuisine and Creative Stitchery. The Branch honored her with a named gift to AAUW funds in 2003.
On November 13, 1925, AAUW Austin Branch member Mrs. Grace Delano Clark persuaded the organization to take on the project of establishing a library for Austin, and the Austin Public Library Association was born. Branch members went from house to house canvasing for book donations and money for a building, and after three months of collecting books and dollars, the AAUW established a small subscription library upstairs in a room at 810 Congress Avenue. In 1913, Austin mayor Alexander Wooldridge had persuaded the Texas Legislature to purchase and present to the city the half block between Guadalupe and San Antonio Streets facing West 9th Street, and with AAUW’s small library start, the Austin Public Library opened in 1926 at that location in an 1800 square foot wooden frame building housing 1,700 volumes, with Mrs. Clark volunteering as the first librarian. In 1928, she received the Austin Most Worthy Citizen Award given by the Austin-American for her efforts in founding the library. In May 1928, Austin voters approved $150,000 in bonds for a new library building, which was completed in March 1933 under the supervision of the Austin Public Library Commission, with Mayor Wooldridge as chairman and Mrs. Clark as secretary. Until she moved from Austin, she continued as a member of the Austin Library Commission and of its book selection committee, and she also was an active member of many other organizations, including the League of Women Voters.
Life member Onie B. Conley was named an Outstanding Woman of the Branch in 1987 and was honored with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 1993. A consummate and dedicated educator, she spent over forty years in the classroom, including summers. She was also dedicated to the Austin community, and many local non-profit organizations benefited from her time, talent, and financial resources, including Girl Scouts, American Red Cross, Holy Cross Hospital, Austin Dramatic Club, George Washington Carver Library and Museum, Old Bakery Emporium, and Capital Metro. As a participant in the Blackshear Neighborhood Group, she served as the liaison between the neighborhood and the City Council, championing such causes as new streets, sidewalks, curbs, and gutters for East Austin; benches and shelters for bus riders; and ramps on sidewalks for the handicapped in wheelchairs. Her East Austin advocacy efforts also resulted in the new Carver Library and the use of the old library as the Carver Museum and also in the naming of Austin’s Conley-Guerrero Senior Activity Center in 1992, honoring her and Roy G. Guerrero as persons who dedicated their lives to the enrichment and betterment of the Austin community and its citizens for more than fifty years. For more information on Conley, see https://austin-tx.aauw.net/files/2017/01/Onie-Conley.pdf.
Connie Yerwood Conner, M.D., was honored as an Outstanding Woman of the Austin Branch for her contributions in the field of medicine. She became the first African-American Director of Maternal and Child Health in Texas and finally the Chief of the Bureau of Personal Health Services, which provided oversight of the divisions of Maternal and Child Care, Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Disease. She was featured in the Austin American-Statesman’s special edition for the Sesquicentennial in 1986. For more information about her, see
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fconp on the
Texas State History Association’s website.
Lynn Cooksey Day Proclamation
In June 2015, the Austin City Council issued a proclamation designating June 21st as Lynn Cooksey Day, honoring her “for her incredible community involvement.” Council member Sherry Gallo cited Lynn’s involvement in Austin Community Television, International Hospitality Council of Austin, and Austin Woman’s Federated Club, her serving on the boards of organizations including Planned Parenthood and United Nations Association of Austin, and her acting as Austin’s “first lady” during her husband Frank’s 1983-1985 term as Mayor of Austin. On June 22, the Council also awarded the Cookseys Barton Springs Pool Lifetime Swim Passes. Lynn was honored by the Branch with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 2014 as well. Lynn earned a BA (psychology) and an MA (LBJ School-public policy) from the University of Texas.
Dr. Beulah Agnes Curry-Jones (Aggie) was honored in 2003 by the Texas African American Historical Organization with their Dr. Lamar Kirven Lifetime Achievement Award for her volunteer work and community service/leadership in music and music education. Dr. Jones is retired chair of Huston-Tillotson University’s Fine Arts Department, music educator, church musician, community volunteer, and education mentor. In 2014, she and Barbara Foreman received the President’s Award honoring founders of the Austin Chapter of National Women of Achievement, Inc. She was also honored as 2015 Woman of the Year by her beloved Ebenezer Baptist Church in May 2015. For more information about Aggie and her husband Jimmie Jones and their long presence in Austin’s Eastside music scene, see https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2010-06-18/1042038/
Larayne Dallas earned a BA in 1976 in Anthropology and and a MA in 1977 in Library Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana. She has been the Engineering Librarian at the University of Texas at Austin since 1987, and as STEM liaison, she works closely with other UT STEM librarians. As an Austin Branch member, Larayne has served as Branch archivist for many years, collecting and interacting with the Austin History Center to update its archive of Austin AAUW materials. The Branch honored her with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 2014.
Dr. Melinda Townsel Dunn (center) and her husband Greg Dunn have established an endowed scholarship at Austin Community College to provide assistance to students planning to enter the teaching field (see https://austincc.academicworks.com/opportunities/2610 ).
Melinda is a retired head librarian at ACC as well as an adjunct professor in human development. For several years while serving as head librarian at the ACC Northridge campus, she organized a “living history” program to mark Women’s History Month and sought AAUW members as participants. She is a graduate of the University of North Texas (BS and MS in library science) and earned a PhD in ethnological studies at Texas State University. She was the Branch’s LAF vice president in 2007-08 and served as its webmaster in 2010-11.
Dr. Evelyn Farmer was a kind, thoughtful, caring educator of children pre-kindergarten through the university level. With a BA and MA in education, and a PhD in Administration, she was a Classroom Teacher, Principal, Assistant Superintendent, worked at two different Educational Service Centers and also at the Texas Education Agency. She loved children, spending her career making education more meaningful for all students. She loved to share experiences she had had on road trips with fellow educators, and she had a treasure-chest full of experiences. She played the oboe in three different orchestras, and she was active in her church when she moved to Austin. She was also active in several professional organizations and held leadership roles in everyone. Most recently she was the President of the Austin AAUW Branch, and she was newsletter editor for the Alpha Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma. She loved to do research on whatever illness she had and on foods that might help her get well.
After thirty years of practicing law as a state employee, legislative aide, and private practitioner, Maria Luisa (Lulu) Flores was honored in September 2010 as National Latina Lawyer of the year by the Hispanic National Bar Association. The award recognized Flores’s work as president of the National Women’s Political Caucus, her service as a longtime employee of the State Bar and Railroad Commission, and above all, her longstanding commitment to public interest work and community engagement, including her leadership positions in state and local bar associations. At the 2011 Greater Austin YWCA’s Women of the Year Awards Celebration, Flores received a Lifetime Achievement Award for all her efforts to help the women of Texas through her involvement with Planned Parenthood of the Texas Capital Region, the Women’s Advocacy Project, and the Center for Battered Women (now SafePlace). As an attorney and partner at Hendler Law, she has also put her legal training and experience to work for the the Austin Women’s Political Caucus and the Hispanic Bar Association of Austin. The City of Austin honored her as an inductee into the Austin Women’s Hall of Fame in 2013.
Soon Merz Flynn holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Kansas, and a Master of Science in General Business from the University of Central Texas. She has served as Vice President for Effectiveness and Accountability at Austin Community College since 2004, leading the strategic planning and data analysis operations of the college, sitting on the President’s Cabinet and participating in many student success initiatives. Prior to coming to ACC, she set up an institutional research office and a statewide data collection and analysis system for the Kansas Board of Regents, directed the Faculty Affairs and Institutional Research office at the University of Kansas Medical Center, and served in the Office of Planning and Analysis at Michigan’s Oakland Community College, the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Soon is active in several professional organizations and has served in leadership positions for the Association for Institutional Research, the Texas Association for Institutional Research, the National Post-Secondary Education Cooperative, the National Community College Benchmarking Project, and the American Association of University Women. The Branch honored her with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 2014.
Dr. Phyllis Folarin and her husband relocated from Elgin, Illinois, to be close to their daughters. She joined both the Georgetown and Austin Branches of AAUW. Although she first joined AAUW in 1971, after serving for two years in the National Teacher Corps, she took a hiatus for several years while raising children, continuing her education, and becoming more involved in her community. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Wilberforce University in Ohio, her master’s degree at Southern Illinois University and her Doctorate Degree, Ed.D in Educational Leadership, at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.
She has served on several community organizations’ Boards of Directors including the YWCA and the Boys and Girls club and United Way of Elgin. She received the YWCA Racial Justice Award, as well as the Martin Luther King, Jr., Humanitarian Award for Education from the City of Elgin. In 1990 she was elected to the Elgin Community College Board of trustees and at the state level, she served on the executive committee of the Illinois Community College Trustees Association receiving the Outstanding Trustee Award and at the national level, she served on the diversity, governance, and bylaws committees. Phyllis is a life-long educator with a passion for student success, teaching for many years and later a school administrator. After retiring in 2005, she started a consulting business, coaching new and struggling administrators and more recently, she, her husband and daughters also formed a partnership with an infant school in Jamaica, West Indies. She enjoys her volunteer work, golfing, traveling, and listening to all types of music.
Inés Garcia received her BA in English and Spanish from Texas A&I University in 1963 and her MA in Spanish and English from the same university in 1965. She also took library science classes in the 1960s and foreign language education classes in the 1980s at the University of Texas at Austin. For thirty-two years, she worked at the Texas Education Agency in the Division of Curriculum Development at the Texas Education Agency in Austin. Inés received a Branch President’s award in 2011, and was honored with a named gift from the Austin Branch to AAUW Funds that year. She acted as yearbook editor for a number of years and served as Branch president in 2009-10 and as co-president in 2014-15, as well as AAUW Texas finance officer in 2014-16.
Dr. Sherry Gillespie received the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers USA Congressional Fellowship in 2008 for her work to support legislation on public policy issues involving science and technology. She was named a Woman of Distinction by AAUW Texas in 2008.
Catherine (Kay) Goodwin graduated from Ohio State University with a BS in home economics in 1940. Kay was an honorary member of AAUW, having joined in 1949. She served the Austin Branch as president 1971-73 and also served as chair of the strategic planning committee that established in 1983 what is now Literacy Austin; she and her committee launched that new initiative at a lovely reception for city and county leaders at Caswell House. She was named an Outstanding Member of the Branch in 1985-86 and the Branch honored her with a named gift to AAUW funds in 2017. Kay was also honored as one of the founders of the Lifetime Learning Institute of Austin at a 20th anniversary celebration in 1997, serving on its board and teaching numerous needlework classes. She enjoyed several of the branch interest groups over the years and amazed the stitchery group with her skillful work. She was a member of several other organizations, including the YWCA, P.E.O., DAR; and on the occasion of her 100th birthday, Governor Gregg Abbott proclaimed her a “Yellow Rose of Texas” in recognition of her many civic contributions to the State of Texas.
Lottie Gradick was elected by her peers as the first woman president of the Austin Personnel Association (now the Austin Human Resources Management Association in 1969, and in her career at what is now the Texas Workforce Commission, she was a pioneer in the field of human resources. As a fifty-year honorary life member of AAUW, she was a devoted supporter of higher education for women, and she was also a stickler for the proper use of the English language who enjoyed proofreading and editing business and scientific manuscripts into her nineties. She was named a Woman of Distinction by AAUW Texas in 2008.
Betty Grubbs received a BA from Villa Maria College in Buffalo, New York and an MA from the University of Pittsburgh, both in business education. She is now an honorary member of the Branch, having joined AAUW in 1948. As an Austin Branch member, she has been a well-respected recruiter of volunteers and chaired many special events, particularly fundraising events to pay for outreach programs in Austin. She received the Community Spirit Award from the Austin Group for the Elderly in 2006 for her work as a community activist specializing in Social Security and Medicare issues. The branch honored her with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 2017.
Annette Haslund graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1950 with a bachelors’ degree in Education with an emphasis in Special Education and later earned a master’s degree in Education from Southern Methodist University. Although she lost most of her vision to macular degeneration at age 11, Annette loved education, the arts, and current events. She was active in the Austin Branch, many book discussion groups, the LBJ Library lecture series, and UT Austin Lifelong Learning continuing education programs. Annette was a relentless champion of Reach Out and Read (now Bookspring) and Trinity Child Development Center Preschool in Austin.
Betty Himmelblau graduated from the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and earned a BS in Occupational Therapy from the University of Wisconsin. During World War II, she was a Navy WAVE officer, and afterwards she was assigned to the Naval Hospital in Seattle to help rehabilitate wounded veterans. Betty moved to Austin in 1957 when her husband joined the Chemical Engineering faculty at the University of Texas. In Austin, she served on the Austin Planning Commission and then was elected to the City Council in 1975, serving three terms. While on the City Council, she was instrumental in working on health care issues, including establishing Austin’s Medical Assistance Program, and she also shepherded ordinances that created the Austin Commission for Women and the Austin Arts Commission. Her roles in public service included Chair of the Brackenridge Hospital Board of Directors, member of the Brackenridge Foundation Board, member of the Austin/Travis County Health Care Task Force, member of the Statewide Health Care Coordinating Council, and Chair of Central Texas Health Systems Agency and Texas Health Facilities Commission. Betty was also involved in a number of civic activities and causes affecting women. She was President of the Austin Branch in 1961-62 and also served as President of the Austin Civic Ballet, Vice President of the Austin Symphony Society, and member of the executive committee of Austin Chamber of Commerce, Austin Settlement Club, Junior Helping Hand, Austin Woman’s Club, Athletics Council for the University of Texas Women’s Athletics Program, and Longhorn Foundation and received honors from the Austin Citizen and Women in Communications, Inc.
Peggy Holland, who began attending the University of Texas at Austin in 1958, was the first African-American woman to receive an undergraduate degree from UT’s College of Business, and later she was honored as a BBA star at the college’s 100th anniversary celebration. As an AAUW member, Peggy was honored by the Branch in 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2009 with a named gift to AAUW Funds for her service to the branch and once with a named gift to the AAUW Barbara Charlene Jordan American Fellowship. AAUW Texas named her a Woman of Distinction in 2008, and she served as branch treasurer for two years and as membership Vice President for a year. See article about her published in the Daily Texan.
Nita Hornbeck joined AAUW after retiring from 25 years of teaching in 1990 and went on to play a number of key roles for the Austin Branch. First she became newsletter editor, which enabled her to get to know many members. As a leader, she served as Chair of the State AAUW convention in 1994; she and Veronica Johnson co-chaired the local arrangements for the National AAUW convention in Austin in 2001; and in 2003-04 she was president of the Austin Branch. A major focus of Nita’s was public policy: first she became Austin Branch Public Policy Chair, then Texas Public Policy Chair, and finally a member of the National AAUW Public Policy Board, even lobbying in DC. She also helped organize many Legislative Days at the Capitol in Austin. Continuing to focus on education, after Dr. Elaine Kant introduced the Austin Branch to Expanding Your Horizons, Nita became a key organizer in the Branch co-sponsoring the EYH annual STEM conference for girls at the University of Texas beginning in 1990. She was named an Outstanding member of the Branch in 1991 and 1992 and was honored by the Branch with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 1995 and 2002. AAUW Texas named her a Texas State Honoree in 1994 for her service as Chair of the State Convention. Nita worked with Raemar Shown to involve Branch members in staffing the conferences for the program during the twenty years before Girlstart began managing them. She represented AAUW On the Coalition for Public Schools Board and assisted Cecile Richards in 1995 in founding the Texas Freedom Network, a nonprofit organization focused on supporting public education. Nita, along with Pat Ross, program chair of Texas AAUW, and Cecile organized a group of Branch Public Policy chairs throughout Texas to monitor the State Board of Education, attending meetings and supporting issues.
Dr. Tamara Hudgins was inducted into the South by Southwest Interactive Hall of Fame in March 2015 at the festival’s Innovation Awards for her work in expanding Girlstart’s reach in STEM education. In April 2015, she was featured in an article in the Austin American-Statesman. Before her move to Texas in late 2005, Tamara was executive director of a nonprofit that served more than 11,000 Chicago teachers and children every week. Tamara is passionate about creating and sustaining high-quality educational programs that improve teaching and learning. She received her BA from Ohio State, her MA from the Art Institute of Chicago, and her PhD from Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. She has taught at the graduate level at School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Central European University, and the Prague College of Studies in Art and Architecture.
Janani Janakiraman earned a BS in Technology and Computer Science at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, India in 1989 and an MS in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan in 1991. She worked as a Staff Engineer at Texas Instruments in Austin for a year, then as a Senior Research Programmer III at the University of Michigan Center for Information Technology for about 8 years, and as a Senior Software Engineer and Master Inventor at IBM Austin since 1998. In the fall of 2017, Janani served on a multi-cultural, gender-balanced, cross-functional, pro bono consulting team of IBMers from seven countries on social impact projects in Bulgaria. Janani is a member of member of both Austin and Georgetown branches who joined AAUW after her twin daughters, Priya and Kavya Ramamoorthy and two of their friends, then 8th graders, became interested in Title IX, obtained mentoring from local AAUW members, and developed a Title IX Website which they received AAUW’s Title IX Champions award in 2012. (Priya and Kavya are now Austin Branch members). As an AAUW member and core team member of IBM’s Women in Technology Community Service Organization, Janani has obtained several IBM community education grants for the Austin Branch. Janani also now leads a Web/PR team for the Austin Branch and has been serving as Website maintainer for both the Branch and AAUW Texas since 2014. The Branch honored Janani with named gifts to AAUW Funds in 2014 and 2016.
Inez Jeffrey’s professional career began when she was left a widow with three children in 1945. Undaunted, she got a loan and opened the Jeffrey School for children ages 2-6. This school, which made use of educational research and used innovative teaching techniques, operated in Austin for 37 years. In later years, Inez was named by AAUW Texas as a Woman of Distinction in 2008, described as founder and director of the Jeffrey School and founder and president of International Diversified Services, where she worked with the business community to seek entry into other countries and to encourage foreign firms to come into Texas. She served as Austin Branch President in1993-94 and was honored by a named gift to AAUW Funds in 1994 and 1998. Wanting to honor Inez by establishing an endowment in her name, Austin Branch members held many fundraising events during a six-year period, and because Inez was a world traveler and tour leader who had visited Russia many times, one of these special events was a book signing for her book, Inside Russia, The Life and Times of Zoya Zarubina. Within six years of fundraising the Branch completed the Dr. Inez C. Jeffery Educational Foundation Research and Projects Endowment of $35,000 in 2002. Inez was also an advocate for the elderly in Texas, writing a weekly column for the Austin-American Statesman on senior issues that ran from 1964 to 1982 and moderating “Families Facing Change,” a series of television programs with a panel of experts in1980. Texas Congressman Jake Pickle said of her that “She knew the law and the rules that go with the legislation because she helped write the law.” She was honored by the Austin Board of REALTORS as Austin’s Most Worthy Citizen in 1995, by the League of Women’s Voters with their first Annual Foreign Policy Lecture in 1996, and also by Women in Communication International’s Liz Carpenter Lifetime Achievement Award and the World Congress President’s Award for “Excellence in Journalism.” For more about Inez Jeffrey, see https://austin-tx.aauw.net/files/2017/01/Statesman-2001-09-11-InezJeffery.pdf
Veronica Johnson has been a long-time AAUW member, in seven branches in six states. Veronica joined IBM in 1974 as a customer engineer, a non traditional career for women. She moved to Austin as an IBM HR Partner in 1992 and was very quickly active in the Austin Branch and on the Board during the period she lived in Austin. AAUW Texas named her a Woman of Distinction in 2008, describing her as a volunteer and community servant since high school. Veronica served as Branch president in 1997-98 and she also received a Branch President’s Award in 2010 and a named gift to AAUW Funds in 1995, 2000, and 2010. Veronica is a graduate of the University of Minnesota with BS in home economics. She added human resources certification at the University of Texas in 1995.
President of SciComp, Inc., a software development company, Dr. Elaine Kant was educated at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (B.S., mathematics) and Stanford University (M.S. & Ph.D., computer science). She is widely published and a much-in-demand keynote speaker. She holds several patents and has received numerous awards for her work. Dr. Kant was the general chair of Austin’s EYH ( Expanding Your Horizons) in Mathematics and Science Careers Conference in 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994. AAUW Texas named her an Outstanding Woman of Texas in 1991-92. She served as president of TWIST ( Tomorrow’s Women in Science, Engineering, and Technology), 1995-1999.
Often called a trailblazer, Carole Keeton’s public service in the elected arena in Austin and in Texas spans four decades from 1972 to 2007 and is full of “firsts”—First woman president of the Austin School Board, first woman president of Austin Community College Board of Trustees; first woman elected Mayor of Austin, (and still the only woman to serve as mayor of Austin) and the only mayor of Austin elected by the citizens for three terms. While serving as Mayor she was selected “One of the 50 Faces for America’s Future” by Time Magazine and was elected President of The Texas Municipal League representing all the cities in Texas. Elected to statewide office four times, Carole is the first woman in history elected and reelected Texas Railroad Commissioner and the first woman in history elected and reelected Texas Comptroller. As Comptroller, her report on our Texas foster care system, Forgotten Children, won a National Public Integrity Award. Carole began her career as a public school teacher. Her lifelong record of achievement is rooted in her passion for education and public service. She was inducted into the Austin Women’s Hall of Fame in 2013. She currently serves as Executive Director, pro-bono, Austinites For Action and as a lifetime member of The Lola Wright Foundation and on the Advisory Board for Girl Scouts of Central Texas.
Dr. Kay Keys received her BA, MA, and PhD degrees in English from the University of Texas at Austin. She taught English at Odessa High School and UT Austin prior to becoming a computer systems analyst and team leader at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality until retirement, working with mainframe applications to web-based applications. From 1980-82 Kay lived in New York City while working at the Modern Language Association on a National Endowment for the Humanities funded project to create a more flexible indexing system for MLA’s Annual Bibliography. Kay served as Branch secretary in 2016-17, and as Branch historian in 2016-17, she brought the Branch & Member herstories and Girls in STEM web pages up to date, building on previous member herstory work, responding to feedback and suggestions, and getting a great deal of help from Janani Janakiraman in locating and adding images to illustrate entries, and keeping the webpage versions current. She was honored by the Branch with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 2013 and 2016.
Anita Knight is an Alpha Lambda Delta and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Bucknell University with a double major in biology and chemistry and has done graduate work in health administration at Central Michigan University and in environmental engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. She worked as a Health and Environmental Specialist and Database Administrator at Dow Chemical in Midland, Michigan for 25 years and as a Senior Regulatory Affairs Specialist at Nalco Company in Naperville, Illinois for 13 years. Anita is a life and now an honorary member of AAUW, having first joined in 1966. Anita has had leadership roles in three branches and has served AAUW Austin as Branch president in 2013-14 and co-president in 2014-15 as well as chair of the funds committee. She has also served on the AAUW state boards of both Michigan and Texas. Anita enjoys networking and volunteering in the community. Her record of service includes church council treasurer and president, member and treasurer of the Midland, Michigan Board of Education, program chair of SCHC (Society of Chemical Hazard Communication), president of Nalco Toastmasters Club, on the Environmental Improvement Commission in Wheaton, Illinois, Newcomers Club of Austin treasurer, Friendship Force Club of Austin treasurer and chair, member of the GlobalAustin board, and on the lecture committee for UT NOVA. She was a finalist for the 2015 Diana L Gorham Lifetime Achievement given annually by the YWCA of Austin. She was one of the branch’s most consistent volunteers at Girlstart and Latinitas. Anita has been honored by the Branch with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 2009, 2012, and 2016.
Marsha Endahl-Kramer earned a BA in sociology from the University of Toronto in 1979 and a MS in counseling from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut in 1985; and she is the owner of Marsha Endahl-Kramer Consulting. Marsha served in a number of leadership and social service roles in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, New Canaan, CT, and south Florida, including much volunteer and professional work in domestic violence. She has chaired many special events, but a favorite was co-chairing the Festival of Trees as a successful fund-raiser for the Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Art. She was president of the Boca Raton, Florida Branch and was on the board of the New Canaan, Connecticut Branch. During her volunteer and paid church staff time, she founded a number of women’s groups that are still active today. Making lasting connections is her specialty! For the Austin Branch, she has served in a number of leadership roles, including membership vice president in 2010-2011, Education Fund vice president, funds committee co-chair, co-president in 2016-2017, chair of a public policy subcommittee in 2021 that distributed posters about trafficking (designed by the TX license bureau and required to be posted in all nail salons). She received a Branch President’s award in 2010 and 2011 and the Branch honored her with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 2010, 2011 and 2016. Marsha is proud to relate that her late mother was a 72-year member of AAUW.
Glenda Lassiter graduated from the University of Texas with a BA in English and from Southern Methodist University with a MA in English. She earned mid-management certification from Texas Woman’s University. Glenda has many interests including writing, reading, bridge, travel, book groups, SAGE classes at UT, Shakespeare Club, and physical fitness. Her personal memoir “Griff” was a winner in the Austin Genealogical Society’s 2015 Writing Contest. She also served as membership vice president for AAUW Georgetown.
Janie Maldonado earned a BA in history and Spanish from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio in 1973 and an MA in education management in 1979 from the University of Texas at San Antonio. She joined the Austin Branch in 1991, served as president in 2005-06, and has acted as parliamentarian for a number of years. She also serves as the branch liaison with Mainspring Schools. Janie is a curriculum specialist for the Austin Independent School District and was selected as “Educator of the Year” by the Austin Coordinating Council of Delta Kappa Society International in 2006. The Austin Branch honored her with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 2017.
Frances Malmberg received her B.S. degree in 1943, and her M.A. degree in Special Education in 1952 from the University of Texas at Austin. She taught in several Central Texas rural schools before joining the teaching staff of the Texas School for the Blind, where she taught for 29 years, retiring in 1972. Miss Malmberg was a life member of AAUW and President of the Austin Branch 1964-66. She was also active in the Austin League of Women Voters, Brackenridge Hospital Auxiliary, National Council of Good Neighbors, State Committee for the Improvement of Libraries, and Austin’s First United Methodist Church, where she was President of her Sunday School class and a Home Care Visitor. After her retirement, she became a world traveler while maintaining an interest in current events. The AAUW – Frances Malmberg Endowed Scholarship in the Austin Community College Foundation was made possible in 2004 by her legacy and is available to assist female students 25 years or older enrolled at ACC . (See https://austincc.academicworks.com/opportunities/2459 for more information on the scholarship.)
After Dr. Janice May received her PhD in Political Science from the University of Texas at Austin in 1952, she taught as a Professor in the Government Department until her retirement, also acting as a pre-law student advisor. Janice was active with the League of Women Voters, serving as President and Board member of the local organization and also as a Board member of the national organization. She served as a registered lobbyist to governmental officials, explaining League-supported agenda items. She was also a member of the Commission that drafted a new constitution for the State of Texas, but which was not adopted by the voters. Janice was active in the Austin community as a President of the Austin Newcomers Club, a librarian at the Old Quarry Branch for several years, and a Girl and Cub Scout leader. A long-time member of the Austin Branch, she served as President in 1959-60 and helped keep members informed about what was happening in Texas government. On her death, she left $350,000 to AAUW National’s AAUW Fund.
Jane McCallum was an early suffragist leader, president of the Austin Suffrage Association in 1915, head of publicity for TESA (Texas Equal Suffrage Association), and Texas Secretary of State (1927-1933). She was also a founder of Austin area League of Women Voters, and she led Petticoat Lobbyists (Joint Legislative Council) in campaigning for Dan Moody as Texas governor. For more about McCallum, see
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fmc07 on the
Texas State History Association’s website, and for more
about her long fight for women’s recognition, see
https://austin-tx.aauw.net/files/2017/01/jane_mccallum-08-31-1953-article.pdf
Adrian McCulloch obtained a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Houston-Victoria and a Master’s degree in Library Science from the University of North Texas. She served as the Library Director at Laredo Junior College until retiring and moving to Austin in 1998. She loved archeology, art, reading, and going to museums. In the Austin Branch, she was especially active in book club and art tour interest groups, suggesting topics and planning tours.
Diane Merwarth received a BA in biology and a BS in physical therapy from the University at Buffalo, New York in 1982. She also took classes in international interdisciplinary wound care, and is certified as a wound specialist. Diane is employed at Dell Seton Medical Center in Austin and is also a longtime supporter of the physical therapy department at Texas State University involved in teaching, admissions, and clinical education. She won the Ruby Decker Award at the 2009 TPTA conference, and in recognition not only of this award but for the many other contributions that she has made to Texas State, Diane was recognized at the 2010 Physical Therapy Awards Event at Texas State in 2010 with the first Dr. Barbara Sanders Outstanding Service Award. The Austin Branch honored her with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 1998.
Born in Hong Kong, Amy Wong Mok came to the United States in 1975 and moved to Austin in 1983. A psychotherapist by formal education, she received a BS in Human Services and a MEd in Community and Mental Health Counseling from Northeastern University in Boston. In Austin, Amy has been involved in community service and championed social causes related to cultural diversity, education, and women’s health. She founded the Asian American Cultural Center in Austin in 2000 and was appointed to a twelve person braintrust for KLRU-TV’s multi-year initiative, Navigating the Digital Divide, receiving an individual community service award from the Association for Asian American Studies in 2010 for that work. Amy has served on many Texas and local boards, including Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, AAUW Austin Branch, Austin Community Council of the Community Action Network, People’s Community Clinic, Capital Area United Way, and the Long Center for Performing Arts. She has also served on the National Advisory Panel on Violence Against Women and the 80-20 Committee (a national Asian American Political Action Committee). Because of her work in promoting cultural understanding, her love for diversity, her passion for social justice and her active efforts to facilitate positive social changes, Amy has been honored by the UT Austin Moody College of Communication by being selected for the American Trustees Project:
https://moody.utexas.edu/centers/strauss/american-trustees/trustees/amy-wong-mok
Dr. Rosemary Morrow earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin, a Master’s degree from Southwest Texas State University, and a PhD from UT Austin. She taught social studies at Porter Junior High and Austin High School and also served as instructional coordinator and administrative supervisor for social studies K-12 for Austin Independent School District. She also served as assistant director and later director of social studies at the Texas Education Agency. Moreover, she was a member of Texas Council for the Social Studies for over thirty years and its president in 2001-02, as well as a long time member of the Texas Social Studies Supervisors Association. In 2012, the latter organization renamed its Supervisor of the Year award for her because of her years of service. Rosemary taught over thirty years in the Austin Independent School District and was named Austin High’s Teacher of the Year for 1990-91 and later inducted into Austin High’s Hall of Honor. She has also been involved with Austin ACCESS to Learning and UT Global Initiative for Education & Leadership. Rosemary served as Austin Branch president in 2008-09 and was active on nominating and other working committees. The Branch honored her in 2010 with a named gift to AAUW funds and a Branch President’s award.
Rachel Muir founded SmartGrrls , a non-profit organization to empower girls in math, science, engineering and technology at the Girls Technology Center in Austin in 1997 when she was just twenty-six years old with $500 and a credit card. This organization later became Girlstart. Rachel was honored by the Austin Under 40 Awards for Youth and Education in 2000. She was one of 14 Austin women who received the AAUW Texas Women of Distinction Award in 2008 for her work with Girlstart. She also received Oprah Winfrey’s “Use Your Life” award and was named in Fast Company magazine as a Leader in Innovation. Her life and career have been been devoted to empowering girls to believe anything is possible.
Nancy Myers earned a B.S. in mathematics from Purdue University in 1949. She would ultimately serve on the Valparaiso Community Schools Board from 1964 to 1972 and as a trustee of Purdue University from 1972 to ’75. She also served for a time as chairman of the Indiana CPA Board.
Nancy joined AAUW immediately upon graduation in 1949 and thus achieved the status of honorary life membership in 1999. She served AAUW Texas and AAUW Austin in several executive capacities including branch president for 2002-03; branch treasurer, 1994-98; on the branch program committee 2010-2012; and as AAUW-TX treasurer 1998-2002. Kind, gracious and generous, Nancy supported the mission of AAUW with her time, expertise, and financial resources. For many years, she annually used her accounting experience to review the branch’s financial records. The Branch honored her with named gifts to AAUW Funds in 1995, 2000, and 2002.
She was involved from its beginning in EYH (Expanding Your Horizons) and the annual STEM-focused conference for girls that the Branch began co-sponsoring in 1990. In the early 2010s Girlstart assumed oversight of the EYH programs, and Nancy continued her service to the cause through volunteering with Girlstart; she always attended the annual Gamechangers Luncheon fundraiser. Along with her dear friend Mary Ellen Sims, Nancy was an integral part of the branch’s support of Mainspring Schools. The duo worked closely with Rudi Andrus, longtime executive director of the schools, to maintain and strengthen the Branch’s relationship with the institution it had partnered with the City of Austin to establish in 1941.
Nancy was also a steadfast volunteer in fundraising efforts such as hosting AAUW Night at Ten Thousand Villages (where she was a shift volunteer) during the holiday shopping season, gift-wrapping for tips at Barnes and Noble, silent auctions at branch meetings, and more.
Nancy enjoyed the social side of AAUW activities in the interest groups for Art Tours and for Culture and Cuisine, reflecting her personal interests in travel, sports, art, music, architecture and archaeology. She was a regular attendee of branch monthly programs as long as her health permitted and usually arrived with a car-full of her Northwest Austin neighbors that variously included Roberta Nance, Iileen Payton, and Raemar Shown.
Married for well over fifty years to Gene, described in the tribute to our branch nonagenarians as “one of our favorite AAUW husbands”, Nancy is also survived by a daughter, son, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. We were fortunate to have had her as a member, as our friend and valued AAUW mentor for many years. Friends also remember that Nancy enjoyed life and had a love of cardinals.
Elizabeth Newell received a BA in chemistry in 1961 and an MEd in chemistry education in 1971, both from the University of Texas at Austin, as well as completing requirements in supervision and mid-management. She retired from 40 years of teaching science, .primarily biology, chemistry, and anatomy and physiology. Elizabeth is a member of both the Austin and Georgetown branches and served as Austin branch president in 2000-01. She was honored by the Branch with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 2000, 2009, and 2011 and also received a Branch President’s award in 2011. She represented the Branch in collaborating with other Central Texas groups in planning a Conference on Teaching About the United Nations held at the LBJ Auditorium in Austin on April 2, 2011. She was awarded the Texas Delta Kappa Gamma Society’s State Achievement Award at the AAUW State conference in San ntonio in June 2016.
Janie Patterson moved to Austin in 1942 to attend the University of Texas, where she was a reporter for The Daily Texan; she graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism degree in 1946. As a member of the Austin Branch, she was responsible for the Branch newsletter for many years, receiving a certificate of appreciation from the Branch for that work in 2009. The Branch also honored her with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 1998, 2002, and 2009. AAUW Texas named her an Outstanding Woman of Texas in 1994-95. Janie was also involved with senior education through The University of Texas Seminars for Adult Growth and Enrichment and UT Austin Lifelong Learning Institute, serving as administrative coordinator.
Elaine Penn graduated from the University of Houston with BBA and a BA in business administration in 1982 and has worked with Migrant Clinicians Network since August 1993, when she supported the organization as a contractor providing accounting services. Since joining as an employee in 2003, she has functioned as the non-profit organization’s Chief Financial Officer, working with the staff and board, with independent auditors year to to perform an audit of the entire organization each year, and with program managers to ensure that budget requirements for each grant are met-–and she also serves as the organization’s Human Resources Director. In the Austin Branch, Elaine served as membership vice president in 2015-16 and 2016-17 and is now Branch co-president for 2017-18. She is also very active in branch interest groups. The Branch honored her with named gifts to AAUW Funds in 2014 and 2016.
Fourth generation Texan Nell Peterson graduated from Stephen F. Austin High School in Austin and had a thirty-seven year career in the insurance industry. Her hobby was genealogy, and she was an avid bowler and Life Member of Austin Womens Bowling Association as well as a Permanent Member of Womens International Bowling Congress. AAUW Texas named her an Outstanding Woman of Texas in 1993-94.
Dr. Jenny Lind Porter-Scott was appointed Poet Laureate of Texas in 1964-65. She earned her BA and MA in English from Texas Christian University in 1948 and 1949 and her PhD from The University of Texas in English in 1955. She also received an Honorary Doctorate from Pepperdine University, where she was a guest professor in 1981. She founded The Texas Poets Corner and the Jenny Lind Porter Collections in the Cornette Library at Texas A&M in Canyon, Texas. Jenny received the Piper Professor award from Piper Foundation in San Antonio in 1976, established a Creative Writing program at Huston-Tillotson University, and received an award from the Texas Institute of Letters for her translation of “Verses on Death by Helinand of Froidmont.” She served as Austin Branch president in 1968-69 and was honored by AAUW Texas as an Outstanding Woman of Texas in 1998-99 and as a Woman of Distinction in 2008. She was the niece of short story writer O. Henry and donated many of his papers to the Austin History Center. The Austin City Council honored her with a Jenny Lind Porter Day in 1995 for her contributions to literature and the O. Henry Museum
Joyce Pulich received her BA from Rice University in 1969 and MA from University of Houston in 1971, both in sociology, and she currently teaches sociology at Austin Community College. She was city manager of Port Aransas in the midi-1980s before she got a job with the city of Austin, from which she retired. She has served as secretary of Phi Beta Kappa Alumni since it started 20 years ago and also volunteers in prison ministries and the Women’s Storybook Project (WSP) of Texas, visiting women’s prisons in Central and East Texas monthly to record mothers reading their children bedtime stories and then mailing CD recordings and books to the children. Among her church activities, she serves on the Pastoral Council that advises the pastor. She joined AAUW in 2010, served as UT Fellowship chair for a number of years, and is Branch Co-President 2018-19.
In 1995, Dr. Delia Quintanilla organized the educational consulting firm, Quest: A Consulting Enterprise, focused on assisting historically Black colleges and universities in reengineering the way in which minority teacher candidates are prepared for Texas classrooms. In 1993, she served as Director of the Commission on Standards for the Teaching Profession at the Texas Education Agency, and in 1997, as Director of the Houston Annenberg Challenge, she launched the Challenge’s strategic plan focused on school reform. Her current website Teach Quest offers an online teacher certification program designed to meet the needs of the diverse Texas student population, and she has launched Arroba Productions to produce video games for teachers. Delia served as president of the Austin Branch in 2001-02, AAUW Texas named her a Woman of Distinction in 2008, and the Branch honored her with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 1999 and 2002.
Student Affiliate member Divya Ramamoorthy, a biomedical engineering and Plan II Liberal Arts honors student at the University of Texas at Austin, was selected as one of Glamour’s Top 10 College Women in April 2015 for her work generating heart tissue. She has also been recognized on Business Insider list of Impressive Students at The University of Texas at Austin and gave a talk on spirit of collaborative research at Austin’s TEDxYouth.
In 2016, Janani Janakiraman’s daughters Kavya and Priya Ramamoorthy, members of the Branch and enrolled at The University of Texas at Austin are putting their energy and talents into growing the AAUW Student Organization there, working with National AAUW and C/U Partner and UT Dean, Dr. Soncia Reagins-Lilly to get the organization fully registered and viable. Among the goals of these twin students are increasing the e-affiliate membership and interest in AAUW, promoting student awareness of AAUW resources, and ultimately hosting a conference like StartSmart for women student leaders in Central Texas colleges.
Priya Ramamoorthy, daughter of Janani Janakiraman, was named recipient of the Zonta International Club of Austin Young Women in Public Affairs Award in May 2015, winning a $1000 Regional scholarship as part of the award.
Judy Reinhart has been an active Branch member since joining AAUW in 1989. She was the Austin Branch president for 1999-2000, the Central Texas representative to the AAUW Texas in 2013-14; co vice president for programs for 2014-16, and she is the program vice president for 2017-18. She received a Branch President’s award in 2010. In 2013 Judy took part in the ACC Northridge Women’s History Month program, and in 2015 was one of the branch members who represented AAUW Austin at the Women’s Empowerment Conference. She has been honored by the Branch with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 1996, 2000, and 2010. Judy is a graduate of Lindenwood University in Saint Charles, Missouri in elementary education, and she received an MLS from the University of Texas at Austin. She has also been an active member of Delta Kappa Gamma and was one of thirty of its members worldwide chosen to participate in the Leadership Management Seminar held at the UT Austin McCombs School of Business in 2016.
Sue Rodi and her husband Stephen came to Austin in the late 1960s to go to graduate school at UT Austin. Sue studied rhetoric and composition under Dr. James Kinneavy. She received her Ph.D. in the mid 1970s and began her career in UT’s Department of English (later in the Department of Rhetoric and Writing), where she taught until 2005. Sue enjoyed teaching both literature and composition. She was known for her creative use of the Harry Ransom Center art collection as a source of writing assignments and for developing her “Writing About Women Across the Life Cycle” curriculum. She supervised student teachers and traveled around Texas to train high school faculty. Sue was chosen twice as a UT exchange professor with a French university, first at The University of Paul Valéry in Montpellier and then at The University of Paris-Nanterre. In France, she enjoyed making new friends, absorbing the local culture, and traveling. Sue took an active role in education and civic events in Austin. Of special note was her involvement in AAUW; she served as Branch president in 2007-08, and she loved her Monday night AAUW book club meetings. AAUW Texas named her as an Outstanding Woman of Texas in 1990-91.
Mrs. Zettie W. Cole Salathe established the Albert Schweitzer Scholarship Fund at UT in 1974. The fund, which still exists, was renamed the Zettie W. Cole Salathe Fund in Child Development in 1981.
Brenda Scholin, a graduate of the University of Texas with a BS in education and English, is a dual member with the Georgetown branch. She served as Arizona Division secretary, 1983-1984; Austin Branch president, 1987-1988–and she attended the AAUW national conventions in 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, and 1995. She was named Outstanding Member of the Branch in 1994, and AAUW Texas named her as an Outstanding Woman of Texas in 1988-89. The Austin Board of REALTORS® honored Brenda Willis Scholin with the REALTOR® Community Service Award for 1995.
Mary Ellen Scribner received the Texas Intellectual Freedom Award in 1997 from the Texas Library Association. She is a life member of both the Texas Library Association and the American Library Association. She received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of North Texas and her Master’s degree in Library Science from the University of Texas at Austin in 1979. In 2009, she retired from a thirty-three year global career in secondary education. In those years, she taught English, history, geography, and theory of knowledge and served as head librarian in Department of Defense schools in Japan and Italy; in international schools in Russia, China, Vietnam, and Ghana; and the Texas public school districts of Fort Worth and Round Rock. She enjoyed traveling for her job to more than eighty countries on six continents and working with students and parents from even more. Since returning to Austin, she has taught adult classes for the Lifetime Learning Institute, including “Antarctica,” “The Silk Road,” and “Spotlight on Africa.” As a member of the Austin Branch, she served as newsletter editor for a number of years during which she transitioned it from print to digital. Mary Ellen received a Branch President’s award in 2010, reached 50-year honorary status in 2016, and is now co-president for 2017-18.
Dorothy Shandera graduated from the University of Mississippi with a degree in English and theater. She also received a masters’ degree from Sam Houston State University in correctional education. Dorothy worked as a correctional institutional educator, establishing the Life Skills program for the Windham School System of the Texas Department of Corrections, and she also served as terms as president of the Texas Corrections Association and district president of the Texas State Teachers Association. Even in retirement, she continued to educate, spending hours volunteering and mentoring in schools. Dorothy was president of the Austin Branch in 1974-75. She worked in the office of Texas Senator Sarah Weddington and was active in the effort to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. Her interest in politics was driven by a belief that citizenship requires involvement and commitment, and she made every effort to vote in all elections and passionately campaign for those candidates she supported.
Raemar Shown became a Girl Scouts of America volunteer in 1955 and devoted many years of service to that organization, including twenty years as an executive; she received a 50 year pin in Girl Scouting in 2005. As a member of the Austin Branch, Raemar was involved from the beginning in Expanding Your Horizons and the annual STEM-centered conference for girls that the Branch began co-sponsoring in 1990. In this role she organized Branch volunteers to handle registration and provide support for the managers and presenters of a conference that expanded every year, and after GirlStart began managing the conferences, she served as long-time liaison between EYH and GirlStart. AAUW Texas honored her as a Woman of Distinction in 2008. Raemar also shared her love of life with others through square dancing, church choirs in four different states, Bethany House of Friends Respite Program, and many other formal and informal groups. Among the things that her friends remembered about her were these: “She packed a purse that had anything and everything that anyone could ever need; she stole recipes ruthlessly and never left a visitor hungry or thirsty; she could out eat any Texan at the table and still outwalk them twenty minutes later; she loved to find out what was around the next bend in the road; and she never met a stranger.”
In 2002 Gail Simpler received a Staff Excellence Award from the Aeronautical Engineering Department at the University of Texas at Austin. Gail also received Austin Branch President’s awards in 2002 and 2011 and became a 50-year honorary member in 2016. The Branch honored her with both a Branch President’s award and a named gift to AAUW Funds in 2011. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Madison earning a BS in home economics.
Dr. Mary Small earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Hampton University, a master’s in journalism from Syracuse University, and a PhD in the history and philosophy of education from Boston College. In partnership with her husband Robert, she was an activist during the civil rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s, and during this period she was also program director for the Black Unitarian Universalist Caucus. After over forty-six years at numerous institutions of higher learning, she retired at Huston-Tillotson University as a professor emerita of English and was named Huston-Tillotson’s exemplary teacher of the year.
With a BA in sociology and child development from Skidmore College in1948, Suzy Lindeman Snyder was very active in volunteer work as a young mother, particularly early childhood education. Suzy was a founding Member of Austin Community Schools, a nursery for disadvantaged children begun for working parents during WWII with the help of AAUW Austin. In 1973 she was honored by the American Bank for her efforts in organizing volunteers for the Austin schools. She was Coordinator for Community Participation for the AISD, Regional Coordinator for the National School Volunteer Program, a member of the Austin Association for Education of Young Children, the National Association of Social Workers (she had worked in a Settlement home), a founding board member of Austin Community Nursery Schools (which became the Mainspring Schools), and board member of Voluntary Action Center. Suzy rejoined the Branch in 2014.
Dr. Vi Marie Tayor taught English in Taiwan for many years, and after she moved to Austin, many of her students would visit her when they came to the United States. As a member of the Austin Branch, she was very active in study groups and always carried a car full of members to study group and Branch meetings. She was named an outstanding member of the Branch in 1994, served as Branch president in 1995-96, and the Branch honored her with named gifts to AAUW Funds in 1997, 1998, and 2002. Vi Marie was also a charter member of the Epsilon Kappa Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma International.
Life member Mary Yerwood Thompson was inducted into a National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1995. She was a key figure in the shift of women activists’ focus to nursery programs for preschool children. In the Depression, she became director of the WPA Nursery School for children of parents on relief, funded by the Community Welfare Association CWA), a group of Austin Black women. With funds raised from blacks and whites and assistance from the federal government, the CWA provided first a playground and then a nursery school for preschool children of parents on relief. The center served as a site for distributing milk to needy families and a meeting place for many groups. The CWA also secured the services of a city nurse and campaigned for a neighborhood branch of the Austin Public Library. It is an outstanding example of a women’s organization which had the ability to build and sustain a major community institution over an extended period, organizing across race and gender lines to accomplish its objectives. Mary left Texas in order to obtain a graduate degree in social work, graduating from Atlanta University in 1943 but afterwards returned to Texas. The Branch honored her with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 1997.
Miriam Tormollan was a lifelong educator and activist for the education of women and girls. She was a graduate of the University of Texas earning first a BA in English and philosophy followed by an MA in English and history. Joining the Austin Branch in 1974, she was named an Outstanding Member of the Austin Branch in 1988, was honored by the Branch with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 1990, 1998, and 1999, received a Branch President’s Award in 2002, and was recognized at the AAUW Texas convention in 1990 as Texas State Honoree and in 2006 as the Outstanding Member in Texas. For fifteen years she served as the central coordinator for AAUW Texas, the “Voice of Texas” on the phone. Miriam represented AAUW in many capacities, including working with the Austin ISD to create a sexual harrassment policy, testifying before the Public Education Committee of the Legislature, serving on the Coalition for Public Schools, mentoring in the Special School for Teenage Pregnant Girls, working with the Lone Star Girl Scout Council, and helping with the Expanding Your Horizons annual conferences for girls that the Austin Branch began cosponsoring in 1990. Following her death in 2012, a memorial fund was established, which the family designated as a scholarship for a UT student in a STEM field. This was awarded to a Girlstart intern on October 11, 2013.
Joyce Wallace moved to Austin in 1948 and taught middle school for 17 years in the Austin Independent School District. Joyce and her husband Kenneth started the first paddle boats in Zilker Park below the spillway, owned and operated Kiddieland Park, which became Mobile Manor RV Park on Barton Springs Road. As a member of the Austin Branch, she served as Bridge chairperson for several years.
Dr. Isabel Wheeler joined the Austin Branch after her retirement from teaching at the University of Missouri in 1990 when she moved to Austin to work for Delta Kappa Gamma Society International Headquarters. The University of Missouri was her alma mater for a BA in English. She went on to an MA from Ohio State and a PhD from St. Louis University also in English. A firm believer in education, Dr. Wheeler served on the Local Scholarship Committee, both as chair and committee member. She was also a founding member of the Branch interest group “Tell Me a Story,” and she told great stories, most of them about real life occurrences. The Branch honored her with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 1999. Dr. Wheeler received the International Achievement Award from Delta Kappa Gamma Society International at their 2004 International Convention in MN.
Novella Wiley received a BA in English cum laude in 1962 and a MA in Latin in 1973, both from the University of Texas at Austin. She taught at Austin Independent School District’s Fulmore Junior High and Austin High School for a total of twenty-two years and became a docent at the LBJ Library after she retired. She served as President of the Alpha Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, President of Austin Retired Teachers Association and President of Region 10 of Texas Retired Teachers Association, and the Texas Retired Teachers Association named a conference room for her at State Headquarters in Austin. She also represented the State of Texas and the Austin Branch at many Texas State Board of Education meetings over the years. The Austin Branch honored her with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 1997, 1999, 2000.
Sue Worden earned a BSME in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington before coming to the University of Texas at Austin for an MSE in engineering and a PhD in electrical and computer engineering. She shared her professional skills generously with AAUW Austin, serving as committee chair for EYH (Expanding Your Horizons) conferences, serving on the UT Fellowship Committee and chairing it for two years, and acting as a committee co-chair when the National AAUW Convention was held in Austin in 2001. Sue was also the first webmaster for the Branch. She introduced her cousin Dr. Sue Rodi, who became a valued member of the Branch. Dr. Worden has maintained her membership in and close ties to the Austin Branch since moving to Virginia a few years ago. The Branch honored her with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 2017.
After moving her AAUW membership to the Austin Branch in 1984, Pam Wolfe became a valued member who served on the Austin Board of Directors for twenty years and was president in 1998-99. Beginning in 1990 she became the Educational Foundation VP of the Austin Branch. She held many other different offices including, Historian, Study Group Coordinator, Bylaws, Parliamentarian, and Yearbook Editor. Pam also converted the Branch member information into a database to allow for easy access and editing. AAUW Texas named her an Outstanding woman of Texas in 1992-93 and a Woman of Distinction in 2008. She has served on the AAUW Texas Board of Directors for six terms. Pam, in her role as AAUW Texas President for 2016-18, arranged for AAUW member participation in and led the group on the Women’s March on Austin on January 21, 2017. She has attended many AAUW Texas Conventions and activities and several AAUW Conventions. The Branch honored her with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 1999, 2003, and 2016, thanking her for her AAUW Texas leadership; her assistance with Branch and member history, and her bylaws, job description, and public policy work.
Linda K. Young was elected President of the National Women’s Political Caucus in 2011. She was appointed to the White House Presidential Personnel Committee for President Obama’s second term and she also served on the White House Focus Group on Women and the Economy. Linda contributed her ACC resources for Nancy Pelosi’s Austin event in Austin August 28, 2013 and was honored by the Branch with a named gift to AAUW Funds in 2013. During the UN General Assembly in September 2013, she met with the first Ladies of African countries to promote their participation in the launch of STEM for Girls in Africa. She has spent over four decades fighting for women’s rights and won many awards: the national women’s leadership Athena Award, the Medal of Honor by the Veteran Feminists of America, and the Women of Wealth Magazine Political Influence Award, among others. Linda received her master’s in education and early childhood from Sam Houston State University in 1971 and completed all but her dissertation for her doctorate in family systems (a degree blending sociology, psychology and early childhood) at Texas Woman’s University in the 1980s.
For more information about Linda and her struggle for women’s equity, see http://www.mystatesman.com/lifestyles/after-years-linda-young-still-fights-for-women-equity/BE4PohVjZgUfdGELWJ9iDP/