As a news officer promoting SMU for nearly 50 years, Ann Abbas has represented the University with honesty, grace, and integrity. She has communicated the strengths and values of the University through years of challenge and change, never wavering from her dedication to the advancement of SMU’s mission. She has won national honors for her outstanding achievements and high standards of professionalism. She has made SMU better – and better known – as a university of distinction.

Honored by colleagues and friends: Patti LaSalle-Hopkins, Barbara Bodmer, Maxine Cammack, Jane and John Cockrell, Carolyn George, Anne and Roger Hansen, Sue Johnson, Ruth Morgan, Hobert Price Jr., Pat Sites, Barbara Taylor, Betty Jo Taylor, Marsh and Toni Terry, Virginia Thornton.

Ebby Halliday Acers has been a role model for women, opening many doors at a time when often women did not work outside of the home. She has been an avid community volunteer and strong business leader not only for her 64-year old company, which is one of the largest in the country, but also in promoting and supporting Dallas. Ebby has love of SMU and has supported the university for many years. Her husband, Maurice Acers, is an SMU graduate, and his mother was on the women’s guild who planted the trees down Bishop Blvd. Her love for SMU, commitment to Dallas and being known as the first lady of real estate, make Ebby Halliday an ideal candidate for this honor!

Honored by: Randall Graham

Lindalyn is known as the “historical caretaker” of Dallas so it is only fitting that she serves on the Remember the Ladies! committee. She founded the Dallas County Historical Foundation and led efforts to raise funds for the Sixth Floor Museum at the Texas School Book Depository which has now become a worldwide tourist destination. She is the former president of the Dallas County Heritage Society, Dallas Historical Society and the Park Cities Historical Society. She also has served as the head of the Friends of Old Red Courthouse and Friends of Fair Park. She is the recipient of the Linz Award and the SMU Distinguished Alumni Award.

Honored by: Baylor Healthcare System Foundation

For more than 30 years Allie Beth Allman has provided the Dallas community with legendary real estate expertise. Allie Beth has been on the Top Ten list of Dallas agents since her arrival on the residential real estate scene. In addition, she has spent countless hours giving back to the community she serves so well.

Honored by: Pierce Allman

I nominated Ruth because she has so many outstanding qualities. She's faithful, friendly, funny, refined, philanthropic, forward-looking and unflappable. Most of all, she is devoted to family and family values. And of course, she's not foolish, frivolous, or fat-headed. And she loves SMU more than anyone I've ever met.

Honored by her husband: Kenneth Z. Altshuler, M.D.

For more than thirty years Lois Bailey was the librarian at Fondren Library at SMU. She was dedicated to the importance of books and reading, and was a pioneer for women in her field. Lois received many honors in her lifetime. She was president of the Texas Library Association in 1944 and received an SMU Distinguished Alumna Award in l969. She was also a pioneer for women in her church. She was the first woman to be a deacon and an elder in First Presbyterian Church in Downtown Dallas. She taught the young people in her church for many years with wisdom and love. She is remembered today for her contributions to SMU and its students, her dedication to her church and its youth, and for paving the way for women to succeed as she did with intelligence and grace.

Honored by: The First Presbyterian Church of Dallas Foundation

We are grateful for our mother’s constant and unconditional love for us through her long life. Widowed at the age of forty-two, she demonstrated strength, values, and a sense of humor that guided us all through happy and difficult times.

Honored by her daughters: Toni Terry and Mary Helen Bradford

Jean Barrar, our aunt, survived a serious form of cancer at the age of 36, and it totally changed her life. As a result, she has been an inspiration for thousands of cancer patients as one of the top volunteers for the American Cancer Society for almost 50 years. A highly intelligent woman, she has been a dedicated wife, caring mother and successful career woman. Today, she selflessly gives her time and moral support to others through her church, hospitals, homeless services and to those in her own retirement community.

Honored by: Nicki Nicol Huber and Dr. Myra Nicol Williams

My mother’s story as a woman of the Southwest is fairly typical. She was an Oklahoman by birth. In 1930 her dad left her and her mom when she was three years old. Her mom raised her alone with help and lots of love from aunts and uncles. She graduated from Tulsa University in 1949 with a degree in journalism and married my dad that summer. They led an extraordinary life together: wildcatters in New Mexico, ranchers in Colorado and philanthropists in their beloved Tulsa. I think Mom was continually challenged by an industry with great highs and lows, a husband with limitless energy, four children and continual tugs from Oklahoma. She met the challenge every single day…like I said, she led a fairly typical life, but it was priceless to her kids.

Honored by: Betsy Bayless McCord

Blake Allan Beeler was born in 1914 in Galveston and died in 2009 in Victoria, TX. She lived most of her life in Texas City, TX. It is difficult to find words to describe Blake; she was extraordinary. Blake was a much treasured blessing to her family and her friends. All of her life was dedicated to the people she knew and loved. One of her children’s friends became a celebrated author represented by a prestigious New York publisher. In one of her books she created the character of the stepmother who redeemed her stepson. The book’s editor wanted the author to change the character of the woman because no one could be that good and love that much. The author refused because she had patterned that character after someone she knew . . . Blake.

Honored by her children: Mary Blake Meadows, Dr. George Beeler, & Melissa Daniel

With undergraduate and graduate degrees in journalism and in history, Darlene Birkes pursued a long and admirable career in teaching and in writing. Her achievements were augmented by her talent for leadership in seizing every opportunity to contribute to the communities in which she lived. As an historian, she has led countless efforts in historic preservation; as a journalist she has been a tireless reporter to multiple media, and as an artist she has constantly promoted the arts in her community. I honor her for her attainments, revere her for her fortitude in playing the hand circumstances dealt her, and love her for the memories and unbreakable bond we share. “It was nice growing up with someone like her -- someone to lean on, someone to count on . . . someone to tell on!”

Honored by her sister: Ruth P. Morgan

In 1980, Nancy G. Brinker watched helplessly as her sister, Susan G. Komen, died at the young age of 36 after a three-year battle with breast cancer. Before Susan died, Nancy made a promise that would change the world: to end breast cancer forever. Two years later, Nancy recruited a small group of friends living in Dallas, Texas and launched Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which has become the global leader of the breast cancer movement, creating the world’s largest grassroots network of cancer survivors and activists, investing hundreds of millions of dollars each year for research, education, screening and treatment and encouraging governments everywhere to make cancer a top priority. In addition to her endless contributions in the breast cancer movement, Nancy has served the United States and as former U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Hungary and U.S. Chief of Protocol. She was singled out as an agent of change in TIME’s “100 Most Influential People” in 2008.

Honored by her friend and colleague: Susan Carter Johns, for Susan G. Komen for the Cure

Early in her career, Lottye Brodsky was a pioneer in the area of special education, successfully advocating for changes in Texas schools that created classroom opportunities for students with learning challenges. Many of the special education programs that today we take for granted are a part of our school system because of Lottye’s vision, leadership and sheer tenacity. As her career evolved, Lottye began to apply the experience and leadership skills that served our special needs children so well to other programs for children throughout the North Texas area. Crafting a business model that enabled her to serve as interim director of nonprofit organizations in transition, she provided leadership for some of the anchor social and childcare agencies in our community; often introducing new management concepts into the agencies as she worked with staffs during some of their most difficult times. The Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas, Camp Summit, the Dallas Children's Advocacy Center, the Vogel Alcove, Hope Cottage and the Dallas Furniture Bank are but a few of the organizations that have benefitted from her leadership.

Constantly in demand for counsel and advice, she has given unselfishly of her time to countless aspiring and seasoned nonprofit leaders who seek to capitalize on her insights and experience to advance their own careers and organizations. She is a “go to” person who can always be counted on for candid, to-the-point, yet compassionate conversation about matters that matter. She is a loyal friend and trusted colleague who has made a difference in her community. She is a heroine to many and has earned her place on a list of women who have positively influenced our great State of Texas.

Honored by : Bobby B. Lyle

Since leaving the White House in 1993, former First Lady Barbara Bush continues to serve others with the same energy, goodwill and humor that have endeared her to so many people around the world. A tireless advocate of volunteerism, Mrs. Bush has helped countless charities and humanitarian causes during her years in public life. She founded the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, which supports programs in which parents and children can learn and read together, and has created or expanded more than 700 family literacy programs in 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Foundation has established and continues to support statewide literacy programs in Texas, Maine, Florida and Maryland. Mrs. Bush serves as Honorary Chair of the Foundation and hosts its annual fundraiser, "A Celebration of Reading,” in Houston and Dallas. Mrs. Bush also has contributed to literature as the author of two children’s books, C. Fred’s Story and the best-selling Millie’s Book, whose profits benefited literacy programs. She also wrote the best-selling autobiography, Barbara Bush: A Memoir and Reflections: Life After the White House. She is the mother of four sons and one daughter and loving grandmother to 17 grandchildren. With Abigail Adams, she shares the historic distinction of being the wife of a U.S. President and the mother of a U.S. President. Barbara Bush well understands the challenges and rewards of public service and serves as an example to others.

Honored by: Ann Warmack Brookshire

Laura Welch Bush, a distinguished graduate of Southern Methodist University, has devoted her life to education, whether teaching in the classroom, working as a librarian, supporting reading initiatives or serving as an international advocate for literacy. As First Lady of Texas, she championed literature by organizing the Texas Book Festival and led progress in the state’s schools. As First Lady of the United States, she established the first National Book Festival. She has taken up compelling issues of national and global concern, with an emphasis on child development, health care and human rights, mostly recently in Afghanistan. On behalf of women’s health, she has been an active participant in campaigns to raise awareness of breast cancer and heart disease, both in the United States and around the world. At SMU, her achievements are recognized through the Laura Bush Promenade, contributed in 1999 by then Governor George W. Bush to honor his wife’s contributions to libraries and literature, and including tributes from her SMU friends and classmates. Her alma mater has honored her with its Distinguished Alumni Award. A member of the SMU Board of Trustees, she is providing leadership for the University during unprecedented years of progress. Her friends are honored to pay further tribute to Laura Bush through her inclusion in the Archives of Women of the Southwest. “She is an inspiration to us all.”

Honored by: Ann Warmack Brookshire

Writing under the pen name of Pauline Periwinkle, Isadore Callaway was the first women's editor of the Dallas Morning News. Her weekly column appeared on her "Women's Century Page" from 1896 until her death in 1916. Her columns championed the needs of women and children by promoting issues such as pure food ordinances, playgrounds, juvenile courts, a public library, free kindergartens,and suffrage. She encouraged local club women to take on these Progressive Era causes that would improve life in Dallas and in doing so brought the national movement for social reform to Dallas.

Honored by her biographer: Jackie McElhaney

Sis has devoted much of her lifetime to developing the arts community in Dallas. She has chaired numerous galas and boards, founded several arts organizations and raised significant funds out of her strong desire for Dallas to support a thriving arts community. Her ability to engage others to participate has been key to her achievements. The Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Opera, Texas Ballet Theater and many more arts organizations have benefitted from her dedication.

Honored by: friends of Sis Carr

We have chosen to honor Vivian Anderson Castleberry because she is a trailblazer for women in the field of journalism, the founder of Peacemakers Incorporated, and a mentor to countless women in the Southwest and throughout the world. Because of her lifelong commitment to the empowerment of women and her 87-year residence in the State of Texas, it is particularly appropriate that Vivian Castleberry be recognized in the SMU Archives of the Women of the Southwest. Ms. Castleberry is a native Texan, a graduate of Southern Methodist University, and an SMU Distinguished Alumnae. From 1956 to 1984, she served as the women's editor of the Dallas Times Herald. She headed the "Living Section" of the paper and was the first woman named to the paper's editorial board. During her 28-year tenure at the Herald, Ms. Castleberry won numerous journalism awards including three "Katie" awards given by the Press Club of Dallas, two United Press International awards, a state Headliners award, two University of Missouri awards for overall excellence of women's pages, a Southwestern Journalism Forum award, and the Buck Marryat Award given by the Press Club of Dallas for "outstanding contributions to communications."

In 1984, Ms. Castleberry was inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame. She has been honored with the Laurel Award given by the American Association of University Women; a Women Helping Women Award given by the Women's Center of Dallas; a Women Helping Women Award given by the Soroptimist Club; the Extra Mile Award given by the Business and Professional Women's Club; and the Susan B. Anthony Award, now hosted by the League of Women Voters of Dallas. Since taking early retirement in May of 1984, Ms. Castleberry has written four books: Daughters of Dallas, The Texas Tornado, Sarah the Bridge Builder, and Seeds of Success. In 1987, after making trips to the Soviet Union as a "grassroots Citizen Diplomat", Ms. Castleberry founded Peacemakers Incorporated. In 1988, she served as Chairwoman of Peacemakers’ First International Women’s Peace Conference, which was attended by over 2,000 delegates from 57 countries. She continues to advise Peacemakers, which has hosted two additional international women's peace conferences. In honor of Ms. Castleberry, Peacemakers created the Castleberry Peace Institute in 2008 to develop peace studies curriculum for students of all ages and cultures.

Ms. Castleberry serves as a consultant to other writers, has taught at local community colleges, and makes numerous speeches for various local and national organizations, including the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. She is married to Curtis W. Castleberry, a retired high school teacher. Together they raised five daughters and have 14 grandchildren.

Honored by: Liz Cowles, Margaret Culgan, Carol Crabtree Donovan, Elite Facility Systems (c/o Tricia Holderman), Dr. Catalina E. Garcia, Susybelle Gosslee, and Louise Raggio

She has made a significant contribution to her profession, her sorority, her philanthropies, her community and her family. Her literary and historical contributions have been exceptional in scope and duration. Her teaching career has spanned three generations of young girls and women who regularly reminder her of their achievements.

Honored by her husband: Leland L. Coggan

One of my early memories of my mom is watching her on the evening news. She was participating in a sit-in at the Greyhound bus station lunch counter. There she was, dressed to the nines, risking arrest for being denied a cup of coffee. Eleanor Nelson Conrad is a civil rights pioneer, a community servant who has dedicated her life to making the world a better place not just for me but for people everywhere.

Honored by her daughter: Cecilia Conrad

Juanita Craft was born in Round Rock, Texas in 1902, the granddaughter of slaves, and she lived her adult life in Dallas, dying in 1985. Her courageous parents, both of whom graduated from college in the 19th Century in Texas, instilled in her the belief that she could make a difference as an individual. With love, patience, and determination, she was a lifelong leader in efforts to gain equal rights for Blacks and women. During her life she was recognized for her work in civil rights by four U. S. Presidents: John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter. Martin Luther King, Jr. sought her council during the 1960s, and she was awarded Dallas's Linz Award for Community Service in 1968. I want her legacy to become part of the permanent records of significant Women of the Southwest.

Honored by: Judith Garrett Segura

Mac Cullum was magical. She could write. She could sing. She could play the piano. She could make everyone she met feel miraculously renewed, restored, ready to return to the world and try again. She knew all about persistent effort, and how to pace herself through times both lovely and demanding. She delivered on her obligations, left no promise unaccounted for, never missed an opportunity to do the thing that was nice and generous and sometimes undeserved. She had fantastic style, and style, of course, mocks death. Style keeps death at bay. It worked for her for a long, long time. For that she will be remembered, and, to quote Virginia Woolf, also as a “voice that once wreathed the fruits into phrases.”

Honored by her daughter: Lee Cullum

education as a life process with no boundaries
embracing life and knowledge with passion
making the connection between disciplines with clarity
drawn to teaching with a religious calling

Honored by: Fred Currey

Linda Pitts Custard is a woman dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for all. There is no limit to her willingness to serve others. Her love for the arts and education is manifested in some fifty years of tireless service and leadership so to benefit others. While seeking no personal recognition, she honors her family, her friends, her community and the greater mankind through her thoughtful and generous deeds.

Honored by her husband: William A. Custard

Founded in 1989, The Dallas Summit is a local network of women leaders from diverse communities and areas of expertise who are actively involved in the community. In generating connections among its members by sharing experiences and knowledge and by enriching each other’s lives through friendship, the organization strives to contribute toward strengthening the community as a whole through networks that open possibilities for inclusive leadership and that bring a community-wide bank of expertise to community issues and challenges.

Honored by: Members

Libby leads by example. She was widowed at age 36 and raised her children single-handedly and with style. She kept a beautiful home and cherished being a wife and mother. She is a marvelous woman of faith and very active in the First Baptist Church of Dallas where she helped establish partnership missions in South America, Africa, Australia, Western Europe, Great Britain and the United States. She continues to inspire those around her.

Honored by her daughter: Diane Thomas

Isabelle was a woman of great character, insight and humor. Born in 1916 in El Paso, Texas, she graduated from the National Cathedral School in Washington, D.C. while her father served in Congress from 1931 to 1947. Isabelle graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, where she met her future husband H. Ben Decherd. She helped establish the Dallas County Heritage Society and was instrumental in developing Old City Park in its early phases. She and Ben had two children, Robert William Decherd of Dallas and Dealey Decherd Herndon of Austin.

Honored by her daughter-in-law: Maureen H. Decherd

Born and raised in Texas, China is the award winning author of Love Cemetery, Unburying the Secret History of Slaves. She also wrote, Longing for Darkness, Tara and the Black Madonna, the first book published on the Black Madonna in the United States. She is the recipient of a Hedgebrook Writers Invitational Residency and has won several awards for her fiction from the California Arts Council. China is professor in residence at the Center for the Arts, Religion and Education (CARE) at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkley, California. She teaches and lectures nationally and internationally on race, religion, the arts, the environment and reconciliation.

Honored by her cousin: H. Winfield Padgett, Jr.

As one of the first Latinos to graduate from UT Southwestern Medical School, Catalina has served the medical profession as an anesthesiologist and has been a role model for many young women. She has been a leader in women’s issues for over 30 years. She has served as a member of the National Science Foundation/National Air and Space Administration’s Model Institutions as vice chairman of the American Medical Women’s Association and as an alternative delegate to the Texas Medical Association’s House of Delegates.

Honored by: Dallas Anesthesiology Group, P.A.

Elise Hay Golden was closely associated with SMU from the time she was a young teenager, as she was the daughter of Mayor Stephen John Hay who served the city of Dallas at the time of the University’s inception and who campaigned vigorously for the bond election which brought SMU to Dallas and not Ft. Worth. Later, as a graduate of the Fine Arts Department of the University of Arkansas and an accomplished musician, she coached and substituted for professors and teachers in SMU’s Music Department from 1917-1919. In 1919, she became a member of SMU’s faculty, retiring in 1957.

Through all of the University’s lean years she maintained a healthy roster of students, teaching on a commission only and managing to give scholarships to worthy pupils. Sometimes these scholarships were given in return for their singing in the all volunteer choir at Highland Park Methodist Church, which she also directed from 1928-1946. Other major musical obligations were as conductor of the choruses for the Dallas Oratorio Society under orchestral direction of SMU’s Dean Paul vanKatwick, Dean of the Music School from early to late years. Also, Mrs. Golden for many years sang with the all-gentile quartet at Temple Emanuel until it moved to its present location. Midst all of her professional duties, she managed to be a loving daughter, wife and mother and a remarkably adored teacher both because of her musical expertise and her constant psychological support for her students. Secretly and affectionately they called her studio “Mrs. Golden’s Perfection Parlor.”

Honored by her daughter: Frances Golden Ware

A seventh generation Texan, author, journalist, storyteller, and writing teacher, Carmen has inspired countless aspiring writers through her writing retreats and story writing seminars. She has taught nonfiction writing at SMU through its informal courses program and media writing at the Schieffer School of Journalism at TCU. She now writes a column on Texas women syndicated throughout the state and is a freelance Texas history and travel writer. The column, “Texas Dames,” tells the stories of Texas women who’ve pioneered in many roles and along many paths in Texas history.

Honored by her former student: H. Winfield Padgett, Jr.

Emily is a loyal friend to her colleagues, a successful career woman in her own right, and certainly a force to be reckoned with to those people not committed to her high ideals of justice and truth. She is deeply passionate about life and shares her gifts generously and openly with others not as fortunate.

Honored by: Linda Wind

Mildred Grinstead embodies all that women strive to achieve. She is a devoted mother and friend, as well as being a most gracious lady. Her commitment to Historic Preservation is evidenced through her incredible miniature representations of historic properties throughout the United States. She has shared her beautiful works with many institutions including Southern Methodist University, the Tyler Museum of Art and the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond in order to help future generations appreciate American history and architecture.

Honored by: Beth Whitney and Ann Brookshire

Adlene has been a leader in the Dallas community for many years. She serves as a role model for other women. She supports the ideas and values that make a city great and shares her time with groups that seek to make a difference in the lives of others.

Honored by: Lottye Brodsky and many other friends

As an artist and lover of nature, my mother saw beauty in the simple things of everyday life. She spent a lifetime taking care of her family, but somehow found the time to nurture her own creativity through painting.

Honored by her daughter: Caren Harvey Prothro

As a single mother of six daughters and one son, Mary Lynch Healy lived a life of great faith and devotion to her family. Mary was a lifelong proponent of education, especially for women. She was born in 1925 in Dallas, Texas, the daughter of Alice Kerwin Lynch and John Thomas Lynch. Mary attended Ursuline Academy and graduated from North Dallas High School, and attended SMU before graduating from Maryville College of the Sacred Heart in St. Louis. Her oldest child is Maureen Healy Decherd of Dallas.

Honored by her daughter: Maureen H. Decherd

Dr. Hosford returned for graduate school at SMU and was awarded a Ph.D a number of years after completing her Bachelor degree also from SMU. She is an accomplished author and teacher. She earned a total of four sequential degrees from SMU: a BS, MLA, MS and a double Ph.D. She did excellent work at Baylor University Medical Center as the House Anthropologist for many years. Her great-grandfather was one of the founders of SMU. The university can be proud of the many things she has accomplished.

Honored by her husband: Gordon Hosford M.D.

She gave us life. She gave us direction. She gave us security. She gave us courage. She gave us her all.

Honored by her daughters: Pamela Nelson and Susan Moseley

Sarah Tilghman Hughes, lawyer, judge and lifelong advocate of women’s rights, will be remembered for her path breaking role as a woman in the legal and judicial realm. As a federal judge who swore in Lyndon B. Johnson as President on Air Force One after the assassination of President Kennedy, she is the only woman in American history to have sworn in a United States President.

Born in 1896, Sarah Tilghman graduated from Goucher College in Baltimore and from The George Washington University Law School, becoming one of a small number of women lawyers across the nation. Following her marriage and move to Dallas in 1922, she became active in politics, serving in the Texas House of Representatives and then as the state’s first woman district judge, a position she held until 1961 when she became the first woman to serve as a federal district judge in Texas. Her commitment to women’s legal rights made her an exemplar and fierce advocate in a time when women’s status remained restricted and their roles circumscribed in the public and professional life of a community.

Honored by former President of her alma mater, Goucher College: Judy Mohraz

Our mother Caroline Rose Hunt has had many roles: Distinguished Alumna awardee of Hockaday, Mary Baldwin and UT-Austin, five-star hotelier, novel and cookbook author, traveler, gourmet cook, named a Grande Dame d’Escoffier, John F. Kennedy Center Board member, entrepreneur, Highland Park Presbyterian deacon, Fortune 500 corporate board member, gala honorary chair extraordinaire, philanthropist, Lady Primrose’s antique shop owner and tea room proprietor, mother of five, grandmother of nineteen, and great-grandmother of sixteen.

She has been able to do this because she is creative, gracious, kind, down-to-earth, has a deep faith and the biggest heart, and is comfortable to be with. There’s really no one like her.

Honored by her children.

Although widely recognized for her leadership roles as United States Senator, former member of the Texas House of Representatives, and former Texas State Treasurer, it is for her role as the catalyst for an invitation to a group of women leaders in Dallas to become members of the Texas Forum of the International Women’s Forum in 1987 that she is being honored. Founded in 1982 in the United States, the International Women’s Forum has grown into 21 nations and 62 affiliated forums across 5 continents, with more than 4,300 women leaders as members. In 1990 the international board of IWF accepted the Dallas members of the Texas Forum as a separate affiliated forum, only one of three cities in the U.S. with this status. Friends in IWF-Dallas also recognize Kay Bailey Hutchison for her appointment in 1993 to the first board of the Archives of Women of the Southwest and for serving as honorary chair of the “Remember the Ladies!” campaign for the Archives.

Honored by: Friends in IWF-Dallas

Mary Jalonick was born into a life of service to the community following family tradition. Over her lifetime in Dallas, she has served in leadership roles with many of the city's most important service organizations. Since 1987, she has directed the operations of the Dallas Foundation, and in that role she has gained national, even international, recognition as a leader in philanthropy. She is most well known for her high ethical standards, her fairness, and her warm, gracious demeanor with all.

Honored by: Friends of Mary Jalonick

My mother was the founder of the Maureen Connolly Brinker Tennis Foundation and the Virginia Slims of Dallas International Championships. She has been honored by the Dallas Tennis Association and inducted into the Dallas and St. Louis Tennis Halls of Fame. Internationally, she has received the Hardy's Award and the Carl Arnold Award for International Achievement. She founded the Bonnie Bell Cup and the Dallas Tri Cup. She was also inducted in the Washington University Sports Hall of Fame.

Honored by her daughter: Elizabeth Jeffett

How fitting it is that Sandy Plowman Kraus, in a room of her own, has Dean Emmie Baine’s desk. I think that Sandy and Emmie on first meeting each immediately glimpsed in the other the kindred spirit lurking there and nurtured that spirit in each other through all the long years of their close friendship. If Emmie can be said to have passed the torch of her work and her passion to prepare women for leadership to an SMU student of our generation, it is to Sandy to whom she passed it, and Sandy has taken up and carried that torch with her own unflagging passion, vision, and energy--all of which she has now brought to bear in her work as an Archives advisory board member. A securities analyst in an era when not many women entered that field, much less succeeded in it as Sandy did, and now for a number of years an entrepreneur and partner with her husband in their own business, Sandy’s accomplishments in the financial and commercial world are a testament to her financial acumen, tenacity, and sound judgment and should serve as encouragement to other women. Yet just describing Sandy’s tangible accomplishments fails to provide a full portrait of her and fails to do justice to her intangible qualities. One cannot be with her long at all without being keenly aware of her love for her family and friends and of her vision of a world in which people are enabled to draw more fully on their own well-springs of generosity and empathy and on their own individual gifts to make the world a better place—and Sandy, like Emmie, is constantly deeply and actively engaged in enabling them to create that better world. For the more than thirty-five years I have known her, Sandy has astonished, inspired, and moved me and gladdened my heart more than I can ever say. I cannot wait to see what she does in the next thirty-five…and thereafter.

Honored by her friend: Lea Courington SMU ‘74

Jean Lacy is a nationally recognized artist, and over many years she has provided extraordinary leadership as an intellectual in Dallas. She arrived in Dallas before the Civil Rights Movement when it wasn't easy to be an intellectual, much less a female intellectual, and on top of that a Black female intellectual. She persevered and persisted, and through her art and her civic efforts she has become one of the nation's most respected women of Dallas.

Honored by her friend and admirer

Patricia Ann La Salle has dedicated her career in higher education to communicating more effectively its values and goals to a diverse and increasingly discriminating audience at institutions such American University, Georgetown University, and, now, SMU, where she serves as Associate Vice President for Public Affairs. Her work has won regional and national awards, including the Alice Beeman Award, one of the highest honors for professional achievement given by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.

Patti’s influence has been felt across the university and within the Dallas community. She has taught as an instructor in the Meadows School of the Arts and has served for many years as an advisor to the President’s Scholars. She is the recipient of the “M” award, the highest honor bestowed on a member of the SMU community. She has been a valued counselor, particularly in troubled times, to three SMU presidents, working indefatigably to help SMU stay true to its values and to realize more fully its vision as a great institution of higher learning. Into my life, and that of our community, she has brought a deeply felt, eloquently articulated, and inspiring ideal of what we as a university should be. Since, as her husband, I have had a place in SMU’s story, I will always be grateful to her for her efforts to bring out the best in me as a teacher, scholar, departmental chair, and administrator.

As a woman who remembers too well the discrimination she experienced early in her career as a young professional in the private sector and, subsequently, as a staffer in the political world of Washington D. C., she has served as a role model and advocate for the young women who have followed her. Marsh Terry, SMU’s greatest citizen, once said that every time Patti sets foot on our campus it becomes a better place. And so it does. Therefore, I wish to honor, my wife, Patti LaSalle, herself a daughter of the Southwest, for what she has meant to our university, to her family, and, most of all, to me for the past twenty-five years.

Honored by her husband: Dr. James K. Hopkins

Liza Lee served as the first Executive Director of the Foundation for the Education of Young Women 2004-2005. She is a national leader in the education of girls and young women. From 1989 to 2004, Liza was the Eugene McDermott Headmistress of The Hockaday School in Dallas where she established the school's reputation as one of the best independent secondary schools in the country. In May 2005, SMU conferred upon Elizabeth M. (Liza) Lee the degree Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa. From 2005 to 2007, Mrs. Lee served as the Interim Head of School at the Porter-Gaud School in Charleston, South Carolina. On April 30, 2008, the Board of Trustees of Trinity Episcopal School in Austin, Texas named Liza Lee the Interim Head of School.

Honored by: Ruth Sharp Altshuler

For as long as I can remember, Grandma Margaret has been an inspiration, a source of comedy, and a willing and supportive teacher. It was to Grandma's house I was determined to run away when I got in trouble as a child. It was Grandma who first taught me that a lady never tells her age, that tea and cookies at Neiman Marcus can solve any problem and that the love of one's family is a well for which there is no bottom. If not for Grandma, I would never have been inspired to become a writer. Early on, Grandma taught me that a story need not be accurate to be true. She engendered in me her flair for language and her passion for books, knowledge and art. She taught me to love greatly and to take risks, to work hard and be kind to others.

Honored by her granddaughter: Andrea Luttrell, and other friends and family

At the heart of a great university there must be a great library, a repository of scholarship, ideas, facts, and insight. We used to think of libraries being places of burnished wood shelves filled with beautifully bound books and periodicals and a card catalog to help us find the books we seek. Yet today, with ubiquity of computers, the development of information technologies, and the rise of new phenomena such as cloud computing and social media , while libraries are still full of books and periodicals, they are so much more as well.

At this time of the expansion of the concept of libraries, SMU and all those who use its libraries are fortunate to have Gillian M. McCombs as the Dean and Director of the Central University Libraries. Her qualifications for this position are extraordinary in and of themselves, but it is also her vision for all that libraries can be in our present age and her leadership and management in achieving that vision that have caused me to honor her. I am confident that there are many others who similarly admire Dean McCombs, and I feel so privileged to get to be the one who honored her so that her name can join those of the other remarkable women honored in the Archives.

In addition, I have honored Dean McCombs for her enormous generosity of spirit, her grace in all things, her empathy, and her constant and selfless concern for others. She has given me insights in all sorts of areas, and her friendship is a source of unending delight to me.

Honored by: Lea Courington

Jackie McElhaney is an enthusiastic supporter of libraries,especially the SMU and Dallas Public Libraries. Her love of learning finds expression through the encouragement of the enduring benefits of lifetime learning that libraries can provide for everyone.

Honored by her husband: John McElhaney

Dr. Mamie McKnight, lifelong educator and community leader, founded Black Dallas Remembered, Inc., to collect and preserve the legacy and heritage of the African American community in Dallas, where she was born and lived her whole life. She has devoted her many talents to the development of African American family and community life, historic preservation, particularly in southern Dallas, and to the education of Dallas youth. An award-winning scholar and professor, Dr. McKnight has been an indomitable pioneer in the strengthening of race relations and racial equality in Dallas.

Honored by: Judith Garrett Segura

Maura McNiel had a vision of what could be possible if women were able to achieve their full potential, and the positive impact that would have on everyone in the world around them. She worked with passion and persistence for over 40 years in Dallas for the advancement of women. A few of her many accomplishments include being a founder of the Women’s Center of Dallas, an influential nurturer of many other organizations, and pushing Title IX in the schools. She is honored to have the Women Helping Women Awards named after her and proud of the legacy of the Maura Award winners over the decades who have also improved the lives of so many in the Dallas area. On behalf of her family and friends, I am happy to honor her as part of the Remember the Ladies Campaign!

Honored by her daughter: Bridget McNiel

From her first debut in the world of work as a teacher and then the youngest counselor in the Dallas Independent School District and as the youngest Dean of Women in the South, Martha continues to gather accomplishments, a real credit to SMU. From sea to shining sea best describes Martha’s talents and her travels. Martha has assisted women find appointments to boards and commissions, formulated congressional legislative responses to constituents’ needs, taught environmental professionals, directed a state department of environmental quality, launched a state small business assistance ombudsman program, guided policy and program development of a federal agency in the area of civilian radioactive waste management, and advised numerous clients in her very successful entrepreneurial ventures. A matching achievement is Martha’s travels to over 70 countries. Martha uses her SMU heritage to sail into the lives and hearts of thousands of students with Semester at Sea. Martha was inducted into the Louisiana Women’s Hall of Fame for her great achievements and assistance for a better society. We salute you, Martha, for your significant contributions to your community, your state, your country, and your world.

Honored by: Friends of Martha Ann Madden

My aunt Lucy was an amazing woman. She graduated from UT in 1917 and taught school in Floydada and Clarendon, Texas for one year each. She was fired from both for teaching evolution. She then worked as a social worker in Chicago (where she flew home to Tyler, Texas in the early 20’s) and at a home for “wayward” girls in New York City. She finally got her dream job in publishing when the Depression hit. She came back to Tyler where she founded the Tyler chapter of AAUW and was a tireless worker for the Library, Planned Parenthood, and the Democratic Party. She was a bra burner before there were bras. She died at age 98.

Honored by her niece: Margaret Marsh Mebus

Graduating from high school during the Depression, my mother went to work at 18 and began a lifetime process of educating herself. She encouraged her three daughters to pursue their varied interests and supported the choices they each made. Her energy, curiosity, and love of learning were an inspiration to her daughters who all graduated from SMU. I honor her for the role model she provided for us, teaching us that learning should not cease when we finished our formal education.

Honored by her daughter: Jackie Masur McElhaney

Betty was an outstanding educator. She graduated from Baylor University with a B.S. and received a Master's Degree from Stanford University and her Ph.D. from the University of Texas in the field of sociology. Betty taught at The University until she became a professor at SMU in the Department of Sociology. She supervised Japanese exchange students and taught at the university's sister campus in Japan. After she retired, SMU named her an associate professor emerita of Sociology.

Honored by her brother: William Edward Maynard III

She was a teacher, bookkeeper, wife, mother and caretaker. She worked to allow her husband to get his doctorate; was the bookkeeper when he started his business; taught because she liked it; the mother of two children whom she raised, encouraged and nurtured; and the caretaker for her husband in later years. She was a woman of the 90's, who did it all, without fanfare or publicity.

Honored by her son: Chuck Meadows

Patricia Blachly Meadows is best known for her advocacy of the visual artists of Texas. She has co-founded numerous non-profit arts organizations, served on local and national arts boards and committees, and is a respected administrator, curator, speaker, juror, advisor and mentor. She is also an active and recognized Dallas civic leader in the development of State-Thomas, the Arts District, and Uptown. She has served as president, chair, and member of many city and community boards and been appointed by Governor Ann Richards and several Dallas mayors to positions of leadership for both the city and state. In addition, she is an advocate for women’s issues and has been an active participant in organizations recognizing and promoting women’s leadership nationally and locally. Finally, she is a wife, mother, and grandmother who adores her family.

Honored by her husband: Curtis W. Meadows Jr.

Harriet Miers embodies commitment to the rule of law, dedication to clients and the legal profession, and service to city, state and nation. In roles ranging from leading her law firm, guiding Dallas as a member of the City Council, enhancing her profession as President of the Dallas Bar Association and the State Bar of Texas, and serving our nation as White House Staff Secretary, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, and White House Counsel, her insight, analysis, empathy, and selfless dedication have benefited the many she has served.

Honored by: Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP

During four decades at SMU, Mary Elizabeth Buford Miller broadened the University's outreach to the community and enriched the lives of thousands. Mrs. Miller, who died in 1990, retired in 1985 as dean of continuing education, a position she had held since 1975. She earned three degrees from SMU: the B.S. in journalism and B.A. in English in 1940 and an M.A. in English in 1941. In 1944 she began teaching English at Dallas College, SMU's evening division then located downtown. In 1957 she became coordinator of informal courses, initiating noncredit classes for adults that continue to thrive today. She became director of continuing education in l960. Other programs she developed at SMU include the Management Seminar for Women Executives and Legal Assistant Certificate Program. Through her visionary leadership, Mrs. Miller engaged countless members of the Dallas community in the educational life of the University.

Honored by: Division of Education and Lifelong Learning

Ruth P. Morgan, university leader and scholar, has served as an exemplar and path breaker for women in academia. Born in 1934, she earned her doctorate degree in political science from Louisiana State University in 1966 at a time when women were rarely encouraged to pursue a PhD and all too seldom were able to achieve tenure and the rank of full professor at a major university.

Joining the faculty of Southern Methodist University in 1966, she juggled scholarship, teaching and family responsibilities with calm efficiency and notable success. Her commitment to both teaching and scholarship led to teaching awards and significant publications including The President and Civil Rights: Policy-Making by Executive Order (1987) and Governance by Decree: The Impact of the Voting Rights Act in Dallas (2004). Ruth’s administrative talents propelled her to the provost’s office in 1978 and ultimately to the position of provost in 1987, distinguishing her as one of the few female chief academic officers in higher education at that time. As provost she presided over significant strengthening of the undergraduate curriculum and the introduction of important interdisciplinary programs. Committed to Southern Methodist University, committed to academic excellence and equity, and committed to mentoring the next generation of women, Ruth Morgan embodies the fortitude, wisdom and high personal standards that enabled her and a few other women to achieve distinction and serve as inspirational role models within national higher education.

Honored by her friend: Donna Rohling

At ninety-two years of age, my mother continues to be charming, stylish, current, generous, and cheerful. Her invitations “to cruise” transformed a somewhat remote relationship between three adult daughters into an enduring closeness. Most of all, her tender devotion and unfailing care of my father inspired and humbled. I honor her as a small public token of my love and admiration.

Honored by her daughter: Nancy Nicol Martinez

We honor our mother, Noreen Lewis Nicol, for her loving support of our family and outstanding contributions to her community. She helped us set our goals high and was always there for us despite her time-consuming and successful career building a business with her husband. Pioneering the way for women in the weighing and measurement industry, which was dominated by men, she became a role model for many women struggling to combine family and careers. Her accomplishments in leadership roles in local, national and international not-for-profit organizations were notable. She felt giving back to the community was the price she paid for being on this earth.

Honored by her daughters: Nicki Nicol Huber and Dr. Myra Nicol Williams

June – a businesswoman, councilwoman, volunteer, friend and confident to many - left a legacy of stewardship that is a model for us all. While active in the management of a family owned business, she gave herself in service to her beloved town: Bastop, Texas. Seeing a need to connect today’s challenges with the heritage of the past, she helped found Yesterfest, an annual event celebrating the pioneers who settled Bastrop. Understanding that the Colorado River was the town’s most valued natural asset, she dedicated herself to the Clear Clean Colorado Association when pollution seriously degraded the river in the mid-1980’s and then rejoiced when the river was once again clean; her contributions were recognized with naming of the Bastrop riverwalk in her honor. Her stewardship found further expression on the Bastrop Sesquicentennial Commission, the County Historical Commission, as vice president of the Chamber of Commerce, as an elected Bastrop City Councilwoman and as a member of many boards: the Family Crisis Center, Bastrop Public Library and the Opera House Association. June was named 1984 Woman of the Year in Bastrop and is remembered for her love of life, joy in living and meaningful relationships. Although her life was cut short at 51 years of age by ovarian cancer, June packed into those shortened years a lifetime of contributions to the communities in which she lived and to the family and friends with who she shared a remarkable bond. June’s passions were here family, her friends, her town, and her river.

Honored by her friends and family: Toni & Kenneth Kesselus, Minifred Trigg, Joyce Gay, Bruce & Shirley Barber, Becky & Steve Rivers, Cynthia, Craig & Charles Pence, Richard Fisher, Robbie & Terry Sanders, Celeste Rose, Nancy & Tom Scott, Nancy & Joseph Beal, Lee Clyburn & Laura McWilliams, H. Clay Dean, Henry Dean, S. Michael Dean, Carol & David Weber, Rouye Rush, Sheran Schepps, Dianne Pape, and Sandra Plowman Kraus

Dianne H. Patterson has been a successful business leader, community volunteer and supporter of women’s causes throughout her career. As the founder and C.E.O. of Claim Services Resource Group Inc., a firm that existed from 1980 until 2002 and provided specialized services to the health insurance industry, she began to create unique opportunities for women to earn extraordinary incomes. Along with these opportunities to do well, she imparted the obligation for the same women to share their success with their communities at large. Mrs. Patterson is a founding member and major sponsor of SMU’s Louise Raggio Lecture Series as well as a long time supporter of the Dallas Women’s Foundation, The Women’s Museum, Goodwill Industries, Leadership Texas, Leadership America, Texas Ballet Theater, and the Dallas Opera.

Honored by her husband: James Donald Patterson

My big sister inspires people, especially me. I remember her clearly as the coed whose many contributions at SMU earned her the “M Award” – the most highly coveted recognition bestowed upon students, faculty, staff and administrators on the SMU Campus. Since then, her professional awards have accumulated to more than I can count. Most recently, she received a highly coveted research award in her field: the Academy of Management Journal Best Paper Award. Meanwhile, she is a tenured professor in the department of management at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is the dean of the College of Business Administration there to boot. Donde’s PhD is in strategic management from the University of Texas at Austin, her M.Ed. is in higher education administration from the University of North Texas, and her bachelor’s in English from Southern Methodist University. In 1995, she was a visiting associate professor of management at Helsinki School of Economics and Business in Finland. She has raised two sons and finds time to enjoy friends and family. I’m proud of her; it is my honor to honor her!

Honored by her sister: Sandra Plowman Kraus ’76,’80

Elsie Prcesang’s life experiences spanned traveling by covered wagon to jet plane, staking a claim in Oklahoma territory to witnessing the land frontier close and the space frontier open, and from plowing behind a mule and heading maize by hand to using tractors and self-propelled combines. With courage and a pioneering spirit, she and her young husband left the comforts of home to stake a claim and live in a dugout on the short grass prairie in Oklahoma Territory. In 1916 they moved permanently to the Texas Panhandle, which my grandfather found to be “the land of milk and honey.” In a gift Bible to my mother in 1948, Elsie inscribed these words: “What you have at your death belongs to some one else. But what you are is yours forever.” It is not for the estate she left, but for who she was that I honor her--for spurring my imagination with her stories, for inspiring me by her grit, for being a feminist before she knew the word, for her insatiable curiosity, for her wit and joie d'vivre . . . and for joining with me in getting into childhood mischief.

Honored by her granddaughter: Ruth P. Morgan

Caren Prothro has enriched Dallas and the lives of its citizens through her dedicated service to civic institutions and causes, particularly the arts and higher education. She has been a member of the SMU Board of Trustees since 1992, served as vice chair of the board from 1998 to 2000, and will become chair of the SMU board in June 2010. In support of the University, she also has been a co-chair of The Campaign for SMU: A Time to Lead, and serves in the same role for SMU’s Second Century Campaign, seeking $750 million for academic progress. An active supporter of cultural advancement, she is vice chair of the AT&T Performing Arts Center Board of Directors and was the chief volunteer fund-raiser for its $350 million campaign. As such, she has been instrumental in the development of this world-class group of performance venues as they elevate the profile and expand the offerings of the city’s arts district. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Dallas Museum of Art. Her breadth of concerns is reflected in service on boards of the Visiting Nurses Association, Young Audiences of Greater Dallas County, Dallas County Youth Services and the Commission on Children and Youth. Her leadership has been recognized with many awards, such as the Linz Award for community service, Southwestern Medical Foundation Charles Cameron Sprague Community Service Award, Annette G. Strauss Humanitarian Award and Governor's Volunteer Service Award. Through her volunteer service and commitment to important causes, Caren Prothro is a strong role model for leadership that makes a difference in the community.

Honored by: Ruth Sharp Altshuler and Linda Pitts Custard

Although eminently practical and resourceful and an expert at making do, my mother’s degree in art and her creative flair imbued our family with an appreciation for beauty in environment, manner, word, and thought. Thelma Prouse was a teacher at heart. She added mystery and excitement to learning by the unlimited landscape of her interests; engendered a love for history by her respect for the lessons of historical experience; and stimulated our passion for traveling the world by her own curiosity. Honoring her is to express gratitude for her holding kindness in word and deed inviolable; for nurturing my sense of wonder; and for the moral, intellectual, and practical education I received from her . . . and even for her abhorrence of idle hands and the warranted spankings she gave me.

Honored by her daughter: Ruth P. Morgan

The only woman to graduate from SMU’s Law School in 1952, Louise Ballerstedt Raggio then worked as Dallas’ first female prosecutor. Throughout her distinguished legal career she has been a shrewd advocate for the rights and responsibilities of all people under the law. The first woman elected to the Texas Bar Foundation’s Board of Trustees in 1979, she received the Texas Bar Association’s President’s Award in 1987. It is not only because she is acknowledged as a “first,” however, that we honor her; it is because of her notable accomplishments on behalf of women and families - and therefore on behalf of all. Louise Raggio was instrumental in the revision of restrictive laws affecting women and in the passage of the Marital Property Act of 1967, which for the first time allowed married women in Texas to buy or sell property or have credit in their own names. Working with SMU Professor Joseph McKnight, she created the first fully codified set of family laws in the world - the Texas Family Code. For her leadership in advancing women’s rights and our nation’s laws, SMU was proud to award Louise Ballerstedt Raggio the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.

Honored by her sons: Grier, Tom and Ken Raggio

Mother was a woman way ahead of her time. Mr. Freeman taught me my first class in accounting, and I will always remember how important he felt it was to be a “certified public accountant.” I never dared tell him that both my parents were just that.

Honored by her daughter: Sally Reddig Schulze

In 1967, during the turbulent years of social unrest in this country, Julia Scott Reid began her weekly column in The Dallas Morning News, through which she gave vivid life to a community that had been largely invisible to the establishment community at the time. With her intelligence, persistence, and her talent as a writer, she opened doors and hearts and minds. Her family recognized and honored her great significance to the Dallas community by placing her papers at The DeGolyer Library for future generations to study and enjoy.

Honored by: Judith Garrett Segura

Ermance Rejebian spent a lifetime career of fifty years presenting great literature to thousands of audiences throughout the Southwest. This achievement is all the more remarkable when one realizes that she came to America alone, an immigrant teenager, escaping the death and destruction of her people, the Armenians living in Turkey. My mother’s love of words, language, ideas, and books were a light within her and an inspiration to all who heard her voice. It was here, in the SMU Libraries, that she did her research. It is here that I choose to honor her.

Honored by her daughter: Mary Rejebian Johnston Northern

Hortense was the smartest, most fun person I knew. She was always young – died at age 92. She was a 4th generation Dallasite, a graduate of Hockaday & Wellesley College. She was a volunteer and chaired or founded every good cause – VNA, Hope Cottage, East Dallas Health Coalition, and the Women’s Division of the Jewish Welfare Federation. She was on the founding board of Goals for Dallas, the Dallas Alliance, Rhoads Terrace School, and the Crossroads Center – to name a few.

Honored by her best friend: Gerry Cristol, and her daughters, Anne Sanger Feld and Mary Sanger

To honor Becky Schergens for her lifelong commitment and contributions to advancing educational opportunities and increased social equity for women and girls.

Honored by her husband: Jack Kinsey

In honor of and with gratitude to my Mother, who possessed great intelligence, talent and beauty. She lived before the gates of opportunity truly opened for women. However, her legacy and inspiration remain strong among those whose lives she touched with her considerable gifts. She exemplified a life well lived...one filled with love, hope, faith, charity and equity towards all.

Honored by her daughter: Becky Schergens

Reared in the shadow of the campus, Eva B Richardson loved SMU even before she became a student. This love of her alma mater was a thread running through all of her life, regardless of the places she lived or their distances from the Hilltop. It was at SMU that a young Perkins student, Eugene Slater, courted and married her. He would go on to become one of the United Methodist Church’s revered bishops. Eva B was by his side as he moved from one congregation to another, rearing their children, reaching out to respond to the many needs of a church community, and serving as the liveliest, most engaged Sunday school teacher young people would ever know. Gene and Eva B were the embodiment of faith in action.

It is fitting that following retirement they returned to Dallas and to SMU. She was a driving force in the SMU Oral History Project which the SMU Women’s Club organized in the 1980s. Through her efforts and those of others, key aspects of the University’s history and the voices of early faculty were preserved. A lifelong learner, Eva B’s vitality and grace made her a role model for generations of younger women who saw that every decade of a woman’s life can be filled with commitment to family, personal growth and civic engagement.

Honored by her friend: Judy Mohraz

2009-2010 is the 90th anniversary of this group that began originally with the wives of professors and administrators with the object of developing unity through cultural, social, and philanthropic interests. The group originally assisted the university with social events and has consistently given scholarship assistance to women students.

Honored by SMU Woman's Club president 2009-2011: Polly York

Ruth Potts Spence is a soul I wish I knew more about. I met her only once when my mentor, Emmie Baine (Dean of Women at SMU for over 20 years) took me and another coed to Ruth’s house for tea one afternoon during my undergraduate days at SMU in the mid-1970’s. Ruth was born on September 6, 1894. I am told that by the time she died almost 95 years later, she had become a walking encyclopedia on the history and growth of Dallas, had served on almost every prominent social and cultural board in Dallas and was an unashamed political liberal, if not activist. She loved Shakespeare and was a member of the Dallas Shakespeare Club and was a voracious reader, and so on. But what is of interest to me is the fact that she was my mentor’s mentor and I’d like to know more about the woman who supported and influenced Emmie Baine’s work on behalf of the coed at SMU for over 20 years. Ruth’s contributions shouldn’t be lost to the history Dallas. So, I am honoring her in hopes that some scholar will see her name on a plaque at the DeGolyer and go out and write a biography on this fascinating woman.

Honored by: Sandra Plowman Kraus

Organized February 23, 1886, the Standard Club will celebrate its 125th anniversary in 2011. Founded for “the study of standard authors,” it met weekly in members’ homes. Contemporary newspaper reports of its programs reflected the breadth of its members’ literary interests in the 19th century.

Among its early members were Mary Kittrell Craig, an educator whose programs for the club were the origins of the Mary K. Craig Class which survives today with a large and devoted following. Other members with notable community involvement included Mrs. Belle Gay Smith who organized the first art exhibit in Dallas at the Texas State Fair in 1886. Mrs. Adella Kelsey Turner was elected to the Dallas Board of Education in 1908 before women could vote, and later was a member of the Dallas Equal Suffrage Association, along with Mrs. Sallie Griffis Meyer who had co-authored the first state child labor law in 1901. Mrs. Olivia Allen Dealey was the founding president of the Public School Art League.

More recent members who were involved in education included Miss Lide Spragins, Dean of Women at SMU from 1936-1957, Miss Ela Hockaday, founder and headmistress of The Hockaday School, and Mrs. Elizabeth Walmsley, Chairman of the Art Department at SMU 1955 -1967, having taught since 1934. In support of educational achievement the Club has provided yearly awards since 1969 to deserving SMU art students to pursue further study.

The Standard Club continues its tradition of members giving the monthly programs which are linked to a yearly theme. On the occasion of their 125th anniversary, I honor the membership and their legacy of intellectual pursuit and community involvement which has spanned three centuries.

Honored by: Jackie McElhaney

When I heard Dorothy rafted rapids on rivers in three states at the age of 84 to raise money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, I wasn’t surprised. Dorothy claims the adventure in life and shows us what civic leadership should be. She and her late husband owned three eastern Arkansas newspapers for 20 years. Using her voice as editor of the Marked Tree Tribune, she spoke out in support of integrating Arkansas’s racially segregated schools. She received the Arkansas Press Woman of Achievement Award twice. In the 1970’s, as Director of the Southwestern Regional Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health Education and Welfare in Dallas for nine years, Dorothy courageously enforced Title IX to bring equal athletic opportunity for women and received the Distinguished Service Award for her service. When Dorothy returned to Arkansas in 1979, she was a partner in a management and publications firm for fifteen years. During that time, she established the Wilowe Institute, a nonprofit leadership development organization, and served as its President for six years. In 1997, Dorothy co-authored the award winning biography of Roberta Fulbright, mother of Senator J. William Fulbright. But, when Dorothy volunteered her time at SMU’s Women Center and at the Symposium for the Education of Women for Social and Political Leadership when I was an undergraduate student, I discovered a personal role model who continues to inspire me 35 years later.

Honored by: Sandra Plowman Kraus ‘76

Becky Sykes is the executive director of the Dallas Women’s Foundation, a public foundation that promotes women’s philanthropy and raises money to support community programs that help women and girls realize their full potential. A life-long Dallas resident, she graduated from Austin College in Sherman with degrees in French and government. In 1985, she co-founded the Dallas Women’s Foundation and served as its first board chair. She returned to the Dallas Women’s Foundation in 1998 as executive director. Under her leadership, the Dallas Women’s Foundation has become the largest women’s foundation in the world. Becky has won the Maura Award (“Women Helping Women”); the Susan B. Anthony Award, the Executive Director of the Year Award from the Women’s Resource Center of North Texas Legal Services; the League of Women Voters’ Myrtle Bales Bulkley Award; the Women of Excellence Award given by the YWCA and Women’s Enterprise Magazine; and the Athena Award from the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce.

Honored by: Cecilia Guthrie Boone

Jo Ann has served SMU in a number of capacities since 1995. Her ongoing involvement at her alma mater earned her The Mustang Award. At the university, she currently serves on the Central University Libraries Campaign Steering Committee, SMU-in-Taos executive board and the Development and External Affairs Trustee standing committee. She also serves on the board of trustees at Austin College and the Presbyterian Mo-Ranch Assembly.

Honored by: Garrett and Wyatt Pettus

From small-town piano teacher to wife of a U.S. Senator and mother of three girls, Lou Tower was a remarkable woman. She revolutionized ‘grass-roots’ campaigning and changed the face of Texas politics. She charmed everyone with her style, her grace, her warm heart, her good humor, and her captivating smile. She enriched the lives of all she knew with love and laughter and the pure joy of living.

Honored by her daughters: Penny Tower Cook and Jeanne Tower Cox

Known to generations of law students as Miss T, Hibernia Turbeville was Director of the Law Library at SMU's School of Law from 1947-1975. She taught law students how to research, she mentored librarians, and she helped plan the Underwood Law Library which opened in 1971.Upon her retirement in 1975 she began a new career as the first full time librarian at the downtown law firm of Locke, Purnell, Boren, Laney and Neely which lasted until 1986. She is warmly remembered by law school professors, librarians,practicing lawyers,judges and all others whose life she touched.

Honored by: Prof. Alan Bromberg, Eugene Pflughaupt, and the law firm of Locke Lord Bissell & Lidell LLP

For 13 years, Gail taught in the public and private schools of Texas, California, and Oklahoma. She is certified K-12 and taught everything from kindergarten to 8th grade science. In classrooms, at every level, she was known as an absolutely superb teacher, liked and admired by her students and their parents. Those pedagogical and personal skills have continued to be displayed in informal ways with students during our time at SMU. Her daughters, grandchildren, and husband can attest to the fact that she continues to be an excellent teacher.

Honored by her husband: R. Gerald Turner

In recognition of Gail Turner’s thoughtful, dedicated service to SMU, we, the women of the Board of Trustees of Southern Methodist University would like to honor Gail Oliver Turner for her unique contributions to the SMU community.

Honored by: Ruth Altshuler, Laura Bush, Jeanne Cox, Linda Custard, Gene Jones, Connie O’Neill, Jeanne Phillips, Caren Prothro, and Ann Sherer

Barbara is president emeritus for Parkland Foundation and serves on its board of directors. Her career at Parkland Health and Hospital System spans over 25 years. She served in a number of capacities including senior vice president of Public Affairs and Patient Services as well as president and chief executive officer of Parkland Foundation. She has received many prestigious personal and professional awards throughout her career and as a result of her volunteer service.

Honored by : friends and admirers

Lu Fan Patrick Watson was able to enter SMU in 1931 and to graduate in 1935 because of scholarship funds. Her first scholarship was awarded by a women's club for $150. While a student, she worked in the campus library and joined Kappa Alpha Theta. She was selected for Mortar Board, and she went on to teach for the Dallas Independent School District. Her time at SMU, her degree from SMU, and the friends made while there were important to her for a lifetime.

Honored by her daughter: Charlene Law

Dr. Wedgwood has been a teacher, mentor and friend to me, and the many others whom she has taught in her creative writing classes at SMU. She was the ghost writer for Amy Vanderbilt’s Book of Etiquette and wrote several volumes about her husband’s family. One recorded the lives and times of Josiah Wedgwood and his wife, a descendant of Charles Darwin. She was extraordinarily generous with her literary contacts when her students showed merit, never failing to cheer them on toward publication.

Honored by : Barbara Miercort

Honored by her sons: John and Rob Whaley

There is no such thing as self-sovereignty for a woman if she is unable to control her reproductive system. No one understands this more than Virginia Whitehill who has spent a life time advocating for the accessibility of birth control for all women. Virginia began her volunteer work with Planned Parenthood when she moved to Dallas in 1960. But, her work didn’t stop there when it came to women’s issues; Virginia co-founded the Dallas Women’s Coalition, Women’s Issues Network, Dallas Women’s Foundation, The Family Place Shelter, Women’s Southwest Federal Credit Union and the Dallas chapter of the Women ‘s Equality Action League. Her legacy as an activist on women’s issues is unsurpassed and she continues to add to her record of involvement at 80 years of age. Virginia has contributed her time, energy, and expertise to the SMU coed through her consistent participation in the Women’s Studies program, the Women’s Center activities, and the Symposium for the Education of Women for Social and Political Leadership. On behalf of the SMU alumnae, I say thank you.

Honored by: Sandra Plowman Kraus ‘76

Sue’s involvement with SMU spans several generations. She is the granddaughter of the late Ella C. Fondren and Walter William Fondren, both whom were members of the SMU board of trustees. The Fondren Library is named in their honor. Her father, the late W. B. ‘Tex’ Trammell, was also a member of the SMU board of trustees. Sue has served on SMU’s board for two terms and was a member of the libraries executive board. For the Second Century Campaign, she is a member of the steering committee for Central University Libraries and honorary chair of the Houston steering committee.

Honored by her daughter: Celia Crank

Laura Wilson is an award-winning black and white photographer who worked as Richard Avedon’s assistant for six years. She has published several books including, Avedon at Work in the American West. The book won a number of awards including the Royal Photographic Society of England Book of the Year. Her other books, Hutterites of Montana and Watt Matthews of Lambshead have also won awards. She is currently working on three projects, all with unique subject matter: life along the Texas/Mexico border, behind the scenes with Hollywood directors, screenwriters, cinematographers and actors and American fighter pilots who have seen combat in Afghanistan.

Honored by her long-time friend: H. Winfield Padgett, Jr.

Darling daughter, cherished wife, loving mother of five boys, Dr. Conchita Hassell Winn served on the faculty of SMU for more than 30 years as Professor of Spanish and Hispanic Literature, Director of Ibero-American Studies and Chairman of the Foreign Languages Department. An inspiring mentor and caring counselor who was honored as one of SMU’s outstanding professors on several occasions, Conchita was also a pioneer for women's equality within and outside the SMU community. Author of several books, articles and translations, including comprehensive original research on the history of the Spanish language press in Texas, she was also active in Dallas civic affairs, including service as Chairman of the Dallas Civil Service Commission and Trustee of the Hockaday School. We honor her for the outstanding, caring woman that she was and hope that she may continue to inspire others as she has us.

Honored by her sons: Edward Winn, David Winn, William Winn, Richard Winn and Alan Winn