Typed by: Kay Ward
WOLFRAM,Joydelle (Garrett)
Joydell Garrett, b July 4, 1926 at Stranger, Falls County,
Texas-resides in Marlin, Falls county, Texas-was a daughter and
sixth child of Sanford Quay and Agnes Estell (Mitchell) Garrett,
and is the fourth generation of her father's family, and fifth
generation of her mother's family, in the county. She is the
widow of Bertram Wolfram, Jr., b February 22, 1922 in Galveston,
Texas, died there November 12, 1952 and buried in Calvary
Cemetery in Galveston-the only child of Bertram and Elizabeth
(Basset) Wolfram, natives of Texas. Bert and Joydelle were
married in Lubbock, Texas on July 4, 1950; and he was a 1943
graduate of Texas Technological University-and practiced his
profession as a Geophysicist until a short time before his death.
Joydelle completed Stranger School, attended Marlin High School
two years, and graduated from Lubbock Senior High School, Class
of 1943. Departing Falls County in August 1942, she did not
return to live until October 1977, and has made her home in
Marlin since that time. Her thirty-five years away from Falls
County include two years of work for the Senior Vice President of
Twentieth Century Fox, a year as one of the first "female
detailmen" for Texas Pharmacal Company-showing an increase
of over 200% during that year; and thirty-two years in
association with various medical professions-including the
position of Administrative Assistant to the Executive Dean and
Director of The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston,
during which time she was in Hospital Control during the
September 1961 Hurricane Carla, and also serving as the
representative from the Medical Branch at the Dedicatory
Ceremonies for the Torbett-Hutchings-Smith Memorial Hospital in
Marlin. She was the world's first Medical Administrator of a
Chronic Hemodialysis and Renal Transplant Program, working with
the renowned and combined program of the Veterans Administration
and UCLA in Los Angeles, California; and subsequently as the
Administrator of a national committee on kidney disease-serving
on an elite committee which wrote the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act
which regulates the donation of organs for transplantation.
Mrs. Wolfram has been published in prestigious medical journals,
including the International Journal of Chronic Diseases, the
Transactions of Artificial Internal Organs Association, Texas
Journal of Medicine, and others. She is also a published poet.
She has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the
American Heart Association's Texas Affiliate in Fort Worth,
Texas, and was a member of their Speaker's Bureau. She has
participated in writing various TV spot announcements for use in
public service advertisements, funded by the Detroit Committee,
and related to better understanding between races; and recruited
Hollywood Stars (including Ann Blythe, Gene Tierney, and Jim
Nabors) for recording special public service advertisements
relating to endstage kidney disease and treatment. She
participated in writing and producing a special curriculum for
training patients and family members to carry out home
"artificial kidney" treatment.
Mrs. Wolfram, under the direction of Dr. Milton Rubini,
participated in a study for the California Department of Public
Health to determine the feasibility of state-supported artificial
kidney programs in the State of California, and two such centers
were established as a result of the feasibility study. This same
report served as a National guideline for the White House
Committee on Kidney Disease, established by President Lyndon B.
Johnson. In the Fall of 1967, she was one of a two-member team
selected to tour eight European countries for the Veterans
Administration to study facilities, equipment, rehabilitation of
patients, and methods of financing treatment for end-stage kidney
patients; and she was awarded the Director's Commendation by the
Veterans Administration for her contributions to the medical,
administrative, and scientific programs of the Veterans
Administration Center. Named Outstanding Citizen of Galveston
County in 1963, in Tarrant County in 1972, and selected
"Woman of the Year for 1985-1986" by the Beta Sigma Phi
Chapter of Alpha Omicron Omicron in Marlin, Joydelle has been
named to the International Who's Who In Poetry, in the National
Register of Prominent Americans, and honored by the Dictionary of
International Biographies. She is a past Vice President of Texas
Press Women, and a member of National Federation of Press Women,
and Poetry Society of Texas. She was nominated in 1970 for
membership in International Platform Association and American
Biographical Institute.
Since returning to Falls County in 1977, she has served with the
Falls County Historical Commission as a member,
Secertary-Treasurer, and as Chairman of the Falls County
Historical Museum Endowment and Memorial Fund-being a Founder of
the Museum. In 1984, she was appointed by Falls County Judge,
Burke Kirkpatrick, to serve as Chairman of the 1986 Falls County
Sesquicentennial Committee to celebrate 150 years of Texas. She
is amember of First Presbyterian Church of Marlin, and active in
the Women of the Church Circle. She designed the adopted Falls
County Flag, which was honored by the Texas Senate and House of
Representatives on February 14, 1985, and recommended by those
bodies to be adopted by the various counties in Texas. She has
participated in the research and preparation of a number of
historical markers which have been approved by Texas Historical
Commission for Falls County.
Copyright Permission granted to Theresa Carhart for printing
these bio of these Falls County Families to this Web page
"Families of Falls County", Compiled and Edited by the
Falls County Historical Commission,
page 496-497, column 1 and 2, column 3
Member of Falls County Historical Commission
