The Junior League Asks: What Can Oveta Culp Hobby Teach Us About Being a ‘Trailblazer’?

March 26, 2012 - PRLog -- New York – At a time when women “do” many things, it’s easy to forget the trailblazers who were unusual precisely because they were women who reached high positions despite their gender at a time when women weren’t expected to. Consider Oveta Culp Hobby, says The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc.

By the time she died at the age of 90 in 1995, Oveta had been the first secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (now the Department of Health and Human Services), the first commanding officer of the Women's Army Corps, and publisher of the Houston Post, for more than 100 years one of Houston’s major newspapers.

AJLI President Delly Beekman says, “Oveta Culp Hobby (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oveta_Culp_Hobby) led a life of accomplishment, from her early days as a member of the Junior League of Houston (http://www.juniorleaguehouston.org/) to national roles unusual for a woman of her time, doing so with grace and ease. Oveta was truly a trailblazer!”

Although she attended college and law school, she graduated from neither, but became parliamentarian of the Texas House of Representatives at the age of 21. Marrying William P. Hobby, the former Governor of Texas and the publisher of the Houston Post, she worked her way up from the newspaper’s research editor to executive vice president, president, ultimately becoming its publisher.

With the onset of World War II, Oveta headed the War Department's Women's Interest Section before being named director of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (later the Women's Army Corps), which brought women into the armed forces to replace men in non-combat support roles, rising to Colonel and later receiving the Distinguished Service Medal for her efforts during the war.

After the war, President Dwight D. Eisenhower named her head of the Federal Security Agency and, in 1952, tapped her to start up HEW, where among other things she made the decision to approve Jonas Salk's polio vaccine.

Returning to Houston in 1955 to care for her ailing husband, she also reassumed her role in managing the Houston Post and remained active in a wide range of boards and advisory positions there and around the country.

About The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc.
Founded in 1901 by New Yorker and social activism pioneer, Mary Harriman, the Junior Leagues are charitable nonprofit organizations of women, developed as civic leaders, creating demonstrable community impact.

Today, The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. (AJLI) is comprised of more than 155,000 women in 292 Junior Leagues throughout Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States.  Together, they constitute one of the largest, most effective volunteer organizations in the world.  For more information, please visit www.ajli.org.

Media Contact:
Tracy Van Buskirk
Marketcom PR
Main: (212) 537-5177 Ext. 8
Mobile: (203) 246-6165
tvanbuskirk@marketcomPR.com  
www.marketcomPR.com

# # #

The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. (AJLI) is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.