A History of the PROs

In July of 2003, two Parkland Health & Hospital Service retirees, Katie Huber and Anna Robinson, contacted all the retirees whose names and addresses they had available to see if they would like to attend a retiree function. Fifty two retirees responded, and the first meeting was held at the Sheraton Hilton Hotel at Stemmons Freeway and Mockingbird Lane in Dallas, TX on August 25, 2003.

Those attending wanted to form an organization which would be open to personnel who were drawing a pension from Parkland or were eligible to draw a pension. A Board of Directors was elected and an annual membership fee of ten dollars was established to defray expenses of mailing, printing and supplies.

The Officers and Directors elected at the first meeting were:

President
Marianne Watters-Rodriquez

Vice-President
Gayle Kesinger

Secretary
Sharon Carlton

Treasurer
Jerry McGowan

Director, Programs & Budget
Bobbie Redmon

Director, Marketing
Anna Robinson

Co-Directors, Hospitality
Sandee Troy and Vicki Tallman

Chair, Telephone Committee
Barbara Kelly

Chair, Publicity
Sue Mundell

Advisors
Katie Huber and Anna Robinson

A Tribute to Katie Huber and Anna Robinson

In 2003, Katie Huber and Anna Robinson contacted other retired employees with the hope of establishing the PROs to gather Parkland retirees together and support the relationships with others who called Parkland home. These two women, along with others, established the Parkland Retirees Organization (PROs).

Katie Huber came to the original Parkland Hospital, known as Woodlawn, in 1947 as a student at the Parkland School of Nursing. Upon graduation, she began a long and memorable career in the Emergency Room. She held various nursing positions and in 1952 joined another RN who had been recruited by the Red Cross to work with polio patients in iron lungs.

Both Katie and Anna served Parkland in various positions as Parkland transitioned from Woodlawn to the Dallas County Hospital District on Harry Hines Boulevard in 1954.

Katie grew into supervisory positions including supervisor and assistant director of nursing services. Eventually she developed the Quality Management Department.

Anna moved on to become Supervisor/ Instructor in Obstetrics & Gynecology. In the 1980s she began important work as she joined Information Systems and contributed to changing Parkland from a paper system to the newly available computer technologies. Her experience on the front lines of nursing contributed to make the transition to digital technology efficient and effective. Anna was excited and proud to bring Parkland into the computer age.

Anna retired in 1991 and Katie in 1997. Although neither worked in the “new” Parkland Health building, they would be so proud to see the changes that have occurred. Their legacy is being nurses who were not afraid to move forward to improve all aspects of patient care and will be remembered by all who had the privilege and honor to have known these two powerful women.