Chapter 01: A Path to Houston and the President’s Office
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Description
Ms. Hale begins this chapter by sketching her family background, her education in a one-room school, and her early secretarial experience at Monsanto that made her application attractive once she moved to Houston and started looking for employment at MD Anderson.
Identifier
HaleJ_01_20180419_C01
Publication Date
4-19-2018
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Topics Covered
The Interview Subject's Story - Personal Background; Personal Background; Influences from People and Life Experiences; Faith; Joining MD Anderson; Character, Values, Beliefs, Talents; Professional Path
Transcript
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
My name is Tacey Ann Rosolowski and today, I am in the Reading Room of the Historical Resources Center in Pickens Tower, on the main campus of MD Anderson Cancer Center, and I am interviewing
JoAnne Hale:
for the Making Cancer History Voices Oral History Project. Let’s see, you came to the institution in 1968.
JoAnne Hale:
Correct.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Yes. To work as the administrative assistant and departmental coordinator for R. Lee Clark, the president of the institution at the time, and after he stepped down… Mrs. Hale, do you prefer Mrs. Hale or Ms. Hale?
JoAnne Hale:
Ms. I’m divorced.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Ms. Hale. Ms. Hale continued to work for Charles LeMaistre [oral history interview] and then for John Mendelsohn [oral history interview], so three presidents you worked for, and we’ll be talking about the details of all of that. Since 2010, she has worked as part-time administrative assistant in Clinical Cancer Prevention. So, I don’t think I mentioned the date, which is April…
JoAnne Hale:
Nineteenth.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Nineteenth, that’s right. I had 18th in mind because of tax day. April 19, 2018, and the time is just about 10:31 a.m. Thank you so much for coming in—
JoAnne Hale:
You’re welcome.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
—and agreeing to talk to me about a fascinating perspective, the kind of inner workings of the president’s office, in an institution that grew dramatically. So, I’d be interested in your insider’s view of all of that.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
First, I wanted to start in a traditional place and I wanted to ask you where you were born and when, and tell me a little bit about your family background.
JoAnne Hale:
I was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in July of 1938. Then, I moved from the city to—we brought my grandparents’ farm, so I was actually, from third grade on, raised on the farm and went to a local, one-room school. I stayed there until, when I went to Anderson, Anderson University now, it’s Anderson College back then, and I took one year there. My father became ill, so I went back home and I took a job at a local hospital, just in the office there and like a local, you just did everything. Then, after he passed away, I went to St. Louis and worked for Monsanto Company, and I stayed there until I got married, and then I went with my husband and I worked for the Army while he was in States. When he went to Vietnam, I came back to Monsanto and I stayed there until I came to Houston, in 1968.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Nineteen sixty-eight. And your husband’s name?
JoAnne Hale:
It was William Hale.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
William Hale. And your maiden name?
JoAnne Hale:
Hammock. H-a-m-m-o-c-k.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
I notice that you use your middle initial.
JoAnne Hale:
Yeah, I use that as… Well, actually, my middle name is Anne, my first name is Jo, but the only thing that comes like that is any official documents like Social Security, because years ago, I would get things, J-O-E, and so I just put them together.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Right, right, that makes sense, that makes sense.
JoAnne Hale:
We had a neighbor asked Dad, when my mom was expecting, to name the next child after him. Of course back then, they didn’t know, and so Joe was his name, and so that’s how I got the J-O.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
So, why did you move down to Houston?
JoAnne Hale:
My husband’s relative had gone to the University of Houston, so when he got out of the service, his uncle had him already enrolled in the University of Houston. So that’s what really brought us here. And I had a brother that lived here too, so we just—that’s what kind of brought us after he got out of the service.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
So tell me about getting the job at MD Anderson, how did that happen?
JoAnne Hale:
Not knowing anything in Houston, I went to M. David Lowe Employment Agency and actually, they sent me out to interview as an assistant secretary to a department head. Virginia Kilgo was the head of the HR, and she was a very good friend of Marion Lowrey, and so she sent me up to the president’s office to interview for the job and that’s how I got it.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Why do you think she did that?
JoAnne Hale:
I guess the qualifications that I had were more than what they were—I mean, I had the experience. So, I worked in international at Monsanto, I worked in several departments and I worked for several people, several researchers, and I just assumed it was the experience there.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
What was the special experience you had acquired, working for these different folks at Monsanto?
JoAnne Hale:
Well, I worked with schedules. I really worked with—the last particular area I was with, that was international, where Monsanto had companies all over the world, and my bosses did what they call tax equalization. Employees would not be sent to a country that had higher tax, you know they would equal it out or they couldn’t go for benefits on those. Prior to that, I worked in the Credit Department, where we assigned credit to various companies that were ordering from Monsanto. I also had—prior to Monsanto, when I worked at home, I worked for the University of Missouri and their Extension Service, and so I was a laboratory technician and I kind of worked with all of the women’s home economics clubs and 4-Hs. So you know, that was planning meetings and getting things together for those, and I think a lot of that had a lot to do with that.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
And tons of multitasking too.
JoAnne Hale:
Yes.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Because those things do not just happen in isolation.
JoAnne Hale:
No. You had, I mean in every position I pretty much had all kinds of responsibilities. I really don’t remember exactly what I did when I was working at the hospital, and the reason I went to the hospital was because my dad was ill and he was in the hospital. My mom worked for the government, she was a dental assistant, and she worked from nine to four, while I could go to work at one and work until nine at night. And so it was easier for us, we only had to get a couple hours for someone to stay with my dad.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Wow, what a challenge.
JoAnne Hale:
So, I did all kinds of stuff there in the office. Actually, prior to going to college, I worked in the Circuit Clerk’s Office and swore in witnesses, you know, when boss was out, and did plats and things like that, on land transfers. So I’m assuming that everything, the little bits that I had from all of that, must have kicked off something for Virginia. Probably also, you know I didn’t jump around a lot and maybe she was looking at longevity, I don’t know.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Yeah, could be. I neglected to ask you your parents’ names.
JoAnne Hale:
My mom’s name was Ethel and my dad’s name was William Richard.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
So, did you interview—who interviewed you for the position with R. Lee Clark?
JoAnne Hale:
Marion.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Okay, Marion did. R. Lee Clark never interviewed you, she made the decision?
JoAnne Hale:
No.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Okay.
Recommended Citation
Hale, JoAnne H. and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 01: A Path to Houston and the President’s Office" (2018). Interview Chapters. 968.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/968
Conditions Governing Access
Open
