Imagine it’s 1946.
In the past 15 years, Americans have gone through the Great Depression and WWII, causing poverty and hardship worldwide.
When WWII ended, soldiers returned; job preference went to those who had served in combat, and women who had entered the workforce found themselves once again homemakers.
Lawyers earned $ $7,437 a year.
The average wage was $2500, and the average house cost $1,459.
Gas was 15 cents a gallon.
Houston Bar President Palmer Hutcheson, Sr. got a call from the State Bar of Texas in 1947 asking him to plan a 1948 SBOT Convention in Houston.
HBA President Elect Reagan Cartwright proposed the creation of a Houston lawyers auxiliary to help.
They asked Virginia Noel (herself a lawyer) to organize it.
On February 26, 1947, 12 women met at The Houston Club.
They were called the Organizing Founders.
Their organization was named The Women’s Auxiliary to the Houston Bar Association.
When the first yearbook was published in the Fall for the 1947-48 club year, there were 325 members; they are referred to as the Founding Members. They set about their purpose of support the HBA by planning many social activities.
(Below are the pages of the very first yearbook, please click on a picture to enlarge it.)
A Social Group...
First, they organized four Spouse activities for the 1948 SBOT convention. There were two Sakowitz style show luncheons at the Empire Room of the Rice Hotel. Buses took visitors on a sight-seeing tour of the city, stopping to see several gardens, including those at the Bayou Bend, and wound up at old Houston Country club for refreshments. Plus, the WAHBA designed an innovative registration system so any attending lawyer could be found on the Convention floor, and they planned transportation for all the events.
Second, while planning for the Convention, they assisted with four major Bar events: two Junior Bar parties, one “Senior Bar” reception for judges, and an HBA Christmas dinner dance.
Third, the Auxiliary entertained its own members with a Fall Coffee, a November style show luncheon, plus an Annual Business Meeting and election of officers.
Fourth, they then helped with a 1948, National Association of Attorneys General, three-day convention in Houston by arranging another luncheon style show for their national guests.
In 1949, a Democratic Party rally came to Houston. The Bar and the Auxiliary hosted an evening party for 400 members and guests, who included Governor Allen Shivers, Judge Ben Connally, Judge James V. Allred, and Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn. Called the Harvest Party, Auxiliary members worked a week to decorate the club setting that year, and over years to come. It was so popular, the Harvest Party became an annual event, which continues to this very day.
From the 1950’s through the 1970’s, the Auxiliary would grow to include 1200 members. Each year, Auxiliary events would follow that strictly SOCIAL pattern: Fall Coffee, Harvest Party, luncheon style shows, and its April Business meeting --- plus special assignments like spouse activities for SBOT Conventions held in Houston.
