Karl Karnaky was born November 7, 1907, in Barham, Louisiana and died May 29, 1988, in Houston, Texas. His parents were from Germany and Austria-Hungary. Karnaky graduated in pre-medicine from Rice University (then the Rice Institute) in 1930 and went on to study medicine at UTMB. He registered for the draft in 1940; he was working out of the Medical Arts Building at the time. In 1940, he treated a five-year-old Houston girl for tumor-induced precocious puberty; the case was compared to that of Lina Medina, a Peruvian girl who gave birth at age five. He taught at Baylor College of Medicine in the late 1940s. He was the director of Menstrual Disorder Clinic at Jefferson Davis and was on staff at Hermann, Park View, Heights, St. Joseph’s, Memorial, and Methodist Hospitals. In the 1960s and 1970s he worked at the Obstetrical and Gynecological Research Institute [and Foundation], Houston.

Ruth Hartgraves, MD, a Houston obstetrician and gynecologist who delivered more than 3,000 Houstonians and pioneered the trail for women in medicine during the span of her 50 year career, died October 17, 1995, at the age of 93. A native Texan, Dr. Hartgraves was born October 24, 1901 and moved to the Houston area during the 1930s to attend the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston. She graduated from UTMB's School of Medicine in 1932, and thereafter completed an internship at the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston, and a residency at the New York Infirmary for Women and Children.

Dr. Hartgraves begain her career in Houston in 1935 and held appointments at Methodist, Hermann, Memorial, St. Luke's and Jefferson Davis Hospitals before retiring from practice in 1987. She was also a faculty member of Baylor College of Medicine for almost 30 years.

Dr. Hartgraves was the recipient of the 1992 Distinguished Professional Women's Award which is presented by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. This award was presented in recognition of Dr. Hartgraves' outstanding achievements in Texas and the nation, for the significant contributions she made to her professional discipline, and for her pioneering spirit to mentor women and to provide a positive role model.

In 1985, she was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Hartgraves was also the recipient of the 1980 Ashbel Smith Distinguished Alumnus Award granted by the UTMB School of Medicine alumni to graduates who have made significant contributions to the medical profession and to mankind.

She served as an organizer and the first President of the Houston branch of the American Medical Women's Association (AMWA), as well as President of the national AMWA organization. In 1975, her efforts earned her the AMWA's highest honor, the Elizabeth Blackwell Award, presented annually to a person making an outstanding contribution to the cause of women in medicine. Dr. Hartgraves was the first Texas physician to be so recognized.

She was a charter member of St. Luke's United Methodist Church and had a life-long record of involvement in community affairs, including the Houston Grand Opera, the Houston Ballet Society, and the Blue Bird Circle Clinic for Pediatric Neurology.

Houston Chronicle, Thursday, October 19, 1995.

Herman Walter Johnson, MD (1883-1958) was born in Andover, Vermont on August 2, 1883. He graduated from the University of Buffalo Medical School in 1905 and, after years of working as a male midwife in New York and Texas, was appointed Professor and Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Baylor College of Medicine. He served in World War I as a major in the United States Army Medical Corps. He held memberships and fellowships at the State Board of Medical Examiners for the State of Texas, the Academy International of Medicine, the Texas Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Houston Surgical Society. He published his autobiography, titled Reminiscences of a Male Midwife, in 1954. Herman Walter Johnson, MD died on November 14, 1958. This information was taken from the Texas Medical History E-book 4 available through the Texas Medical History Documents link on the DigitalCommons@The Texas Medical Center web page and materials within the Johnson collection.

Adelbert Louis Dippel was born in Ehlinger (now Ellinger), Texas, near LaGrange in Fayette County, on July 10, 1901. His grandparents all emigrated from Germany around 1850. His family wanted him to become an engineer but he had decided on medicine when he was twelve and admired the family doctor who treated him for malaria. He attended Blinn College in Brenham before earning both a B.S. and an M.S. from the University of Texas in 1924, then an MD from UTMB in 1928. Renal calculi kept him out of the service during World War II. Dr. Dippel was an instructor and associate professor in obstetrics at Johns Hopkins University from 1934 to 1940, then at the University of Minnesota from 1940 to 1943; he was head of that department in 1943 and 1944. He then returned to Texas to take positions at Baylor College of Medicine and UTMB, where he remained until he retired in 1977. He died in Tacoma, Washington, on September 6, 1991.

Maurice J. Meynier, Jr., was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Oct. 16, 1904. His family moved to Houston when he was twelve, and following his graduation from Houston High School in 1920, he enrolled in what was then the Rice Institute, from which he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1927. He attended medical school at the University of Texas at Galveston, completing a senior externship at St. Mary's Hospital there and receiving his Doctor of Medicine degree In 1931. Dr. Meynier then served a two-year internship/residency at the Graduate Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, continuing his training as a resident in gynecology-obstetrics at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, from 1933 to 1934. Returning to Houston, he established a practice in obstetrics and gynecology, leaving to serve in the Army Air Force Medical Corps from December 1942 until February 1946. He resumed his practice in Houston at that time, continuing until his retirement in 1977.

Dr. Meynier's concern with community issues was evident throughout his career. In the late 1930's, he advocated reform of the ambulance system in Houston. In December 1940, while serving as chairman of the Health Council of the Community Chest's Council of Social Agencies, he participated in Houston's first annual Public Health Institute. He stressed the need for a non-politically controlled planning committee for coordinating public health programs, including pre-natal and venereal disease clinics. He was later active in a campaign to institute the city manager form of government which he felt would permit needed expansion of the city health department's services.

In the mid-1950's, controversy arose over the proposed location of additional hospital facilities for the indigent. Dr. Meynier, as a member of the Hospital Committee of the Harris County Medical Society, recommended adding beds to the existing facilities at Jefferson Davis Hospital, rather than building a new hospital in the Medical Center. The opposing plan was adopted, however, resulting in the construction of Ben Taub Hospital.

Dr. Meynier was strongly opposed to liberalization of state laws governing abortion. He served from 1968 to 1970 on the Texas Medical Association's Committee on Abortion, during which time he vigorously opposed endorsement by the Association of such liberalization. He continued his efforts through the Houston Right-to-Life group, in which he served as a vice-president.

Dr. Meynier served as clinical associate professor in obstetrics and gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas in Houston. His research and publishing included work in intrathecal injection of alcohol for intractable pain of the pelvis; cervicitis and infertility; vitamin A deficiency in fetal deformity; use of antibiotics in patients with poor obstetrical histories; and simple removal of cerclage suture for incompetent cervix. His patents and original designs included those for an intra-vaginal tampon, a breast pump, vaginal pessary, cervical biopsy and coning instrument, and life preserver.

Dr. Meynier's professional associations are numerous. He served as president respectively of the Texas Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in I960, the Houston Gynecological and Obstetrical Society in 1964, and the Harris County Medical Society in 1969. He was a Diplomate the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, a Fellow In the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and a Fellow In the American College of Surgeons. He served as chief of the obstetrics service and as president of the medical staff at St. Joseph's Hospital and was a consultant on the staffs of Methodist and Hermann Hospitals.

Dr. Meynier died March 24, 1997. His obituary was in the Houston Chronicle Mar. 26, 1997, p. 28A.

Dr. Armstrong is mainly associated with his involvement with Houston Hermann Hospital, The Houston Academy of Medicine, the Texas Medical Center, the Texas Medical Center Library, and has been published in the Southern Medical Journal, Journal of the Southern Medical Association. John T. Armstrong served on various committees at the Houston Academy of Medicine, where he served such appointments as president. Dr. Armstrong was heavily involved in the field of obstetrics and gynecology. His records include: his professional correspondence; his medical publications; family papers; professional diaries and ledgers; and his affiliated medical organizations’ publications.
Possibly 1912-1989, buried in Brookside Cemetery, Houston. Possible WWII military service.