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t m c n e w s . o r g 30 B y B r i t n i R . M c A s h a n Josie Roberts: Saving Methodist Hospital The administrator carried the institution through the Great Depression Hospital, who presided over the opening of an administration building named in Roberts' honor in February. "Without her … there would be no Houston Methodist. This is 1932 and this is a woman we are talking about and, back then, that was not the norm. She functioned in a man's world and succeeded." Born to a Methodist minister in 1892, Roberts, the eldest of 10 chil- dren, was raised in Grimes County, Texas, near College Station. She married at 17 and was widowed at 25 when her husband died from tuberculosis. Left with a young daughter, Roberts went to work to support her family. After being employed at a telephone company, she took a job as an assistant book- keeper to Sam Hay Jr., the adminis- trator of Methodist Hospital. Roberts joined Methodist just as it was expanding from the original 30 beds at Norsworthy Hospital— which the Methodist church had WO M E N ' S H I STO RY M O N T H Marc Boom, M.D., president and CEO of Houston Methodist Hospital, stands next to a display featuring Josie Roberts. N early a century ago, Josie Roberts rose from the clerical ranks of Methodist Hospital to become the institution's fearless leader, saving it from closure at the height of the Great Depression. It was an era in which few women ran businesses. "I never had the benefit of knowing [Roberts], but I think she had great resiliency and fortitude," said Marc Boom, M.D., president and CEO of Houston Methodist