ELLA FONDREN: CENTRAL TO THE H O S P I T A L’ S H I S T O R Y Ella has been referred to as the “Matriarch of Methodist.” That moniker seems quite fitting, considering that she spent more than 60 years of her life in service to the hospital. Time and time again, Ella was involved in key decisions concerning the hospital and contributed significantly to major milestones. She was on the building committee for the hospital’s new Texas Medical Center site, and was instrumental in optimistically pushing for a larger 300-bed facility at a time when such an endeavor was thought too financially risky by many on the board.
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The Methodist Hospital Foundation
When the new building opened on November 10, 1951, Ella was the only woman on the board. Due to her drive and influence, some of the men considered her a majority of one. The Fondren Foundation and Trusts helped finance a new west wing for the hospital, which opened on June 1, 1960. Present, as always, at the ribbon cutting was Ella Fondren. During her lifetime, no ceremony at Methodist was complete without her. She attended so many ribbon cuttings that she bought her own pair of sterling silver scissors for such occasions. On the heels of the new hospital, Ella spearheaded efforts for a cardiovascularorthopedic research center. She contributed generously to the construction of the Ella F. Fondren Building (later rededicated as the Ella F. & Walter W. Fondren Building). A simultaneous groundbreaking took place on October 27, 1964, of the Fondren and Brown Cardiovascular and Orthopedic Research Center. Thanks, once again, to the Fondren Foundation, six floors were later added to the Fondren Building. As the expansion continued, major contributors included the Catherine Fondren Underwood Trust and another gift from the Fondren Trusts in memory of Sue Fondren Trammell. Ella’s impact on The Methodist Hospital is best summed up by the words of former Chief Administrator Ted Bowen, who once quipped, “Running The Methodist Hospital was easy. Mrs. Fondren always told me what to do, and I did it.”