Beverly Drawe

Austin- Beverly Drawe was born on February 14, 1934 and was raised on the Texas-Mexico border as far south as possible – on a farm and ranch. She loved it there and cherished it her whole life. 

Beverly was educated at Texas Women's University and the University of Texas in Austin, earning two degrees in Communications. In the late 50s, she went to Houston to seek her fortune. She loved it there, too. Beverly lived and worked there through the fabulous sixties and the early seventies when Houston was a Shining City on a marsh bayou.

There were many wealthy, go-getter, civic-minded educational programs and institutions for the arts and medical industry, including the Medical and Health Complex commanded by Cooley and DeBakey. The city's leaders at that time included W. W. Fondren, Eddie Scurlock, Glen McCarthy, Gus Wortham, Ben Love, Charles Bybee, Oveta Culp Hobby, Ima and Ura Hogg, Hazel Ledbetter, Jesse and Jonn T. Jones. The spouses of these persons were also a large part of the endeavors. During this period, Beverly had the privilege of working alongside some of these individuals while serving on the public relations staff of the United Fund Campaign.

She began her Communications work at Gulf Publishing Co., with the oil and gas, pipeline, and refinery magazines for the industry. After a year, Beverly moved to the Southwest Home Office of Prudential Insurance Company and wrote and edited internal and field publications.

Following this position, Beverly worked as Information Director of the Houston-Harris County Red Cross Chapter, writing news releases, newsletters, volunteer public relations and recruitment, etc. She especially liked working with the newspaper journalists on the Houston Post, the Chronicle and Press, and the staff members of the radio and television stations. In her sixth year there, she received the Headliner Award for Communications – a true honor to come at such an early age.

Time brought Beverly to KTRK TV, Channel 13, the Houston ABC affiliate, as Promotion Director. It was a very hectic but interesting job. Part of her duties included providing transportation and meals for a sitcom, variety show, and newscaster stars of ABC as they made their annual visit to promote new shows.

After about a year with this company, Beverly developed an illness that proved difficult to diagnose and took a leave of absence – eventually resigning. She returned to the Rio Grande Valley for six months to see the dogs, cattle, horses, and family.

After dealing with the impact of this illness, Beverly became interested in medicine and began medical "ghostwriting" for a noted physician in Houston. This interest led to a position as Information Director at the Regional Medical Program of Texas, headquartered in Austin. This federally funded program coordinated and worked with physicians, hospital administrators, nurses, dentists, etc., to prevent and treat heart disease, stroke, and cancer. 

Beverly stayed in Houston for a while because the Texas Medical Center was so prominent in the workings of this program, but eventually decided to move to Austin, where the headquarters were located, finding it hard to produce a statewide newsletter while not being close to the communicators – the internet not being available at that time. 

After the Nixon administration, the funding for the program was no longer available, and Beverly took a position as the Executive Assistant to the President of the UT System Schools of Nursing. There were six nursing schools in Houston, El Paso, Ft. Worth, Dallas, Galveston, and Austin. She was responsible for communications, publications, development and fundraising, and public relations. When this project was eventually dissolved, Beverly retired. In 1976, she bought a house in Austin at Onion Creek, put up a fence, got a beagle instead of a job, and life was much better.

Beverly's resume may seem like a lot of job hopping for you. Her parents secretly believed she was being fired each time she changed employment. It was Beverly’s outlook that the fun thing about communications, public relations, and advertising is that you can do a good job anywhere if you have a week or two to absorb the new surroundings and figure out where and how to concentrate your skills. You can learn a lot about new fields and different businesses that way.

After leaving the day job, Beverly did freelance writing, was a real estate broker for a while, and made some real estate investments. She also did lots of volunteer work for civic and church groups to keep busy. As Dolly Parton sings in her "I'll Always Love You" hit song, Beverly considered that life had treated her well and hoped that life treats each of you well also.

Beverly passed away December 9, 2023, in her home in Austin, Texas, and was preceded in death by her parents, William and Lenora (Wedemeyer) Drawe, and brothers, Harold John Drawe and  Billy H. Drawe, and sisters Joyce Quebe and Jennie Acker. 

She is survived by her best friend and companion of over forty years, Beverly Jean Gibbs, brother Jack Drawe, and numerous nieces and nephews. 

Graveside service will be on January 5th, 2024, at 2 pm, at Ebony Grove Cemetery in Mercedes, Texas. 

Beverly wants to leave you with a writing from the early 1900s-Desiderata by Max Ehrmann. “These are good words and thoughts to live by. I have always had a reproduction of this hanging on my wall, and it has been comforting as the years rolled on.”

She left a copy for later reading. Thank you for listening to Beverly's story.