There was something in the water back in the 1910’s. During that decade such women as Ebby Halliday, Mary Kay Ash, Margaret McDermott, Margaret Crow, Margaret Hunt Hill and Mary Crowley were born. If that last name is new on your radar, it shouldn’t be. In addition to being the late Mary Kay Ash’s sister-in-law, she served on the boards of the American Cancer Society, The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, The Salvation Army Advisory Board, the American Red Cross and was the first woman on the Dallas Chamber of Commerce.
But Mary’s life was not an easy slide into these positions.
Born in 1915 in Missouri, the young mother bundled up her two small children, Ruth and Don Carter, and moved to Dallas during the Depression. Over the years, she worked during the day at various jobs and attended night classes at SMU. At one point, she was “recruited by her friend Mary Kay Ash into direct selling in the 1940’s.”
In 1957 she launched Home Interiors and Gifts that became a multimillion-dollar company. It was at this time she was also diagnosed with cervical cancer. With determination, Mary tackled both. Thanks to Dr. John T. Mallams’ treating her with “an investigational drug,” she was “on the road to recovery in no time” and remained in remission for almost 27 years. Then the disease returned.
To her surprise she discovered “that little progress had been made” since her previous diagnosis. This realization resulted in the creation of the Mary Crowley Cancer Research Centers that was established in 1992 “to expand treatment options for all cancer patients through the exploration of investigational gene and cellular therapies.”
To support the Blessing Others Benevolence Program at the Mary Crowley Cancer Research Center a $22,750 grant from the Jalonick Family Memorial Fund of The Dallas Foundation has been awarded.
The grant is in keeping with the “three Jalonick Family Memorial Funds that were established in 2011, one of which is dedicated to supporting programs that provide medical care and aid to low-income persons who have breast cancer.
According to The Dallas Foundation President Mary M. Jalonick, “A breast cancer diagnosis, and the treatment that follows, is such a difficult time in a person’s life. No one should have to worry about finances or medical costs when battling this disease. The Dallas Foundation is honored to help.”