Elizabeth Richards Andujar

ANDUJAR, ELIZABETH RICHARDS (1912~1997), Elizabeth Richards "Betty" Andujar, State Senator, made political history in 1972 when she was elected the first woman from Tarrant County and first Republican since Reconstruction to the Texas Senate. She was born November 6, 1912, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where her father was chief justice of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. A graduate of Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, she married John Jose Andujar in 1935. Betty Andujar came to Texas in 1937 when her husband was appointed laboratory director of Harris Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas. Betty Andujar was elected to the Texas State Senate in 1972 and served until her retirement in 1982. She was the first Republican to serve as president pro tempore of the Senate and acting Governor when both Governor Dolph Briscoe and Lt. Governor Bill Hobby were out of town. In 1996 Betty Andujar was the first layperson to receive the Citation of Merit Award from the Texas Society of Pathologists for her legislation requiring county coroners to be qualified pathologists. Other sponsored legislation included a bill allowing doctors to remove corneas and a bill to help women collect child support. Andujar was a delegate to the GOP national conventions in 1972 and 1976 and served as Republican national committeewoman for Texas. In 1988 the Andujars established the first permanent chair of pathology at Southwestern Medical Center. Her dedication to the medical community was especially apparent during her active role in the expansion of the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine now known as the University of North Texas Health Science Center. Betty Andujar was active in the Texas and Tarrant County Medical Association auxiliaries, served on the boards of the Medical College of Pennsylvania, Texas Rape Prevention and Control Project, National Order of Women Legislators, Association for the Prevention of Blindness and the Tarrant Unit of the American Cancer Society. Among her many honors, she was named a Newsmaker by the Headliners Club of Fort Worth and the Zonta Club's Woman of the Year. She was a past president of Club Fidelite of the Woman's Club of Fort Worth. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fort Worth Star Telegram, June 9, June 10 and June 15, 1997; obituary from unknown source furnished by the Andujar family.