Frances E. Goff

GOFF, FRANCES E. (1916 ~ 1994). Frances Goff was born July 16, 1916 in Kenedy, Texas to Alfred T. and Grace Ingram Goff. In 1937, she graduated from San Antonio Business College.

From 1937-1944 she served several positions with the Texas House of Representatives, State Senate, the Office of the Governor, and the Texas Railroad Commission. Francis Goff served in the U.S. Air Corps from 1944 - 1946, serving as a Sergeant Major to the Commanding Officer at Love Field in Dallas and as an employee of Air Transport Command Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

After her military stint she went back to work for the Governor's office for five years. In 1951, Governor Allen Shivers requested she join the staff of Dr. R. Lee Clark as the Assistant to the President and Director of Special Projects at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. She directed fundraising, planning, development, and establishment for the most comprehensive cancer center in the world.

From 1952 - 1994 she directed the American Legion Auxiliary Bluebonnet Girls State each summer and over saw year-long planning and promotion of the model citizenship program attended by almost 25,000 Texas teenage girls. In recognition of outstanding volunteerism, she was inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame in 1986.

Among other honors she received the American Legion National Commendation Award and the Valley Forge Freedom Foundation Honor Award. A scholarship was established in her name at The University of Texas's LBJ School of Public Affairs in Austin. Governor Ann Richards named her as State Chair of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation Inc.

Goff died September 15, 1994 and was buried at the Texas State Cemetery three days later.

Information taken from Texas State Cemetery file materials.