Hallie Earle

Hallie Earle, physician, was born on September 27, 1880, on a ranch near Hewitt, Texas, daughter of Isham Harrison and Adaline (Graves) Earle, members of pioneer Waco families. She graduated from Baylor University in 1901, one of seven women in a class of seventeen. After she completed a master of science degree at Baylor in 1902, the administration honored her by placing a copy of her thesis in the cornerstone of the new Carroll Science Building. She taught school in Gainesville for three years before entering Baylor University Medical School in Dallas. She was the only woman in her class, and for many years her grade point average stood as the highest ever posted in the school. She received her M.D. degree in 1907, in a class of six graduates. She specialized in gynecology and did postgraduate work in Chicago, New Orleans, and New York; she interned at Belleville Hospital in New York. After graduation Dr. Earle practiced at Torbett Sanitarium in Marlin, Texas. In 1915 she established a private practice in Waco, where for many years she was the only practicing female physician. She retired in 1948 to the family ranch. Her father had begun keeping weather records in 1879; she shared his interest and continued the daily observation records after he retired in 1916. She was for years the only weather observer in Central Texas, and in 1960 the United States Weather Bureau presented her the John Campanius Holm Award in recognition of her work. She died on November 1, 1963, in Waco and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery.