Dr. Thelma Patten Law
Dr. Thelma Patton Law, 1955
Born Thelma Adele Patten on December 30, 1900, Dr. Thelma Patten Law attended Howard University Medical School in Washington, DC, and received her medical license in 1923. She began practicing Obstetrics and Gynecology (Ob/Gyn) in Houston in June of that same year. Dr. Charles Pemberton and Dr. H.E. Lee appeared on the professional scene in Houston around the same time as Dr. Patten Law; these three physicians “formed a triad of mutual interests,” and became leaders in their field, working hard in civic and medical society circles.
Dr. Patten Law was one of the first black female physicians in Texas and the first in Houston. During her long career, she was an active member of the Lone Star State Medical Association and served as the first woman president in 1940. Under her term, on August 11 through 16, 1940, the organization hosted the National Negro Medical Association (later shortened to the National Medical Association) when they held their annual meeting in Houston.
Dr. Patten Law was married to James H. Law, a teacher of advanced physiology at Houston’s Jack Yates High School. She served as the president of the P.T.A. there during the 1951-52 school year. Dr. Catherine Roett, Houston’s first black pediatrician who began practicing in 1946, once said that two of the most influential people in her life were Dr. Patten Law and her husband, who taught Roett in high school. Dr. Patten Law died in Huntsville, Texas on November 12, 1968.
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