Godley

Louie Oscar Godley, pediatrician, was born on a farm in Drane, Texas, in 1884. He taught in the Navarro County schools between 1907 and 1909 and earned a medical degree from the Fort Worth School of Medicine in 1913. He was the first intern at Harris Memorial Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth, after which he served the citizens of Garland for six years as a general practitioner. From 1920 to 1957 he practiced pediatrics in Fort Worth. Godley served on the staff of Fort Worth Children's Hospital for thirty-six years and the medical staff of the Lena Pope Home ( see ??POPE, LENA HOLSTON ) for twenty-six years. He was chief of pediatrics at John Peter Smith Hospital for twenty-one years. He also assisted in developing the pediatric departments for St. Joseph Hospital and W. I. Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth. Godley was a founder and charter member of the Texas Pediatric Society and served as its president in 1930. He was elected president of the Tarrant County Medical Society in 1940. He served as a member of the Texas State Board of Health ( see ??TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH ) between 1940 and 1946 and chaired that board for the last two years. He was a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and received certification by the American Board of Pediatrics in 1937. Godley was a Mason, a Shriner, and a member of University Baptist Church in Fort Worth. He and his wife had two daughters. Godley died in Fort Worth on March 7, 1971.