Texas Rose Festival Queen's dress "Celestial Wonders" worn by 2017 Rose Queen Emily Kaye Evans is pictured on display at the Tyler Rose Museum on July 17, 2018. 

The Julietta Jarvis Foundation was honored at the Texas Rose Festival gala Thursday night at Willow Brook Country Club for their contributions to the Rose Garden Museum.

“They have supported our exhibits, our support of our programs and services and the outreach we do into the community to showcase the Texas Rose Festival,” said Patrick Willis, member of the Board of Directors of the Tyler Rose Museum and former Gala chairman. “We are privileged to be a recipient of their financial generosity, and we’re grateful for all that they have done to make the museum what it is today.”

Established in 1989, the foundation is named for Julietta Jarvis, a Troup native known to her family and friends as Jetta, who was an attorney who graduated from the University of Houston Law School. She became the first female attorney in the 1950s for Schlumberger International, an oilfield services company founded in 1926.

Jarvis was an avid supporter of the Tyler Museum of Art and the Houston and Dallas operas, and was active in the cultural arts community of Houston.

When she retired, she returned to her hometown of Troup, where she served as the mayor and was a member of one of the town’s founding families.

Jarvis passed away in 2007.

“It was her vision, this was an incredible woman who had significant leadership skills, for not only in her time at Schlumberger Oil Company, but throughout her tenure in retirement as her civic endeavors for the City of Troup,” Willis said. “She was an amazing person.”

She was also one of the two founders of the Cameron-J. Jarvis Troup Municipal Library and was a member of the board.

Accepting the honor were board members of the foundation, cousins Hal Cameron — and his wife Brenda — and John Jarvis, an attorney in Tyler.

“They carry on the family legacy of generous giving and cultural commitment as the foundation has grown, and so has its impact and, just as its founder’s envisioned, it supports many a good cause,” Willis said at the introduction of the honorees.

The Cameron family has long been associated with the festival, as Jarvis’ cousin Hal served as a Rose service escort in 1967 and 1968. He has also been a member of the Order of the Rose since 2008.

Brenda served as a volunteer, with one of her highlights was serving as the Queen’s tea chairman in 1994 for Queen Katherine McArthur.

There had also been numerous other relatives who participated throughout the Rose Festival over the years.

“The Rose Museum is blessed to be among the organizations that Jarvis and the Cameron families find worthy of their support with,” Willis said. “The museum shares deep history and deep roots of tradition that have built our community into what it is today.”

“We’re just glad that we’re able to do things,” Brenda said. “We love the Rose Festival… we always have supported it and we of course love Tyler.”

Willis said the mission of the Texas Rose Museum is to continue to promote the heritage and history and house the Texas Rose Festival.

“It’s gonna be a great year,” Willis said. “The Tyler Rose Museum is always so appreciative of being able to host this event for the festival.”