Jean Roberts Obituary

IN MEMORIUM: JEAN ROBERTS THE RETORT’S LONG TIME MANAGING EDITOR

A Tribute by E. Thomas Strom

The obituary section of the Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021, Dallas Morning News contained an obituary that was quite late arriving, referring to a Sept. 26, 2020 death. Yet for long time readers of The Southwest Retort, this late-reported death was quite significant, because the subject was the original Managing Editor of The Southwest Retort, Jean Roberts. It was Jean Roberts who made this small regional magazine over a period of 32 years into the ground-breaking publication it became and continues to be. Amazingly, Jean matched the longevity of our magazine with longevity of her own. While the month and day of her birth were not given in the obituary, the year was. It seems quite clear that Jean lived to be about 103 years old!! Fortunately, we have access to Jean’s memories of the early days of The Southwest Retort, because she described them on p. 7 in the golden anniversary Retort issue of Oct. 1998. (Readers, thanks to Jim Marshall of UNT, all issues of our magazine are available online through the UNT library.) Here we summarize pertinent material from Jean’s obituary and from her recollections published in The Retort. Jean was born in Lima, OH, in 1917. She spent her early childhood in Tulsa, OK, later moved to Los Angeles, and graduated from Hollywood High in 1935. She attended the University of Tulsa, where she was President of Chi Omega Sorority, helped launch the “Experimental Theater,” and graduated in 1939 with a degree in Business Administration. She began work as an account executive and later became a promotions manager for a radio station. She became editor of publications for the Tulsa plant of Douglas Aircraft. Here she oversaw a magazine with a circulation of 100,000. After the war she became public relations director for the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce. She moved to Dallas in 1947 to become executive director of Scene magazine. In 1951 Jean became Managing Editor of The Southwest Retort, retiring in 1983.

Jean married Robert M. “Bob” Roberts in 1950. Bob was a World War II veteran who had earned the Bronze Star for exceptional valor in many of the biggest battles of the South Pacific. Bob had a successful career at Proctor and Gamble, and this led to Jean’s association with The Retort. (See below.) After they both retired, Jean and Bob traveled extensively, established scholarships at the University of Tulsa and Oklahoma State,

and were founding members of the Dallas Council on World Affairs.

Here are some of Jean’s memories of her introduction to our magazine. “My path to editing The Southwest Retort led through Procter and Gamble, where my husband worked. Bob and I were invited to dinner by T. S. McDonald, who headed the Procter and Gamble chemistry department. He mentioned that he had just been elected Chairman of the Dallas-Ft. Worth ACS Section, and his most pressing problem was finding someone to put out its publication, The Southwest Retort. “Would I help out?”, he asked, knowing that I had edited several magazines--Douglas Airview News; Magazine Tulsa; Scene Magazine---to name a few. Also, I had done some things for P & G. I was in the process of setting up my own advertising agency, and this might be a fit. However, I knew absolutely nothing about chemistry. He assured me that would not be necessary, since I would have what technical help I needed from members of the Section. He just wanted me to design a new format, keep in touch with the participating sections, work up some interesting stories, and put The Southwest Retort on a sound financial basis. I agreed to a temporary assignment. It was 32 years later when I retired from this ‘temporary job.’ This was long before computers, and I submitted all the typed copy for production on a linotype. Egan Printing Co. sent me copy galleys which I pasted up; then I went down to the shop to make it up from the cold type. The magazine ranged from 36 to 42 pages with many engravings. Also, we had ten participating sections. Part of my job was to determine how many pages we could pay for and to be sure we had the copy to do it.” Our magazine started in Oct. of 1948, but Jean didn’t start until 1951. The grunt work on the magazine before Jean must have been done by the local section editors. Jean’s original title was Technical Assistant, although she was truly the Managing Editor. Eventually the Section gave her the title of Managing Editor in Sept., 1959. I (Tom) was appointed to the position of Editor about a year after Jean retired. I found out, much to my dismay, how much work Jean had done, work which now fell to me, but that’s another story. This is Jean’s story, and that story is of her establishing a marvelous regional magazine, a magazine which keeps on going until this day. May it continue for many a day to come.

From the ACS Press Room Compound from Medicinal Herb Kills Brain-Eating Amoebae in Lab Studies

“Exploring the Anti-Infective Value of Inuloxin A Isolated from Inula viscosa against the Brain-Eating Amoeba (Naegleria fowleri) by Activation of Programmed Cell Death” ACS Chemical Neuroscience

Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), a deadly disease caused by the “brain -eating amoeba” Naegleria fowleri, is becoming more common in some areas of the world, and it has no effective treatment. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Chemical Neuroscience have found that a compound isolated from the leaves of a traditional medicinal plant, Inula viscosa or “false yellowhead,” kills the amoebae by causing them to commit cell suicide in lab studies, which could lead to new treatments. PAM, characterized by headache, fever, vomiting, hallucinations and seizures, is almost always fatal within a couple of weeks of developing symptoms. Although the disease, which is usually contracted by swimming in contaminated freshwater, is rare, increasing cases have been reported recently in the U.S., the Philippines, southern Brazil and some Asian countries. Amphotericin B is the most common therapy given to those with the infection. It can kill N. fowleri in the lab, but it isn’t very effective when given to patients, likely because it cannot cross the blood-brain barrier. Ikrame Zeouk, José Piñero, Jacob Lorenzo-Morales and colleagues wanted to explore whether compounds isolated from I. viscosa, a strong-smelling plant that has long

been used for traditional medicine in the Mediterranean region, could effectively treat PAM. The researchers first made an ethanol extract from the herb’s leaves, finding that it could kill N. fowleri amoebae. Then, they isolated and tested specific compounds from the extract. The

Leaves from Inula viscosa, a Mediterranean perennial shrub, contain a compound that kills brain-eating amoebae. Credit: Adapted from ACS Chemical Neuroscience 2020, DOI: 10.1021/acschemneuro.0c00685

most potent compound, inuloxin A, killed amoebae in the lab by disrupting membranes and causing mitochondrial changes, chromatin condensation and oxidative damage, ultimately forcing the parasites to undergo programmed cell death, or apoptosis. Although inuloxin A was much less potent than amphotericin B in the lab, the structure of the plantderived compound suggests that it might be better able to cross the blood-brain barrier. More studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis, the researchers say. The authors acknowledge funding from the European Regional Development Fund, the Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, the University of La Laguna and the Augustin de Betancourt Foundation.

From the Editor

This is the 150th anniversary of the Periodic Table. The Elemental Art Contest deadline has been extended; if you feel like submitting a poem, photograph, or cartoon about the Periodic Table, send it to Nick Tsarevsky (nvt@smu.edu) by April 30. Best press release this month: the scent of beer...hoppy ales, that is. I was totally surprised to learn that the fruity odor of these beers comes from thiols, or fruity thiols, as they are called. This month we say goodbye to a long-time member of the DFW Section, Bob Nielson, and to the long-time managing editor of the Southwest Retort, Jean Roberts. The February Retort will revert to the usual schedule, with material due in by the 6th or so; January is always late because no one is around! Keep your masks on and stay safe.