Alice Elizabeth Savay Webb

ALICE ELIZABETH SAVAY WEBB passed away on February 23, 2008 in Houston, TX from complications from emphysema. As a founding member of the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (now known as the World Professional Association for Transgender Health), Alice was a pioneer in establishing standards of care for transgendered individuals. A social worker and licensed psychoanalyst, Alice became involved in the gender identity disorder field through her work with Dr. Paul Walker at the University of Texas at Galveston Medical Branch. Alice began working at UTMB as a social worker in 1976, and worked in several other departments before moving to the gender identity clinic in the late 70's. She left to obtain a PhD from the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco and subsequently worked in a variety of jobs in the field. Alice was diagnosed with emphysema in the late 1980's. At the time, doctors told her she would likely only live another five years. Obviously she proved them wrong. For the last part of her life, Alice lived in the Park at Bellaire retirement apartment complex in Houston. She made many good friends there. She was a great fan of, and enthusiastic participant in, the weekly card games. In Alice's honor, a memorial was held in her name at the card game on February 24, 2008. There was no funeral. But donations in Alice's name can be sent to Heifer International, www.heifer.org. Smokers who wish to honor her memory can do so by quitting. Alice's emphysema was caused by smoking, and she would not wish for her friends to have the kind of diminished quality of life she faced in her final years. Her ashes will be buried in the back yard of her long-time friends Margaret Canavan and Stan Blazyk in Galveston, under Alice's favorite tree. Alice is survived by her son Kelly Webb of Silver Spring, MD and her daughter Alysha Webb of Shanghai, China.