Joseph S. Werlin (1900 – 1964) was the first PhD candidate at the University of Chicago approved for a proposed thesis on the origins of the Russian Revolution. In January 1928, he set out from Galveston, Texas, to study in Berlin and Moscow. His travel diary shows his curiosity to understand foreign ways and cultures, foretelling an unanticipated career turn.
At age 10, Joe’s immigrant parents moved their family from Philadelphia to Pearland, Texas. After a brief stint at Annapolis, he entered Rice Institute in the fall of 1920, completing a B.A. in European History. He earned an M.A. from University of Chicago in 1926, and a PhD., in 1931. The Great Depression, anti-Soviet fears, and anti-Semitism combined to dash opportunities in his chosen area of study. In 1934, he was offered a teaching appointment in Sociology on the first faculty of the University of Houston, where he remained until his death.
Joella Werlin was born and raised in Houston. Her Texas upbringing and outlook was differentiated from her peer group’s by summer travels with her professor father and journalist mother to Mexico, Guatemala, and Cuba, where her father led international studies programs. She attended University of Texas/ Austin for one year before transferring to Connecticut College (New London), where she received a BA in European History. She holds a graduate Diploma in Anthropology from the University of Oxford. After marriage and living for several years on the East Coast, her family — with two young children, Adam Zivin and Joselyn Zivin — relocated to Portland, Oregon.
For 15 years, she served as Director of Public Affairs and Community Relations for the Portland ABC-TV affiliate. She later became a professional Personal Historian, helping individuals, families, and family-owned businesses preserve a permanent record of their life and career stories. Now retired, living in Seattle, Washington, “A Texas Greenhorn,” emerges from that most valued career experience.
