Two women from the rural community of Karnack on the banks of Caddo Lake in East Texas are known to multitudes. One is Lady Bird Johnson – the former first lady known for beautifying roadsides with wildflowers. The other is Coltee Mason – a Transporter at William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital who is celebrating four decades of improving the atmosphere for patients at UT Southwestern.

During that time, Mrs. Mason has taken thousands of patients where they needed to go for X-rays and other tests or procedures. Her job, initially at the former St. Paul University Hospital, today keeps her constantly on the move at the 12-floor hospital. The favorite aspect of her job is “being able to help people,” she says.

For someone whose job requires constant scheduling, one of her cherished memories is of an unplanned moment.

One day, a former patient I had moved saw me on the elevator and started to smile and talk to me. And that made me smile because I could tell he was feeling better, she says.

Coltee Mason

She thinks co-workers would describe her as full of life, very outgoing. They would say that I am always finding a chance to dance, but most importantly that I am always focused on doing my job as it should be done. And that’s right, Mrs. Mason says.

Although most of her colleagues consider her spontaneous and willing, she is often serious while on the job – a reflection of her respect for the gravity of the medical situations her patients and families might be facing. For that reason, when asked what people might be surprised to know about her, she responds, I love to laugh, dance, and make other people smile.

As a child she had to walk everywhere in Karnack because the family had no car. She moved to Dallas and began her career as a hospital housekeeper determined that her four children – two girls and two boys – would get good educations and more opportunities than she had growing up.

She says she enjoys her co-workers and gets great joy from helping patients, especially when she transports them as they prepare to go home.

Mrs. Mason wants to be remembered as the only lady at 69 years old who can dance to many popular songs and credits her energy to having 13 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren who keep her on her toes. They are surprised I still can dance, she adds.

Her greatest claim to fame after 40 years at UT Southwestern is that I’m still making it, she says with a laugh, adding: I get my Social Security check, but I’m still working full time because I like to work. I’m a country girl.

I have a wonderful soul, and four outstanding children. They’re all out on their own and doing well, she says.