JOAN FREED ANDERSON

Joan Wellin Freed Anderson, an award-winning medical journalist, author, playwright, actress, and video producer, died August 12, 2025 in Fort Worth, Texas, a few days before her 80th birthday.

Joan was born in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1945 to Rose Friedman Wellin and Herman Wellin. At age four, her father died, and later her mother married Dr. Cyril Freed who adopted her. Joan grew up in Shreveport where she attended CE Byrd High School, but later graduated from Beach High in Miami Beach, Florida. She attended Louisiana State University. Joan moved to Fort Worth in 1966 where she completed her undergraduate education with a degree from TCU with honors.

Joan spent her career in the field of communications and marketing with an emphasis on medical and consumer issues.

As a young mother concerned about the cancer-causing effects of fire-retardant chemicals used in children’s sleepwear and the preservatives used in foods, Joan took her causes to the media. This advocacy led to her first position as a television and radio consumer reporter with KERA, the PBS affiliate in Dallas. She also wrote articles for various magazines, as well as for the Fort Worth Star Telegram and the Dallas Morning News. From the beginning of her career, she used her writing and reporting to inform people about critical health issues that impacted their lives.

Joan’s award-winning investigative article, Deep Sleep, published in D Magazine (Dallas), revealed the cause of an unprecedented cluster of anesthesia deaths and was the impetus for a segment on the ABC show, 20/20, for which she consulted.

Also in D Magazine, her in-depth report, The Baby Factory, chronicled the dangerous procedures used during the birth of her second child and helped usher in a more natural approach to hospital deliveries in Fort Worth.

She won The American Cancer Society of Texas Journalist Award for her article, A Time to Die, which explained a more sensitive and honest approach to dying offered by a new and controversial program at the time – hospice.

A committed advocate for victims of abuse and family violence, Joan served as a board member, hotline volunteer and public relations chair for a women’s shelter. She also produced a video, Shelter From The Storm of Family Violence, in the late 1980s to help educate the public on this hidden problem, and to highlight the important work of The Women’s Haven in Fort Worth (now SafeHaven of Tarrant County). The video received an award from the Dallas Chapter of Women in Communication.

Joan chaired the City of Fort Worth Cable Television Committee, a City Council appointment, and was chosen for membership in Leadership Texas. She was also selected for Most Influential Women by Tarrant County Business Press. She was a member of Sigma Delta Chi, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Public Relations Society of America. In addition, Joan served as a board member of the Dispute Resolution Services of Tarrant County and was a trained mediator. She was also a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) and guardian ad litem for abused children.

Joan left her newspaper and TV/radio reporting to help start the community cable television channel for the City of Fort Worth, where she also produced and hosted several shows and documentaries. From there she took a position as a healthcare administrator for the Osteopathic Health System of Texas.

Joan helped co-write two medical books and also co-wrote with Ann Pugh, a Fort Worth author and television trailblazer, a highly successful children’s book, Diggy Armadillo Goes to the Stock Show and Rodeo. The book was incorporated into the Fort Worth ISD third-grade curriculum. It was also published each year for grades 2-6 by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram as part of their "Newspapers in Education" series. Diggy Armadillo received an endorsement from the then-First Lady Laura Bush.

Joan’s book, My Action Plan: Stopping the Symptoms of Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome/Dysautonomia, chronicled her life-long struggle with the condition and how she learned to overcome it.

Joan, together with her writing partner, the late Dorothy Sanders—a professional actress and icon in the Fort Worth theatre community—wrote and performed original plays at local events, for professional groups and on various stages in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Their full-length play, 1-800-4Advice, was produced on many local stages. Joan’s main character in the play gave more than a nod to Joan’s mother who dabbled in homespun therapy.

Joan and Dorothy’s many one-act and ten-minute plays won numerous competitions throughout the United States, including Theatre Oxford in Oxford, Mississippi, Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival, and The Little Theatre of Alexandria. Their monologue, I Witness, was performed on a New York City off-Broadway stage and published in Stage This! Volume 3: Monologues, Short Solo Plays and 10-Minute Plays by E-MergingWriters.com and Fn Productions.

Joan was an active parent during her children’s early years, as Camp Fire Girls Troop Leader, room mother for several grades, and holding an office on the Trinity Valley Parents Club board. She found great joy in supporting and serving as magician assistant for her son, a performing magician during his pre-teen years.

Joan’s energetic spirit, creativity, warmth, and compassion left a lasting mark on all who had the joy of knowing her.

She was preceded in death by her father, Herman Wellin; her parents, Rose and Cyril Freed; sister, Jill Wellin Freed Gerstenfield and Jill’s husband, Edward Gerstenfield; and nephew, Gary Hale Gerstenfield.

She is survived by her daughter, Lisa Leigh Rapfogel of Dallas, and grandson, Andrew Ostroff; son, Robert Brian Rapfogel and his wife, Sofia, of Houston; brothers, Michael Freed and his wife, Evey, of Sun Lakes, Arizona, and Miles Barton Freed, also of Sun Lakes; niece, Laura Freed Arhangelsky and her husband, Peter; nephew, Neal Freed and his wife, Becky; nephew, Daniel Gerstenfield and his wife, Melissa, and their children Devon and Sarah; and niece, Shiva Sedghi Gerstenfield and her children, Alex and Sonya. She is also survived by her close friend of many years, Mary Ann Block of Fort Worth and her husband, Jack Ward, and Mary Ann’s children, Michelle Block Goldsmith and Randy Block, of Dallas; her dear friend, Lee Royal, of Fort Worth; and her many other cherished friends and beloved extended family. Her family would also like to express their heartfelt gratitude to her caretaker, Gifty Adomako, who helped care for Joan in her final days.

A Celebration of Her Life will be held at the Marty Leonard Community Chapel, 3131 Sanguinet Street, Fort Worth, TX 76107 on Monday, on October 13 at 1:00 pm.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Joan’s memory may be made to SafeHaven of Tarrant County (safehaventc.org) or any women’s shelter of your choice.