Fort Worth realtor gave back to the community that helped her succeed

Elizabeth Campbell
·2 min read

The well-known co-founder of the Williams Trew Real Estate firm is retiring after launching a successful business that earned her recognition and accolades over the years.

Joan Trew began her real estate career 44 years ago, and now plans to spend time with her family and enjoying the arts.

“I’m blessed with three children, eight grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren,” Trew said in a news release.

“Family alone will keep me plenty busy. I look forward to spending time with them and with friends, while still calling Fort Worth my home. I also have great passion for the arts and enjoy supporting the museums and symphony. I think I’ll be doing a little bit more of that, too,” she said.

Trew, who was born in Opp, Alabama, came to Fort Worth in 1950.

She began her real estate career in 1977 with William Rigg Realtors where she met her future business partner, Martha Williams.

By the mid-1990s, both women were top producers and vice presidents of the brokerage, according to the news release.

In 2000, Trew and Williams decided to form their own company with Marshall Boyd.

Williams Trew is part of the Ebby Halliday Companies, an affiliate of Berkshire Hathaway’s HomeServices of America.

Over the years, Trew was recognized for her accomplishments.

In 1987, she was named as one of six outstanding realtors by Texas Monthly magazine.

In 2002, the Fort Worth Business Press recognized Trew with the Great Women of Texas Award, and in 2016, she was recognized as Executive of the Year by the Fort Worth Business Hall of Fame.

Earlier this year, Trew also received the R.L. Purvis Distinguished Service Award from the Greater Fort Worth Association of Realtors.

Giving back to the community

In 1981, Trew found the location for the first Ronald McDonald house in Fort Worth, and she also conducted the transaction. The Ronald McDonald house was in a historic mansion on 8th Avenue.

In 2015, Trew and Williams co-chaired the Tarrant County “GO Red” American Heart Association campaign.

“One thing that has made Joan so successful was that she never focused on the number of homes she closed over the years. She has always said she loves to sell Fort Worth, both the lifestyle and the value of being a part of the community,” Martha Williams said.

Recommended Stories

  • Elected official groped woman at her home — then drove tractor drunk, Kentucky cops say

    He told a constituent they should go “to a nearby field together,” cops say.

  • Personalized nutrition startup Zoe closes out Series B at $53M total raise

    Personalized nutrition startup Zoe -- named not for a person but after the Greek word for 'life' -- has topped up its Series B round with $20M, bringing the total raised to $53M. Instead it says only that it's "a tool that is meant for general wellness purposes only".

  • Mexico City metro overpass collapse kills 23

    Two train carriages plunged to the ground when an elevated metro line collapsed.

  • No. 2 House Republican backs Cheney ouster over Trump barbs

    The No. 2 House Republican publicly called Wednesday for the removal of Rep. Liz Cheney from the party's leadership, adding momentum to the drive to topple her after she clashed repeatedly with former President Donald Trump. Rep. Steve Scalise, the House GOP whip, is backing New York GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik for Cheney's post, said Scalise spokesperson Lauren Fine. The public statement from the Louisiana Republican was the first explicit call from GOP leadership for the ouster of Cheney from the party's No. 3 leadership job.

  • Each of these 5 gardens on tour will offer lessons from the gardening pros at KSU

    Plants are labeled so when something catches your eye, you can write it down or snap a photo of the label, making it easy to add to your landscape.

  • Pizza parlour owner accused of stealing $600k in Covid relief to spend on alpacas and cryptocurrency radio show

    Dana McIntrye accused of claiming money for more staff than he actually ahd working for him

  • Oversight Board upholds Trump's Facebook suspension

    Facebook's independent Oversight Board upheld the platform's suspension of former President Trump's account but told the social media giant to rethink the ban's "indefinite" nature. Why it matters: The decision sets a global precedent for how Facebook, and potentially other social media companies, will treat political leaders around the world.Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for freeDetails: The board found Trump's posts had "severely violated" Facebook rules but questioned the "indeterminate and standardless penalty of indefinite suspension" and "insisted" the company find a "proportionate response" within six months."It is not permissible for Facebook to keep a user off the platform for an undefined period, with no criteria for when or whether the account will be restored," the board wrote.In response to the ruling, Facebook's VP of global affairs and communications Nick Clegg said the platform "will now consider the board’s decision and determine an action that is clear and proportionate. In the meantime, Mr. Trump’s accounts remain suspended."The big picture: Facebook, like Twitter, barred Trump for violating its rules in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, then referred the case to the board. While Twitter was Trump's chief online megaphone, Facebook was his most effective fundraising tool.Catch up quick: Facebook established and funded the Oversight Board to provide independent review when users appeal the company's content moderation decisions. Facebook has pledged to follow the board's recommendations with regard to specific cases and to give consideration to the board's broader policy recommendations.The board also recommended that Facebook should "publicly explain the rules that it uses when it imposes account-level sanctions against influential users." It said that when Facebook does choose to penalize a user, it should assess whether the risk has receded before the suspension ends. If Facebook finds that the user continued to pose a serious threat the board recommends another "time-bound suspension" should be imposed.What they're saying: In a tweet, the board wrote, "Facebook cannot make up the rules as it goes, and anyone concerned about its power should be concerned about allowing this. Having clear rules that apply to all users and Facebook is essential for ensuring the company treats users fairly. This is what the Board stands for."Meanwhile, Twitter has shown no indication that it plans to review its decision to ban Trump, nor have other online platforms that took action against him after Jan. 6.Trump, his allies, and conservatives have criticized the social media bans as censorship and advocated new laws to punish the companies involved and/or limit their power to set rules for expression on their platforms.People around the former president have said he is weighing options for starting his own social media enterprise, and on Tuesday he launched a new website.More from Axios: Sign up to get the latest market trends with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free

  • Photos of tanks and armored vehicles in the Himalayas show that China and India's next border showdown could be much deadlier

    China's and India's armored forces are far more capable and lethal than they were during their 1962 war.

  • Labor Secretary Marty Walsh Wants More Servants in the Workforce

    Labor Secretary Marty Walsh has said that he thinks more workers in the “gig economy” should be reclassified as employees. The trouble is that Secretary Walsh is attempting to relitigate battles of the 1930s, when he should be looking at how work and the priorities of workers have evolved. The secretary appears to think that gig-economy workers are being exploited by the platforms they work with and not being given their fair due in terms of benefits. On this view of the world, workers are best off with an employment contract that grants access to a trove of government-mandated benefits, including healthcare and restrictions on working hours. Yet taking a step back and considering what people want from work reveals a different view. The employment contract is just one way of working, and one that is increasingly out of step with what workers want. At heart, the employment contract puts one in a subordinate relationship with the employer — so subordinate that the law calls it a master-servant relationship. The employer buys your time and is entitled to ask you to do whatever she wants with it (within reason). That’s why, for instance, if an employee crashes his van into you, you sue his employer and not him (unless the employee was engaged in what the law calls a “frolic” unrelated to the employer’s needs). This doesn’t exactly sound very empowering, does it? The power of the employer over the employee explains why a host of labor and employment laws were passed in the 1930s to try to reduce the power of employers. Labor laws gave unions the right to negotiate contracts on behalf of all employees, and employment laws burdened employers with delivering a variety of social policies demanded by government. The 1930s were a different time, however. Many jobs could be performed by anyone with minimal training (they were literally “labor” jobs). The Great Depression meant that there were many people willing and able to do a given job. So what employees wanted was job security and some limitations on what employers could ask of them. They were willing to sell their time and labor without many conditions. Times have changed. Many jobs require specific skills, giving the worker more power. Workers also have other demands than those of workers in the 1930s. In the private sector, most see no need for labor unions. The rise of the gig economy provides alternatives. For instance, people who value flexibility in hours had been held back by the master-servant economy (they had to settle for rare part-time arrangements employers were often loath to offer) but suddenly found new choices in the gig economy. This was particularly the case with parents who valued being able to see to their children’s needs over the security of a 40-hour, 9-to-5 work week. Employment itself has also changed. The idea of a vertically integrated firm with career progression and jobs for life has waned in most sectors. Firms these days organize along different lines, contracting out non-essential services to other firms or to freelancers. Many employers don’t want to operate in a master-servant relationship, preferring to contract commercial terms instead. Gig-economy platforms are the most obvious example of that, but any firm that offers, for instance, extended time off or tuition benefits that encourage workers to leave the firm are operating under a different set of preconditions than employment law currently imagines. However, the idea that a master-servant relationship with an employer is somehow best for the worker remains prevalent. This has been the motive behind various attempts, most notably California’s AB5 bill, to forcibly convert gig workers into employees. The effect of these attempts has been to sweep up many traditionally freelance jobs that survived the legislation of the 1930s into an employment relationship. This is what helped doom the California attempt. Voters recognize that some people do not want an employment relationship and gravitate towards freelance work — which would not exist in an employment-only world. So many people were affected by AB5’s broad brush that California voters rejected AB5 by a large majority in a ballot initiative. Yet Secretary Walsh’s remarks indicate that the Biden administration might attempt to repeat AB5’s mistakes. The PRO Act, for instance, which President Biden has touted as an essential part of his infrastructure package, aims to make all gig-economy and freelance workers eligible for unionization, a first step on the road to AB5 and the imposition of a master-servant relationship neither the workers nor the platforms want. Instead of trying to force everyone into an outdated model, Secretary Walsh and his department should be looking at how work has changed, and should provide the president with proposals to send to Congress that reflect those changes.

  • Covid cases at Everest base camp raise fears of serious outbreak

    Climbers say a growing number of people have tested positive, despite government denials.

  • In COVID-hit India, a 26-year-old doctor decides who lives and who dies

    NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Rohan Aggarwal is 26 years old. As India's healthcare system teeters on the verge of collapse during a brutal second wave of the novel coronavirus, Aggarwal makes those decisions during a 27-hour workday that includes a grim overnight shift in charge of the emergency room at his New Delhi hospital. Everyone at Holy Family Hospital – patients, relatives and staff – knows there aren't enough beds, not enough oxygen or ventilators to keep everyone who arrives at the hospital's front gates alive.

  • 'My fellow American': Biden sends letter to stimulus check recipients, echoing mailer sent by Trump

    Joe Biden's letter to stimulus check recipients is similar to a Donald Trump mailing that prompted accusations he was politicizing the IRS.

  • Bill Gates allegedly had special weekend deal with wife to holiday with ex

    Bill and Melinda Gates announced their decision to end their marriage

  • Woman investigated for hate crime after berating Black Amazon delivery driver

    ‘I was getting constant F-bombs thrown at me. I was getting just racially profiled from the jump,’ delivery driver says

  • Officer gets prison after beating inmate in Tennessee with help of 5 others, feds say

    He’s also accused of ordering another officer to cover the surveillance camera during the assault.

  • Judge orders release of secret DOJ memo used to clear Trump of obstruction

    A federal judge on Tuesday called for the release of a secret 2019 Department of Justice memo that then-Attorney General Bill Barr cited to justify clearing former President Donald Trump for obstruction of justice, Politico reports.Why it matters: Judge Amy Berman Jackson called Barr's public characterization of the Mueller investigation's finding “disingenuous” and said the department had not been clear about what purpose the memo would serve.Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.The big picture: The DOJ had previously argued that the memo should be kept from public view due to attorney-client privilege and the fact that the memo was used by Barr to help make a decision on whether to prosecute Trump, per Politico.Now the judge has called for the full memo to be released in response to a Freedom of Information Act suit filed by the organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.What they're saying: "[N]ot only was the Attorney General being disingenuous then, but DOJ has been disingenuous to this Court with respect to the existence of a decision-making process that should be shielded by the deliberative process privilege," reads Jackson's opinion."The agency’s redactions and incomplete explanations obfuscate the true purpose of the memorandum, and the excised portions belie the notion that it fell to the Attorney General to make a prosecution decision or that any such decision was on the table at any time."More from Axios: Sign up to get the latest market trends with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free

  • 'The Irregulars' just became the 30th Netflix original to get canceled after only one season

    The streaming services has greenlit hundreds of scripted series. See every Netflix original TV show that was ended after a single season.

  • Oil pipeline builder agrees to halt eminent domain lawsuits

    A company seeking to build a disputed oil pipeline over an aquifer that provides drinking water to 1 million people agreed verbally Tuesday to stop pursuing lawsuits against Tennessee property owners who refused to sell access to their land for construction. Plains All American Pipeline spokesman Brad Leone said the company will put an agreement in writing with the Memphis City Council to set aside lawsuits filed against property owners fighting the Byhalia Connection pipeline. Leone spoke at a council committee meeting in which members discussed a proposed city law making it difficult for the pipeline to be approved and built.

  • Biden Administration shifts vaccination focus

    Dr. Anthony Fauci puts U.S. pandemic in baseball terms, saying we’re in the “bottom of the 6th inning.” ABC News’ Faith Abubey reports.

  • Documents allege Adidas paid ex-Duke star Zion Williamson’s family while he was a recruit

    The claims are part of a civil lawsuit between former college player Brian Bowen and Adidas.