As a leader of the Sewall Child Development Center in Denver, Colorado, Gene Koelbel was instrumental in the early success of the National Fragile X Foundation through her support of and collaboration with Dr. Randi Hagerman in the early 1980s. Along with her husband, Walt, Gene provided crucial financial support for early Fragile X syndrome screening.

She served on the NFXF board of directors throughout the 1980s and 1990s. She and her husband’s financial support of the NFXF in 1999 was crucial to its successful transition from a very small and poorly staffed organization to the much larger and effective organization of today. Gene also stepped forward to provide major financial support for the NFXF’s 25th-anniversary campaign in 2009.