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LIFETIMES OF GIVING
College of Pharmacy alumni Bob LaGrange, ‘52 BSPh and Tom Veach, BSPh ‘52, and June Jones, BSPh ‘62, know the meaning of “tis better to give than to receive.”
The Pharmacy alumni are three of the UI’s longest, most consistent donors.
Retired from a career in hospital pharmacy, June Jones of Williston, Vt., says pharmacy was perfect when she and her husband were raising a family. Still, “some years were hard, especially when we first got married. I was working while my husband was going to graduate school in engineering.” 2008 will mark her 46th year of giving to the College.
Although she no longer practices, Jones keeps up her license. She and her husband are both retired and she enjoys her second career as a master gardener, where she helps maintain a community garden. “I’m still able to help keep people healthy.”
Bob LaGrange, who spends most of the year in Vinton, Iowa, is the middle of a five-generation pharmacy family. His grandfather got his license in 1882, father in 1922, and his son graduated in 1980. His grandson is currently a second year UI pharmacy student.
It wasn’t always easy while the LaGranges were raising three children and he was starting up. With his first, $12.50 gift to McBride, he has given for 52 consecutive years, the longest possible number of giving years through the University of Iowa Foundation, which was incorporated in 1956.
“We got a great education, and were able to make a good living off it. I really feel that we owe the College a lot.” Currently retired, LaGrange is an active community volunteer and even plays Santa Claus each year.
Tom Veach, who lives in San Antonio, Texas, is a contract pharmacist for the government. He says, “We owe so much to the University. A pharmacy degree really gives you a place in the community.” Like his classmate LaGrange, Veach has given to the UI and the College for 52 consecutive years.
Giving every year was something to get used to, but the benefits of a College of Pharmacy education makes it all worth it. “I’d like to challenge everyone in my class to give $1000 a year,” he adds. “It doesn’t have to be a lot, but the College gave us all an education. It’s the least we can do.”
CARLSON SCHOLARSHIP
Pharmacy has given great careers to David, ‘66 BSPh, ‘70 MS, and James, ‘71 BSPh, Carlson and the UI College of Pharmacy was a great place to learn the profession. To that end, the brothers established the David and James Carlson Scholarship to support Iowa pharmacy students.
“It’s been such a great life,” said David Carlson, director of pharmacy at Mercy Hospital Iowa City. “James and I had been talking about setting it up for awhile because we thought it would be a neat way to give something back to the College of Pharmacy.”
Raised on a farm near the northwest Iowa town of Linn Grove, the Carlson brothers early on shared a passion for science. David Carlson attended Buena Vista University in Storm Lake for two years and then transferred to the College, where he graduated with a BSPh in 1966 and a master’s degree in 1970. James received his BSPh degree in 1971, planning on it as a fall back career so he could return to the family farm. His plans were thwarted when he was drafted and served a tour of duty with the U.S. Indian Health Service Pharmacy Services in New Mexico and Oklahoma from 1971 to 1974.
“Our older sister is a nurse and she made me think that some sort of health care work would be interesting,” David said. Looking back, he says it was “the perfect choice. If I had it to do over I’d do it again.”
After graduation, David worked at University Hospital at the Arizona Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz., returning to UI Hospitals and Clinics in 1973. In 1974 he became the assistant director of pharmacy at Iowa City’s Mercy Hospital, where he had worked part-time during undergraduate and graduate school. In 1987 he was promoted to director of pharmacy.
James’ time with the Indian Health Service sparked a passion for clinical pharmacy. He became director of pharmacy at USPHS Indian Health Centers in New Mexico and Oklahoma and a clinical pharmacy instructor at Southwest State University in Weatherford, OK. James is the chief executive officer, president and owner/co-founder of PRACS Institute, Ltd., of Fargo, N.D. and East Grand Forks, Minn., and its subsidiary, PRACS Dermatology, LLC, of San Diego, Calif. The Institute was founded in 1983 as a clinical health-care research facility to evaluate pharmaceutical products.
Both Carlsons have served on professional boards and associations. David is an adjunct associate professor of clinical and administrative pharmacy and has served on the College’s alumni board. He and his wife, Norma, live in Iowa City and have four children. James and his wife, Sonya, live in Fargo, N.D. and have five children.
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