Donor Stories

Bill Tilley and Donna Scott-Tilley, PhD

Annual Giving: Planned Gift Helps Ensure Scholarships for Future Nursing Students

For several years, Bill Tilley (TTU Business Administration ’93) and Donna Scott-Tilley, PhD, (Nursing ’97, ’91), had discussed including a charitable gift in their estate planning. Their goal was to support scholarships at their alma maters. Someday, the couple thought, we’ll make the gift official by completing the paperwork.

The Friday after Thanksgiving 2017, Bill’s heart stopped beating. More

Robert and Jan Taylor and The United Family

Return on Investment
Keeping communities healthy gets a personal and professional commitment. 

If quality health care is absent in a community, a healthy workforce is, too. 
As The United Family's retired CEO and president and current senior advisor, it's a concept Robert Taylor fully grasps and champions. More

Jewel Benton Endowed Scholarship in Nursing

A Jewel of a Gift
First endowed scholarship in the School of Nursing still impactful

Returning to the Rio Grande Valley as a health care provider was Scot Brown's plan since leaving for college. Brown, CRNA, (Nursing ’03) is now the first nurse anesthetist at Socorro General Hospital to live in the community for more than 40 years. The critical access hospital serves the residents of Socorro and Catron counties — a population of just more than 21,000 — and those traveling I-25 between Mexico and Albuquerque, New Mexico, as well as other local highways and back roads. The Jewel Benton Endowed Scholarship in Nursing was one of the many scholarships Brown received while earning undergraduate degrees in agricultural sciences at TTU and nursing at TTUHSC — and the only one he can still remember by name almost 20 years later. More

Thurmond Eye Associates

Visionary Gift
Ophthalmology alumni donate to help future eye doctors

After Wade Graham, M.D., (Resident '99, Medicine '95) graduated from the School of Medicine and finished his ophthalmology residency, he joined the faculty of his alma mater to guide others through the process. As an assistant professor and director of the ophthalmology residency program, Graham saw firsthand the struggles residents faced — the professional problems as well as the personal ones. Today, he partners with two other alumni in private practice. Their practice, Thurmond Eye Associates, has been a successful one. So, when the three men decided they were in a position to help current ophthalmology residents, they did. More

Xcel Energy Foundation Helps Amarillo Community Stay Clean

Thanks to the Excel Energy Foundation, Amarillo residents have an alternate way to dispose of unused medications. The foundation supports community Medication Cleanout events hosted by the Texas Panhandle Poison Center, which is managed by Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School through the School of Pharmacy. MORE

Running for the Love Her Life

Every time Cyndi Mendez, PT, laces up her running shoes, she has a goal in mind: to finish the race. Not to just physically cross the finish line, but also to, and perhaps more importantly, keep alive the memory of her late fiancé, Jorge Fernandez (SON '10), and honor two things he valued most in life: higher education and living a healthy lifestyle. MORE

Alumnus Helps Students Achieve their Dreams

Logan Price, AuD, (SOAHS ’13, ’09) has always believed in giving back. He received a $5,000 scholarship from James Avery Craftsman Inc., and was so grateful that his first order of business after securing a paid internship was buying a necklace from the jewelry store. And he hasn’t stopped there. His appreciation for his education from TTUHSC has inspired him to help other students achieve their dreams. MORE

Investing in the Future of Medicine

Alan McCarty, MD, (SOM ’00) believes in giving credit where credit is due. And because the School of Medicine took a chance on him in 1996 McCarty, in return, has made a lifetime pledge to help further its mission. Although he has been a loyal donor since 2004, last March McCarty set up a perpetual gift of $100 per month through an automatic draft after realizing his initial one-year pledge to the School of Medicine Fund for Excellence had expired. When he noticed the payments had stopped, McCarty contacted the development officer at TTUHSC at Amarillo to make sure his gift continued. MORE

Ritchie Family Supports Pediatric Brain Injury Research

Race and Shawna Ritchie are beyond thankful they still have two perfectly healthy children. However, just more than a year ago, the fate of their then 3-year-old son, Rynden remained uncertain. Jan. 31, 2013, was a typical weekday at the Ritchie's home as Shawna juggled take-out dinner and children's schedules. That's when she noticed Rynden missing from the kitchen where she had left him about 10 minutes earlier. MORE

Tammy McNeeley's Dreams Live on Through Scholarship

Tammy McNeeley (SOAHS '97) valiantly fought through her master's coursework all the while battling cancer. When graduation day came, Tammy walked across the stage with her original class, and then was admitted to a Fort Worth hospital two days later. She died the following day, but her legacy lives on through an endowed scholarship begun by her classmates and members of the National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association. MORE

Donors Help Students Triumph Over Difficulties

Endowment to Advance Nursing Studies and Practice

The School of Nursing recently received a generous gift from The CH Foundation to establish The CH Foundation Endowed Professorship in Advance Practice Registered Nurse Studies. MORE

Verizon Gift Supports Children's Diabetes Program in Rural West Texas

In an effort to help children in rural West Texas better manage their diabetes, the F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health has established the Verizon Foundation Children's Diabetes Monitoring Program. The institute received a gift from Verizon to help fund the program. MORE

Endowments are Forever; Hopefully Cancer Won’t be

Kenneth Scott grew up on a livestock farm in the Texas Hill Country just outside of Lampasas. The rural, agrarian life often reflected Thomas Edison’s familiar phrase “early to bed, early to rise” in that you put in a full day’s work just to get the job done. When high school graduation came, Scott thought he’d discover a more suitable direction for his career. Today, he gently laughs at his prodigal choice of schools and college major – the University of Texas and engineering. MORE

Teen’s Service Project Helps Children Battling Cancer

James A. “Buddy” Davidson Charitable Foundation Supports Health Care Initiatives

Sandra Davidson and the staff of the James A. “Buddy” Davidson Charitable Foundation continue the work began by her husband more than three decades ago. Mr. Davidson gained an appreciation for nursing from his mother, who was a registered nurse. Today, the foundation that bears his name supports nursing students at TTUHSC as well as many other health care initiatives. MORE

Jean Stockton Tells her Story of Generous Gifts to TTUHSC

Her generous gifts throughout the past 20 years have provided scholarships for TTUHSC students and enabled its academic programs to prosper. She has contributed to the Garrison Institute on Aging as well as to the schools of Health Professions, Medicine, and Nursing. Additionally, Mrs. Stockton has made a planned gift to the School of Pharmacy at Abilene. MORE

Myrna L. Armstrong Endowed Scholarship for Nursing

Littleton-Anglin Families Endowment Fund for Parkinson’s Disease Research

Mrs. J. Avery “Janie” Rush Endowed Chair of Excellence in Women's Health and Oncology

Corbett L. and Cecilia T. Roberts Scholarship Endowment in Nursing

Corinne Payne Wright Endowed Chair in Alzheimer’s Disease

With every paycheck, Ron Salars makes a modest contribution to the Corinne Payne Wright Endowed Chair in Alzheimer’s Disease, optimistic that someday it will help add up to a medical breakthrough. He understands firsthand the struggles faced by those with neurological diseases – his daughter has Down syndrome. MORE

Crofoot Family Endowment Fund in Epilepsy

F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health

From the back seat of her father’s car, Marie Hall formed some of her earliest memories of her father’s work. An only child, she remembers riding along as he made evening house calls to the residents in the rural areas around Big Spring. Ms. Hall’s father, G.T. Hall, M.D., was a rural primary care physician and surgeon in Big Spring. Armed with a stethoscope and a black medical bag, his most important medical tool was a compassionate heart. MORE