The end of Harold Elder’s life could be a case study for medical students in good decision-making. After suffering a stroke, the retired Air Force pilot and Corpus Christi resident was taken to a hospital where his usual doctor did not have privileges. There, a different doctor recommended brain surgery, without fully understanding Elder’s wishes or his advanced medical directive.

“We came so close to having brain surgery on an 89-year-old who wouldn’t have wanted it,” said his daughter, Roxanne Elder. “My father and I had talked many times about him not wanting any heroic measures. This was not informed medical decision-making.”

Harold, who died about a month later, would have turned 100 in 2019. Given his end-of-life experience and his admiration for an uncle who was a doctor, Roxanne thought that the best way to celebrate this milestone and honor his life would be to help educate the next generation of doctors. And the best place to do that, she decided, was Dell Medical School, where she liked the innovative approach.

With a $55,000 gift, Roxanne created the Lt. Col. Harold Elder Endowed Scholarship, which will provide tuition support for Dell Med students for generations to come.

“My father was a very special man, and I wanted to find a way to honor him that he would like,” she said. “This scholarship will support a new kind of doctor who will not only help patients but help change our health care system — and that’s a legacy I know would make him proud.”

Gifts of $50,000 or more, made before the inaugural class graduates, qualify for membership in Dell Medical School’s Founders Circle. Founders Circle members receive a number of benefits, including recognition in a permanent display in the school’s Health Learning Building.

Dell Medical School’s cutting-edge curriculum trains future physician leaders who are prepared to face systemic health care challenges head on. Not just any medical student is up to the task. That’s why the school strives to recruit change agents who have the drive and ability to make a lasting difference. Scholarships like the Elder Endowed Scholarship help Dell Med attract the nation’s best in this category.

“The cost of medical school should not deter great talent,” said Clay Johnston, inaugural dean of Dell Medical School, 2014-2021. “Roxanne’s generosity in memory of her father will help us recruit and support outstanding medical students who will go on to change the world.”

Like leaders at Dell Med, Roxanne sees the need for change in the nation’s health care system, especially in how we pay for care. Dell Med advocates moving from fee-for-service health care to value-based care — care in which providers are paid for patient outcomes, not the number of times they see a patient. But value-based care won’t become a reality unless tomorrow’s doctors are ready for it.

“I think we’re in a seismic shift of how we fund our health care,” Roxanne said. “How we train our next generation of doctors is really important as we take steps to transform the system.”

The Elder family understands how good doctors can make a difference.

Roxanne’s father, Harold, was born in Cheapside, Texas, and grew up on his family’s ranch during the Great Depression. At age 9, he lost his father, John Fletcher Elder, to complications from diabetes. Afterward his mother, Belle Terry Elder, set an example of love and courage in raising her six children as a widow on the ranch. His Uncle Nathan, who had cared for his father for years, was another major role model — and for good reason. Nathan Elder was a Texas country doctor who originally made house calls by horse and buggy when his career began in 1906. Over his 55-year career he delivered more than 3,000 babies.

“Dad was in awe of Uncle Nathan,” Roxanne said. “He is mythical in our family. He died in 1961, at age 80, after seeing several patients that day.”

Inspired by his mother’s and uncle’s dedication to their communities, Harold joined the military, serving in the Army Air Corps and later the Air Force. He flew combat missions out of North Africa during World War II, and his squadron, the 434th, received a Presidential Air Force Commendation Medal in 1944. He also served in the Korean Theatre, India and Thailand and flew transport aircraft with MATS (Military Air Transport Service). His final assignment was with the U.S. Navy in Key West, Florida, after the Cuban missile crisis, where he served as a special Air Force attaché to assist with coordinating Air Force U-2 reconnaissance flights over Cuba until he retired from the service in 1965.

“Dad was justifiably proud of his military service,” Roxanne said.

For Roxanne, this gift is a way to recognize her father and celebrate his life. She believes that creating an endowed scholarship at Dell Med is a great choice for anyone wanting to pay tribute to a family member or a dedicated physician.

“I’m just a daughter trying to honor her father,” she said. “I know that the students who hold the scholarship in his name will go on to do great things and help many, many people.”

Qualifying for the Lt. Col. Harold Elder Endowed Scholarship
The requirements for the Elder scholarship are a nod to Roxanne’s family, particularly her father and great-uncle Nathan. First preference for the scholarship is for applicants who have lived or studied in one of three areas of Texas:

The towns of Cuero or Cheapside, or DeWitt County, where her family has owned ranch land for 150 years.
The town of Nixon, or the counties where it sits, Gonzales and Wilson, where Nathan Elder lived and practiced medicine from 1906-1961.
The city of Corpus Christi or its home county, Nueces, where her father lived and worked after retiring from the Air Force.

If no qualified residents of those areas apply, the scholarship will go to someone interested in studying internal medicine and medical decision-making or to a military veteran or a child of a veteran.

Published May 2018