Lincoln Hall Project
Decision of a Lifetime
By Raymond Dieter, Jr., BS ’94, chemistry
I have always been proud to say that I was a student and a graduate of the University of Illinois—both in Champaign and in Chicago. The University offered me the opportunity of attending undergraduate classes in Champaign and to be one of the earliest students in the School of Veterinary Medicine—1954. Along with this Champaign opportunity, I received a BS degree (chemistry) in 1994.
In addition, at the College of Medicine in Chicago (in 1966), I was able to obtain my master’s degree in physiology and to do laboratory research using cardiopulmonary bypass procedures (heart lung bypass) on dogs and calves. This thesis project included the study of hypothermia, hemodilution, and cardiac arrest. I still have 16 mm movies of individual red blood cells passing through the vascular capillaries.
At the conclusion of high school, I went to work with my father in the hardware store and Culligan Soft Water business, along with participating in the rural community activities. My father installed and manufactured milking machines and provided Fairbank’s Morse water pumps, plumbing, and electrical systems to the local residents. He manufactured and repaired almost everything about the farm and local homes.
However, in the first week of September in 1952, my mother woke me up at 6 a.m. and said we were going to Champaign. I asked her why, as I didn’t think that my dad needed anything from Champaign. She said, “You are going to college.” After some discussion, we left for Champaign. At the enrollment office, the enrollment officer asked me what I was going to study. After some thought, I said, “veterinary medicine,” as no one from Chebanse had done so.
I lived in Greenforth—on the corner of Green and Fourth. The home was run by “Ma” Rogers and her son Dennis, for 20 to 25 students. Patrick O’Connor and I roomed together my first year and we raised five little chickens in our room. The rooster was a champion at the fair, after being fed night crawlers we caught each night at the U of I. The next year, I had two new roommates. One had been in the U.S. Service and was studying aeronautic and flying. The other roommate, a school valedictorian, had his own pink and gray car, and wore gloves and a helmet to drive. At the end of the third semester, I switched to a private home on South Lincoln Avenue, which was owned by Mrs. Nicoleit, and had three students.
Each weekend I would hitchhike home after taking a bus to five corners. Then, on Monday morning, I would take the Illinois Central Railroad from Kankakee back to Champaign.
Our house (Greenforth) and the University offered students the opportunity to participate in many other University or intramural activities. Our Greenforth house was involved in many school activities, including: basketball and football on the intramural levels, challenges and competition with other homes, dorms, fraternities and/or various clubs.
Next door was the Helpie-Selfie laundry. We lived on a hall, so when a truck hit the bump in the road, a large ice cream container fell off the truck. This offered the opportunity for the students in the girl’s home across the street and our Greenforth students to enjoy an afternoon. Individuals in our home were able and capable to build a broadcasting radio station. Others were experts on snakes and their own activities.
An example of the opportunity afforded by the U of I was a biology class. In 1952 and 1953, I provided assistance to a professor, who was dissecting a Whooping Crane for its great scientific value when there were so few Whooping Cranes in the world.
I found that I was not the smartest student in all the classes. Despite the instructors not knowing our individual names in the large classes, they were all of high quality and had excellent teaching techniques. Plans and habits were developed which lasted a lifetime, such as taking fewer notes but listening more attentively. Individual friends such as Jim Woods, from Springfield, who scored a perfect 100 percent on calculus exams, will not be forgotten.
This was an era of no automobiles on campus by undergraduates. Thus, most students rode bicycles and wore out a lot of shoe leather walking from class to class. My bicycle developed a flat tire, so walking home became the routine. I lost my billfold walking to the veterinary school. Approximately 15 years later, an individual raking leaves under the bushes, along the sidewalk, found it and mailed it to me.
On entering veterinary school, there was a long walk but in a different direction. We dissected the dog and the horse. I put the bones, from the dog, together at home to form a complete mounted skeleton which I still have.
Of course, we all used the Follett’s bookstore. We took advantage of the 48-cent east campus meal for lunch and Prens in the evening. Many of our classes were held in very old buildings (which are still there today), such as the chemisty and the math buildings—including the laboratories. All were near the Illini Union where you could study during free time and where Bette and I stay on our return visits. I certainly remember some of the final exams and the instructors such as Dr. Peyton in physics and his trick questions.
Tuition per semester was much less, as was room and board. Ten dollars a week covered additional living needs.
After leaving the University of Illinois in Champaign, in 1960, I obtained an MD degree at Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine. Following an internship at Cook County Hospital, I entered the United States Public Health Service program in Mt. Edgecumbe, Alaska, for two years. Then, I took a thoracic and cardiovascular surgical program at Hines V.A. Hospital and simultaneously obtained my master’s degree in physiology at the University of Illinois Medical School in Chicago. The Glen Ellyn Clinic and Bob McCray invited me to join them, where I developed a successful surgical practice in the western suburbs of Chicago.
In 1961, Bette Myers and I were married in Sitka, Alaska, while I served in the United States Public Health Service. After 51 years of marriage, we have six children and 18 wonderful grandchildren—all of whom are in good health and are looking forward to continued success.
These experiences gave us the opportunity to be involved in multiple community organizations, to become the president of the International College of Surgeons, and to travel around the world teaching, lecturing, and providing seminars on new health developments. In addition, multiple medical missions, clinics, and surgical operations were performed in these countries of lesser means.
Two of our children graduated from the University of Illinos—David from law school and Robert from medical school. People from around the world have become our close friends, as our enthusiasm for medicine and the outdoors has taken us to all the continents, except Antarctica (yet a goal).
Another opportunity for me was the honor of serving on the University of Illinois Alumni Board. I was always happy to sit at the University of Illinois Alumni Board meetings and to mention our children’s and our family’s involvement at the University which provided us the opportunity to become physicians—surgeons and cardiologist and a lawyer. We look forward to the University of Illinois graduation ceremonies as our grandchildren grow and attend. Thank you to the University of Illinois and staff for all your opportunities.
The views expressed in Storyography are not necessarily those of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences or the University of Illinois.