Memphis surgeon and his sister hope contributions will be game-changer for students and families

Dr. David LaVelle and his wife Jenny were honored with a Shining Light Award for their service and generosity.

Janel Shoun-Smith | 615.966.7078 | 02/18/2022

Dr. David LaVelle and his sister, Soozie Lowry (’79), want to encourage all young students to go above and beyond.

In fact, his approach to life—to dream big, take advantage of opportunities and give back—is a family tradition, dating back to his grandfather, Herman LaVelle Sr., who despite a lack of formal education had big dreams for his children and grandchildren.

His son, Herman LaVelle Jr., followed suit, dreaming big and taking advantage of opportunities, namely the G.I Bill, to become an Ear, Nose and Throat surgeon in Memphis. The striving and dreaming of Herman Jr. to become a doctor was a game-changer for the LaVelle family, said his son Dr. David LaVelle.

Every generation of the family since has achieved at least a bachelor’s if not a master’s or doctorate degree, some in science and some in the arts.

So today, LaVelle, a retired orthopedic surgeon who practiced in Memphis, is practicing the third leg of his family’s philosophy: to give back.

To encourage all students, no matter their obstacles, to go above and beyond in their careers, LaVelle has funded the LaVelle Scholars program at the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. The purpose of the LaVelle Scholars program is to assist qualified pre-health professions students who demonstrate financial need to pay application and testing expenses associated with gaining admission to health professions schools. Student awards are funded by the Herman G. LaVelle Jr. MD Health Professions Student Assistance Funds. Selections are made by Lipscomb’s Health Professions Advisory Committee.

In the 2021-22 school year, the LaVelle Scholars program has benefitted 10 students, who have been able to take the course for free. That would normally be a $750 cost to students.

Because of this gift as well as the LaVelles’ other activities to assist Lipscomb students in their education and their service in the community of Memphis, Lipscomb University’s new President Dr. Candice McQueen awarded David and his wife Jenny the 2022 Shining Light Award at a Lipscomb alumni event in Memphis this past week.

Counting all students, even those who may have transferred away from Lipscomb before graduating, the university provides a foundational education for about 40 students a year who go on to attend medical school, said Dr. Kent Gallaher, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Science.

The new LaVelle program is designed to help alleviate one of those obstacles for students with big dreams and excellent academic records but real-world obstacles: the expense of preparing for the Princeton Review MCAT (Medical College Admission Test).

Without a negotiated partnership between Lipscomb and Princeton Review and contributor funds from the J.S. Ward Society, the cost of the course for each student would be $2,500. These two initiatives by the liberal arts college reduced the cost to $750 per student, but the LaVelle Scholars program eliminates the cost for students in financial need who demonstrate the great promise.

“The purpose of the fund is to be that lift to make it easier for them to work hard and be successful. That’s what this is all about,” said LaVelle. “I would love to someday hear about a student who worked hard, did well on their MCAT, did well in their studies and became the first generation in their family to get into medical school.

“Dad was the first LaVelle to go to college, and every LaVelle after him not only went to college but most also got at least a master’s degree. In one generation he changed the trajectory of our family,” he said.

LaVelle cherishes his family history all the way back to the island off the coast of Ireland where his ancestors dwelled before coming to the United States. The following generations were tradespeople and farmers, he said.

His grandfather, Herman Sr., was a streetcar operator and later a bus driver in Memphis. He never went to school but learned to read by reading the Bible. 

“He always wanted my father to be a doctor,” said David LaVelle. “It was a crazy, unbelievable, unreachable goal. But my grandfather thought a doctor was the highest form of life on earth, and that is what he wanted for my father.”

The late Herman Jr. graduated high school in 1944 and was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he served as an X-ray technician in the Philippines. When he returned to the U.S., he found himself with an incredible opportunity: paid college tuition through the G.I. Bill. He ended up in medical school at the University of Memphis.

“He felt incredibly blessed for that opportunity. He was so appreciative to the UT system, because he never felt like he belonged. Many students had better families and education, so he felt very honored and humbled by that opportunity,” said David Lavelle.

Throughout his practice in Memphis, Herman Jr. was buying farmland in Fayette County in West Tennessee. Today, the sale of the 1,400 acres he accumulated is what fuels the family’s generosity, including David and Soozie’s latest gift to Lipscomb. 

Lavelle has not been a stranger on the Lipscomb campus through the years. In 2017, he volunteered to demonstrate a knee replacement surgery on a cadaver in front of a packed student crowd in Ward Hall (Last year he had that same surgery himself!). 

He has also been a guest speaker in Lipscomb’s class designated for pre-med students and in the biology program, and is now a volunteer mentor in the college’s Bison Docs program, a program designed to address the second obstacle many first generation pre-med students face: lack of a role model in the medical field. Bison Docs teams up medical professionals with Lipscomb pre-med students to serve as mentors. 

During his career, LaVelle joined the Campbell Clinic staff in January 1985 and was also affiliated with Baptist Memorial Hospital and Methodist LeBonheur in Memphis. He was an associate professor in the department of orthopedic surgery at the University of Tennessee, and served as Lipscomb’s J.S. Ward Society physician-in-residence for a time.

LaVelle and Jenny had three children, two of which attended Lipscomb University: Dan (’09, MS ’12), who became a mental health therapist and is married to Leslie (’09, MBA ’18); and Liz, who was killed in a tragic car accident in 2010 after her freshman year.