Jon and Dee Dee Stuart (left) and Dr. D. C. Smith (right) present the Dr.  D. C. Smith Endowed Scholarship to the first recipient, Michelle Sonnema, Class of 2011.

Honoring man’s best friend’s doctor

Jon and Dee Dee Stuart of Tulsa, Okla., wanted to do something special to honor their beloved veterinarian, Dr. D. C. Smith, OSU College of Veterinary Medicine Class of 1970.  Working with Senior Development Director Jeff Cathey, the Stuarts expressed an interest in doing something significant in Smith’s name that would have a long-term impact on the veterinary center.  They decided to establish an endowed scholarship for $25,000 in Smith’s name. 

“We wanted to do something that would show our appreciation for the veterinary care Dr. Smith has provided to our animals—our family—and somehow help future veterinarians,” explains Jon.  “We decided a scholarship to assist with educational expenses in Dr. Smith’s name would be a good idea.”

Jon is the chairman of the Board of Regents for the University of Oklahoma, appointed by Governor Brad Henry.  He and his wife have known Smith since the Stuarts moved to Tulsa 30 years ago.  Smith owns and operates Veterinary Associates, a small animal veterinary hospital in Tulsa, along with one partner and three associates.

Recently the Stuarts had the occasion to use the OSU veterinary center facilities when Smith referred their Bernese Mountain dog, Millie, to the small animal clinic.  Millie needed a triple pelvic osteotomy (TPO) on the left side and later a total hip replacement on her right side, which were both performed at the OSU veterinary hospital.

“Millie received excellent care,” reports Dee Dee.  “The veterinary students assigned to her case called me twice a day with updates on Millie’s progress and spent many hours working with her so she could walk again.  I can’t say enough about how much the veterinary students helped her to recover.”

The Stuarts are no strangers to the veterinary center.  While they haven’t needed veterinary medical services before, they have been supportive of OSU’s veterinary center. 

In the past they have donated $2,000 to the Brittany Fund, which was established by a grateful client to help defray the veterinary expenses of people who are truly indigent and do not have the financial means to provide for their pet in exceptional cases.  In addition, the Stuart Family Foundation gave $5,000 to support renovations in the Small Animal ICU. 

Now Jon and Dee Dee have established the Dr. D. C. Smith Endowed Scholarship.  The $1,000 scholarship was awarded for the first time in 2009 to a full-time veterinary student in good academic standing.  Michelle Sonnema, Class of 2011, was the recipient.

“I was pleasantly surprised to receive the scholarship,” says Sonnema with a  smile.  “It was wonderful to meet the Smiths and the Stuarts at the Awards Banquet and be able to thank them in person.”

“I was very appreciative when Jon told me they were going to do this,” says Smith.  “He is a kind man and the Stuarts are very philanthropic.  They were really impressed with the care Millie received and the caliber of the veterinary students.  It’s important to help these students ease their financial burden upon graduation and I’m glad to be a part of that process.” 

“We think veterinary medicine is a wonderful profession,” says Jon.  “It’s through the legacies created by the veterinary graduates who go forward from OSU’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences that animals and humans will benefit as these veterinarians work to improve healthcare for all creatures great and small.”

Thanks to many others like Jon and Dee Dee Stuart, who have created scholarships and/or made generous donations to OSU’s veterinary center, the center awarded more than $244,267 at its awards banquet and continually strives to obtain additional funds necessary to complete its Equine Critical Care Unit and the Veterinary Clinical Sciences Academic Center.

The Oklahoma State University Center for Veterinary Health Sciences is one of 28 veterinary colleges in the United States and is fully accredited by the Council on Education of the American Veterinary Medical Association.  The center’s Boren Veterinary Medial Teaching Hospital is open to the public and provides routine and specialized care for small and large animals.  It also offers 24-hour emergency care and is certified by the American Animal Hospital Association.  For more information, visit www.cvhs.okstate.edu or call (405) 744-7000.

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