Generosity and Gingersnaps
Story by Jennifer Gauntt, CVMBS Communications
For years, Betsy Overholser has been treating VMTH personnel with homemade baked goods; now she’s treating the hospital and the students who learn there through planned gifts.
Like the delicious gingersnaps she bakes, Betsy Overholser’s personality has some extra spice to it.
The wonderful blend of spicy and sweet is so predominant in Overholser (and her cookies), it inspired the Bryan, Texas, Blackwater Draw Brewing Company to name one of their craft beers after her; since then, the brewery has held several “Betsy’s Brew-ha-has” that bring Overholser’s closest friends to the establishment for an evening of laughter and “Dammit Betsy” chocolate coffee porters.
Among those attendees are faculty and staff members from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM) and the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital (VMTH).
That’s because Overholser, who lives three hours away, in Arlington, has a warm spot in her heart for the CVM and VMTH. And the feeling is mutual—practically everyone in the Small Animal Hospital (SAH) knows her name and looks forward to her visits, and not just because Overholser’s trips to College Station bring with her little bags of her homemade treats, delivered to her friends all around the VMTH as the doctors examine her pet.
The SAH has taken care of Overholser’s Shetland Sheepdog, Kate of Hepburn—named after the enigmatic actress—for the past seven years, and in return, Overholser is now taking care of the SAH and its people through the recent establishment of a scholarship for a veterinary student.
“Everyone goes out of their way here,” she said. “Lucy Wendt (a former SAH veterinary technician) made every person who walked into that clinic feel like they’re the only person on Earth. It’s awesome.”
A Special Place For Kate
When Overholser got Kate as a 14-week-old puppy, she immediately knew Kate was special.
“She’s from a litter of eight and has an identical twin; they were born in the same sack,” Overholser said. “She was so gorgeous and had such personality. I thought, she’s kind of like the movie star. She had a lot of snap.
“Kate is super smart and she’s biddable—she’s always worked to please me,” she said. “I had a little Cairn Terrier and a terrier’s disposition is, ‘You want me to do what? Didn’t we do that three weeks ago?’ But Kate said, ‘How many times do you want me to do it?’ Kate and I competed in agility for over 10 years, and she was unstoppable; it was all or nothing when we competed.”
In 2012, Overholser learned from her local veterinarian that Kate had fat deposits in her eyes. Ironically, Overholser had lost her Cairn Terrier to an eye issue and decided to bring Kate to Texas A&M.
Since then, the hospital has played a critical role in caring for Kate.
When she was diagnosed with protein loss enteropathy, an atypical manifestation of diseases that affect the gastrointestinal tract, and inflammatory bowel disease, it was the work of three SAH employees that ultimately saved her life—Dr. Greg Kuhlman, a veterinary specialist who now works in Albuquerque, discovered the disorder; Dr. Kelley Thieman Mankin, as assistant professor of soft tissue surgery, performed the laparoscope adrenal gland removal; and Dr. Amy Savarino, VMTH pharmacist, advised on the medications “that would make this all work.”
“Texas A&M saved Kate’s life, and I suspect there are very few other colleges in the nation with the same caliber of expertise we found here,” Overholser said. “Kelly Thieman really is one of the best in the nation.”
Kate has also been treated for cancer at the SAH—she’s been in remission for two years—and sees Dr. Lucien Vallone, a clinical assistant professor of ophthalmology, for eyesight loss associated with aging.
“My dog has better health care than I do,” Overholser joked.
Kate’s condition requires her to visit VMTH specialists regularly, so every three months, Overholser and Kate make the drive to the SAH.
“I love this place. Not just because of how they’ve cared for Kate but because of the people I met here,” she said. “This is like coming home for me. I can’t wait to get here every time we visit.”
The gingersnaps she bakes for those who work in the hospital led to the first “Betsy’s Brew-ha-ha.”
“I was sitting at Blackwater Draw, waiting for the hospital to call for me to get her—I didn’t even like beer—and I said, ‘I think I’ve got cookies that go with this coffee beer you’ve got,’” she said. “It’s because of that and all those thousands of cookies I made for the kids here. Now, it’s history.”
An Honorary Aggie
A signature beer was not the only thing that has come from Overholser’s many trips to College Station.
Though now an “honorary” Aggie, Overholser grew up all over the world as the child of a government employee.
“We moved 30 times, all over the country. My father’s job allowed us to stay as long as we wanted, wherever we were, so we traveled all over multiple states, and even Japan,” she said. “I went to elementary school in San Antonio, and we went to Alaska from San Antonio.”
She attended college at Stephens College in Missouri before completing her degree at the University of Alaska, earned her graduate degree at Texas Christian University, and did post-graduate work at the University of North Texas.
She went on to teach second through sixth grade for five years and then at a community college for 40. (It’s worth noting that five students from her first sixth-grade class traveled to Bryan to attend her last Brew-ha-ha in April).
But it was the connection to the veterinary students at the SAH that endeared Overholser to Texas A&M. Her loyalty can now be witnessed through the Aggie bandana Kate often dons, much to the chagrin of her TCU alumni friends.
“Nobody can believe it. I’m just an Aggie to the core. I see a car with an A&M sticker on it and I start honking and waving,” she said. “A friend said, ‘You’ve got to stop that. They may not know why you’re doing that.’ But I feel such a strong connection with this place— I can’t help myself. I’m maroon to the core!”
Her connection with the students—and with CVM development officers Chastity Carrigan, Dr. Bubba Woytek, and, formerly, Eliana Brown—is the reason she established the Betsy Overholser Endowed Scholarship, which will support a student pursuing a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree and has an interest in small animal orthopedics or cardiology.
Overholser also has provisions in her estate to support the CVM after her lifetime. Her wish is to augment the endowed scholarship she created and support the college’s Clinical Skills Laboratory, which better prepares students for their veterinary careers.
Overholser views her gifts as a form of repayment for all that the SAH has done to help heal Kate and as a tribute to the bright young people she met over the years.
“Part of the charm of the Small Animal Hospital is getting to know the students,” Overholser said. “When I come to town, I make a point to take a couple of the fourth-year students out to dinner to get to know them better and thank them for their hard work. Hearing their stories inspired me to start this scholarship and inspires me to do more.”
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Note: This story originally appeared in the Fall 2019 edition of CVMBS Today.
For more information about the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, please visit our website at vetmed.tamu.edu or join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Contact Information: Jennifer Gauntt, Director of CVMBS Communications, Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences; jgauntt@cvm.tamu.edu; 979-862-4216
