Heritage Snapshot: Part 122

In the meantime, the huge Los Angeles County General Hospital, a landmark dedicated in 1934 with 76 standard wards on its acute unit alone, had become The College of Medical Evangelist’s “third campus.” Student physicians spent their junior year there and student nurses spent a part of their senior year there. In 1957, CME had almost 50 paid employees working at “The County,” just as busy as any working on the other two campuses. In Dr. Walter E. Macpherson’s opinion, the relationship CME had with USC was positively the best. “There were many other two schools in close physical proximity to each other who didn’t get along. They had problems. Who’s territory is this? They were sort of in conflict with each other… “The Dean of the [USC] School of Medicine became one of my best, personal friends” reported Dr. Macpherson. “We used to sit down together and…discuss the problems of each of us separately, as well as together…. We used to travel together. He didn’t like to fly, and I liked trains. And so we’d…travel together. We’d stay in hotels together. We’d eat together. We were good friends. “…we had separate faculties, but we had medical students all over the place. And a CME medical student was welcome to any lecture that USC had and vice versa. There was good cooperation. There wasn’t any hard wall between us. “Then [in 1962] we decided to move, to go to Loma Linda, to close up. Some of my good friends on the USC faculty told me personally that they hated to see us go. They liked—this may sound funny—but they liked the competition between the two schools. They thought it was good, and I guess, so did we. That was good for both of us. We liked the competition. They liked the friendships. We knew each other. We were on county medical committees, and Los Angeles County Hospital committees, and meetings with the Board of Supervisors…. We were together. We weren’t apart. And so, here were two medical schools closely associated physically and getting along wonderfully well, and I think we did a better job of that than any other two medical schools in these United States.” Dr. Helen Martin confirmed Dr. Macpherson’s perspective in her official History of the Los Angeles County Hospital: “It is noteworthy that the Schools of Medicine of the University of Southern California and the College of Medical Evangelists functioned throughout their years of association without major controversy. This was particularly true during the period when Drs. Raulston (USC) and Macpherson (CME) were associated as [representatives] of their respective schools. “Drs. Raulston and Macpherson were real gentlemen, in the finest tradition of the word. This quality did much to prevent the fighting and feuding which has occurred at many county hospitals shared by several medical schools, where frank hostility, aggressive competition, or cold separateness have developed.” During his first term as president of CME, Dr. Macpherson initiated the requirement that all medical students take the exams of the National Board of Medical Examiners. He also spent much time rebuilding the faculty after the war and expanding the College’s research program (including the establishment of the School of Tropical and Preventive Medicine, the predecessor of the School of Public Health). During his second term as president, the College of Medical Evangelists organized its School of Dentistry and School of Graduate Studies, both of which helped the College of Medical Evangelists eventually evolve into Loma Linda University. Dr. Macpherson became an active member of over 20 medical, scientific, and civic associations, boards, and commissions, consultant on the editorial staffs of three medical publications, and a frequent contributor to the scientific literature. Dr. Macpherson also served as President of the School of Medicine Alumni Association in 1931 and ’32 and again in 1938 and ’39. As President he discovered that the Association was not incorporated and could not legally transact business. Under his leadership, the Alumni Association was incorporated in 1932. On Oct. 3, 1948, during the Twentieth Annual Alumni Banquet of the School of Medicine, Jerry L. Pettis, the General Manager of the Alumni Association, proclaimed that Walter E. Macpherson was the Alumnus-of-the-Year. “I consider it a high privilege tonight to announce the nomination of the Alumnus of the Year 1948…. It is not an easy task to select one alumnus above another for this honor. To some, scientific and professional accomplishment is life’s goal; and then there are those who place the chief emphasis on unselfish service for humanity. To these characteristics must be added spirituality. No doubt some consideration should be given to one who has sacrificed the most and served the greatest number… “The Alumnus of the Year 1948 is a man who, to the best of his ability, has done a most difficult job in an even more impossible time; and no one can say that any living alumnus has done more for his alma mater. No one can deny his qualifications as a teacher and a medical counselor. Many of his friends have regretted the fact that his didactic ability has not been utilized to the full. More than once he has confided to administrative associates and other close friends his desire to devote himself fully and without reservation to the teaching of medicine…. “The Alumnus of the Year 1948 has shown many qualities of true greatness. Therefore, the Board of Directors of the Alumni Association takes great pleasure in announcing that this year’s award goes to Dr. Walter E. Macpherson, vice-president of the College of Medical Evangelists and chairman of the Section on Medicine. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present a true Christian gentleman—your friend and mine—Walt Macpherson of the class of 1924.” Almost 700 alumni and guests in the ballroom of the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles spontaneously rose to their feet and honored Dr. Macpherson with a prolonged standing ovation.