Heritage Snapshot: Part 97

The property was once an orange grove owned by A.Z. Nicola, DDS. Some of it was purchased by Donovan Nelson, R.T. and his wife Carol (Dr. Nicola’s daughter) in 1953. Don built a triplex and duplex on the land (on Prospect Street) where he and his wife lived until August 1962, when they moved into a new, three-bedroom home Don built nearby on what is now Campus Street. They had four children. At the time, the Nelsons didn’t know that LLUMC would be built in what also was an orange grove across the street, starting two years later, in 1964. Don built the home himself over a period of three-and-a-half years while working full time as Chief X-ray technologist at the Loma Linda Sanitarium and Hospital on the hill (now Nichol Hall). In all, Don worked at LLUMC and its predecessor for 48 years, beginning as a radiologic technologist, in 1952. Starting in 1957, and for the next 13 years, he was chief X-ray technologist. He helped design the Department of Radiology in the new Medical Center. In 1970, Don became the senior service engineer for the department of radiation science at LLUMC. While in this position, he became known for his charitable work overseas as he volunteered to restore and install donated X-ray equipment in Seventh-day Adventist hospitals and mission outposts around the world, often on his vacation time. By the time Don retired in June 2000, he had worked in 35 institutions in Africa, Madagascar, Central and South America, Indonesia, Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, and Nepal. When Loma Linda University bought the property around 1978, the Nelson home became the “Parent Child Education Center,” which the Nelsons say it always was. The Carrol Small home next door, on the corner of Prospect and (now Campus) Street, was built in 1955. Carrol S. Small, MD, went from being the “runt” of his high school class to becoming one of the Giants of Loma Linda. He came to town with an excellent scholastic record thinking he was a "hot shot," soon realized there were other people smarter than he, studied hard, and eventually earned the highest score in the nation on National Board examinations. The School of Medicine Alumni Association named its Alumni Center in his honor. He chaired the Department of Pathology for 21 years. He became president of the San Bernardino County Medical Society, president of the School of Medicine Alumni Association for two years, and editor of the Alumni Journal for nine years. He spent six years on the institution’s Board of Trustees and became a missionary in India for almost seven years. Dr. Small was a gentleman, a Christian educator, and a man of conviction. His sense of right and wrong developed at an early age, no doubt something he learned by observing his parents. They were strictly honest. “I had the best of examples,” he said, “however poorly I may have emulated it once in awhile.” When Carrol arrived in Loma Linda it had a population of about 1,000. Nothing existed south of Barton Road but orange groves and one or two homes. The town had a scattering of two-bedroom homes here and there. “You could buy one for $2,500,” he said. Small’s parents rented a house on Ohio Street for $15 a month. He walked to and from classes across the San Timoteo Creek and the institution’s alfalfa fields. "My first impressions of California, of course, were wonderful," Dr. Small reminisced, “…all those palm trees, the beautiful sunshine, the heat, the opportunity to go to Medical School, which was my dearest dream." Carrol took Part 1 of the National Board Examinations at the end of his third year. "I really studied for that," he said. The examination was all essay. He took approximately three hours to answer eight of the ten questions in a blue book. "I took pains to have good subject headings, good paragraph marks, good punctuation, good spelling, and legibility. I'm sure that helped a great deal." Of 700 medical students taking the examination that year, Carrol received the highest score in the nation. Loma Linda students have had a reputation for excellence in National Boards and over the years it has not been uncommon to be represented somewhere in the top ten. Quite a few alumni earned first or second place. Carrol Small graduated from the Loma Linda College of Medical Evangelists in June 1933, in the Outdoor Amphitheater on the north slope of the Hill almost two years before CME built an acoustical shell and orchestra pit and renamed it the Loma Linda Bowl. The Smalls had two children. As chair of the Department of Pathology, Dr. Small shared his faith with medical students on the first day of the course. He quoted Jesus in the Gospel of John saying, "Without Me, you can do nothing," and "With God all things are possible." He quoted the Apostle Paul saying, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." In 2009 a donation from the Department of Pathology of Loma Linda University School of Medicine named the 250-seat amphitheater in the new Centennial Complex the Carrol S. Small Amphitheater.