McCook, Neb., residents Richard and Mary Lou Drake always encouraged their seven children to “aim for the top of the tree.”
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Richard and Mary Lou Drake are pictured with their seven children. |
The children heeded their parents’ advice and have continued to climb to life’s uppermost branches. Five of the Drake children – Cathy, Carol, Cindy, Casey and Mary Kay (Markie) – graduated with degrees from UNMC. The Drakes were recently honored as the second “legacy family” at UNMC.
A display detailing the Drake family and its service to UNMC is located in the Linder Lounge, just outside the entrance to the Leon S. McGoogan Library of Medicine at UNMC. Stuart Dayton, an assistant professor at the library, created the display.
“We are pleased to bestow the title of ‘legacy family’ on the Drake family,” UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer. “It is remarkable that so many children from the same family have graduated from UNMC and have gone on to such wonderful careers. They are to be commended.”
In high school, Cathy Drake, M.D., the oldest sibling, had initially thought of becoming a veterinarian. An eye-opening trip to the sale barn with her father, though, was enough to steer her in another direction. The sheer size of cows and the lack of an intelligent doctor/patient relationship modified her goals.
So she decided to go to medical school in 1976, and now practices in Albuquerque, N.M., where she is an emergency physician at Lovelace Medical Center.
Carol Drake, M.D. followed her sister to medical school in 1978. For the past 18 years, she has practiced comprehensive ophthalmology, including small-incision refractive cataract surgery. Over the past seven years, she has been on the cutting edge of rehabilitative vision surgery for children, implanting more than 40 intraocular lenses following cataract surgery.
“It is probably the most technically difficult procedure I do. It is also the most rewarding,” she said. “It is a great feeling to restore vision in a senior citizen, but the feeling is taken to another level when you restore vision in an infant because you know that what you have done will have a profound effect for an entire lifetime. It is a kind of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ experience.”
While her sisters were deciding to go to medical school, Cindy Drake, D.D.S., enrolled in the College of Dentistry in 1977. She was one of six women in her class, a record enrollment for female students in the college at that time.
“One of the memories I have from dental school is trying to get through the freshman year thinking that it would be the hardest, only to reach the sophomore year and find the upperclassmen telling us that no, the sophomore year is the worst. It was,” she said.
Currently, Dr. Cindy Drake works at the Douglas County Hospital Dental Clinic and at the One World Dental Clinic. Both clinics emphasize dental health care for low-income children.
In 1990, Casey Drake, M.D., enrolled in the College of Medicine. Like her sisters, Casey has vivid memories of her days at UNMC.
“We were scared to death of gross (anatomy) lab,” she said. “There was the smell of formaldehyde that permeated your body for the first year no matter how many times you showered. I think most people who have graduated from UNMC would agree that our professors during the first year of medical school are the most memorable.”
Since September 2002, Dr. Casey Drake has been the director of Pediatric Hospitalist Service at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Children’s Medical Center.
The youngest member of the Drake family, Markie Drake, M.D., started medical school at UNMC in 1995. Markie decided in her third year of college that she was interested in medicine as a career.
“I had been pursuing other interests such as chemical engineering and math, but they didn’t seem to click,” she said. “I think I had been avoiding medicine, as I just didn’t want to follow my sisters blindly. But I discovered that a career in medicine would incorporate the different aspects of science that I like in an interesting way.”
Dr. Markie Drake currently is in a diagnostic radiology residency program at UNMC
Two Drake siblings chose other career paths. Christy Drake is an assistant U.S. attorney in Texas, and James is a business executive with a Lincoln firm.
“All of our children are very smart, and they had the drive to utilize their intelligence,” Dick Drake said. “There are a lot of smart people in the world, but some don’t have the drive. Our kids were lucky enough to have both.”
Mary Lou Drake said the family always had a motto: “We cannot remain static in a dynamic society.”
“We usually quoted that motto when we were encouraging the children to meet new challenges each year,” she said. “We had the philosophy that we, as parents, needed to teach the kids how to work and they would learn how to play on their own. And they did.”
The Drakes participated in various activities throughout high school in McCook, including track, rodeo and basketball. Several have continued their interests in running, horses and swimming.
“They’ve all done really well,” Dick Drake said. “They have worked hard and are deserving of this recognition.”