Dem
51
Ties
1
GOP
48
We try very hard, with these two features, to make sure they have something of a connection to politics. That's a little less obvious with this particular story, but it's very good, so we're running with it.
Westel Creager was born to a blue-collar Kentucky family in 1929, and when he reached maturity, he did what folks in his world did back then, and pursued a blue-collar life. He learned to be a master carpenter, and that is how he supported himself and his family until he was in his mid-30s. At that point, he decided on a career change, one that was nearly unheard of back then, and is still pretty unusual today: He wanted to be a physician. So, he enrolled at the University of Kentucky, and then applied for and was admitted to that institution's medical school. Creager was the oldest person in his med school class, but he made it, and got his white coat (the customary ritual at med school graduations) in 1970 at the age of 41.
Despite the late start, Creager had an extraordinary medical career. He regularly traveled to Mexico to treat patients who could not afford medical care, and he also started a hospital there for AIDS patients. His career in the U.S. involved working emergency rooms, largely in low-income areas. He remained in practice for close to 40 years, finally hanging up the white coat in his late 70s.
Earlier this summer, close to 20 years after concluding his career, Creager got to re-visit his past one last time. He was at the University of Kentucky medical school graduation, dressed appropriately in his white coat... so that he could celebrate the graduation of the newly-white-coated Dr. Haiden Hauret. That's not random. Hauret is Creager's great-granddaughter, and she took the same degree from the same school as her great-grandfather did nearly 6 decades ago. Here are the photos of the day that went viral:
There's also an Instagram post, which you can view here, if you wish.
That's a heckuva story. And if you would really like a political angle here, we will give you one, free of charge. Over the past 75 years, the government has invested substantially in advanced education for people previously not considered worthy of that opportunity. In the years after World War II, it was blue-collar workers like Westel Creager. Starting in the 1970s, it was minority students, and also women, like Haiden Hauret. The U.S. reaped great dividends from those investments; study after study has shown that for every $1 the government invests in education, it gets between $2 and $10 back in tax revenues and other economic benefits. The country is now under the leadership of a very anti-education administration; the story of Creager and Hauret is a small reminder of how short-sighted that policy is.
Have a good weekend, all! (Z)