Commencement speaker: Embrace the unexpected

CSC President Dr. Janie Park on Saturday presented the DA to Leanna Scott-Timperley, an oncologist and hematologist who earned degrees from CSC in 1974 and 1976. The award was presented during CSC's undergraduate commencement ceremony in which Scott-Timperley served as the keynote speaker.

Scott-Timperley is president of the New Mexico Cancer Center Associates, a group of seven medical oncologists and hematologists. She treats malignancies and benign and malignant blood disorders. She also served as medical director for the Cancer Institute of New Mexico's board of directors. The institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing assistance to patients who can't afford certain aspects of treatment.

Scott-Timperley noted that the route to her current position in life has not been direct.

"As a high school senior I approached one of my teachers and asked for a recommendation for a scholarship to attend Chadron State College," she said. "She informed me that she would not write the letter, because I wouldn't even graduate. It's just possible that she knew something my parents had known for years. If you want me to do something, just tell me I can't."

Of course, the Hay Springs native attended CSC and graduated with a degree in earth science in 1974. During her studies, she had dreams of earning vast riches working in the oil fields. However, following graduation, she followed her husband, Dale, who was setting out on a career as a teacher and coach.

"The only oil I saw was when I took the car to the garage for an oil change," she said.

A year later, the two returned to Chadron where Dale entered the master's degree program and Leanna obtained teaching certification. With their new degrees in hand, the two landed jobs in Hastings.

Despite teaching stints at O'Neill St. Mary's High School, Hastings St. Cecilia High School and Hastings College, Leanna soon discovered that teaching wasn't for her. She instead became attracted to a career as a physician's assistant after meeting one who served on her school's board of education. With the education she obtained at CSC, she applied and was accepted to PA school at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. After working as a psychiatric PA at Hastings Regional Medical Center, she decided to advance her career again. She began medical school at same time the couple's daughter, Corey, was entering kindergarten. she graduated UNMC with an M.D. four years later. She practiced in North Platte before moving to New Mexico.

"It's important to follow your dreams, regardless of your age, regardless of your circumstances, you have to achieve your goals," she told the graduates. "If you want something bad enough, work for it. Work to make it happen, but don't expect it to take a short time."

Scott-Timperley got the itch to advance her career once again and decided to pursue a career in oncology and hematology in her late 30s. Despite her desire to help patients with tumors and blood disorders, six more years of study seemed like an incredible challenge.

"I lamented that fact that it would take so much time. I told my friend that I'd be 45 when I was done. Her question to me was, 'So, how old will you be if you don't do it?'"

In addition to the crediting the patience and cooperation of her husband and daughter, Scott-Timperley said her parents were critical to laying the foundation of her success.

She said her father, who dropped out of high school but later earned General Educational Development certification, was one of the smartest people she's ever met.

"He could catch a fish when the guy standing next to him couldn't. He was a farmer, rancher, a steward of the land. He was an environmentalist before it was vogue to be an environmentalist. He was a hunter, a rock hound, a lapidarian. He taught me right from wrong. He reminded me that I'm no one any better than anyone else, but that no one else is better than me. He taught me that I should treat the man who lived under the bridge the same as I would treat the president of the United States."

She also gave credit to her mother who started college at the same time she did.

"The hardest classes I ever took were the ones with her," she said. "I worked like a dog and still could not beat her in a test."

She encouraged the graduates to not let others define their path to success.

"Everything you need to succeed is in your possession right here and right now."

She gave credit to CSC for building on the foundation set by her family.

"It was the education I received at CSC that further enabled me to build upward," she said. "It is a firm foundation, and one that you all now know."

She also told the story of Pearl Fryer of Bishopville, S.C. The son of a sharecropper, Fryer has overcome much discouragement in his life to earn national and international acclaim for the topiary gardens he's begun and nurtured. He started the gardens with plants discarded from a local greenhouse.

She also recounted a long list of experiences with her patients that have given her inspiration.

"Every day when I get to go to work I have the opportunity to observe success. Not mine, but the people that I have the people I have the privilege of working with," she said.

Similar to Scott-Timperley's life, her trip to Saturday's ceremony had many twists and turns. The airplane she and her husband were riding could not land in Chadron on Friday because of high winds. After detours to Williston, N.D., and back to Denver, she landed in Scottsbluff Friday evening and traveled to Chadron by rental car.

The college had scheduled to give the DA to the doctor during a surprise dinner in her honor Friday, but was forced to postpone the presentation until Saturday's ceremony.