Adrienne and Donald R. Theophilus, Jr. Endowed Scholarship
EST. 2017
Please address your letter to:
Don Theophilus
The Theophilus family has been dedicated to education in the WWAMI region for three generations. In creating this scholarship fund, Don Theophilus III (Adrienne and Don Jr.’s son) recognizes his parents’ achievements while supporting medical education in the state of Alaska.
Early Years in Idaho
Don Theophilus, Sr. (the patriarch of the family and Don Jr.’s father) was dean of the College of Agriculture at the University of Idaho, then university president from 1954 to 1965. Upon his retirement, then-governor of Idaho, Robert Smylie, said, “No one in Idaho’s history has been able to do so much for so many for so long.” The university named a residence hall in his honor that still houses undergraduates today.
The other side of the family, the Georges, also had deep roots in Idaho. Adrienne’s father, John B. George (Georgieff prior to Anglicization at Ellis Island), had emigrated from Greek Macedonia and arrived in the U.S. when he was 14. As the only English speaker in a group of older relatives, he emerged as a leader and made his way west, ultimately finding success in the mining industry in Kellogg, Idaho.
Adrienne and Don Jr.
Adrienne and Don Jr. met as undergraduates at the University of Idaho, and it was as an undergraduate that Don received his first, unforgettable taste of life in Alaska: he spent a summer working for the U.S. Forest Service on the Kenai Peninsula. The couple graduated in 1953 — Adrienne, an English major with a French minor, loved reading and writing and was unbeatable at word games; Don Jr. received a degree in history.
After graduating, Don Jr. entered the Air Force and was stationed in Nagoya, Japan, for two years. Don and Adrienne were one of the few military couples who lived off base; it was an exciting time for the two young people. Adrienne had especially fond memories of these years and revisited Japan several times.
From Harvard to Alaska
After Don Jr.’s stint in the Air Force, the couple travelled to the East Coast so that Don Jr. could attend Harvard Business School. Fortunately, there were friendly faces there to welcome them. Adrienne’s twin sister, Peggy, was in Boston; her husband was also attending the business school.
Adrienne and Don Jr. then spent a few years following up on interesting opportunities. First, they moved to New York, where Don Jr. worked for American Airlines and Adrienne worked for the Ford Foundation. A couple of years later, they returned to Harvard. Don Jr. had taken a position in the dean’s office at the business school, while Adrienne became an administrative assistant in the economics department, working with faculty such as John Kenneth Galbraith. Shortly after, they moved to the Midwest so that Don Jr. could earn a Ph.D. in higher education administration from the University of Michigan.
Then the family — which now included their children, Crista and Don III — moved about as far west as it’s possible to go. After a brief stop in Seattle, during which Don Jr. was a faculty member at the University of Washington, the family moved to Alaska on Christmas Eve, 1968.
Moose and Memories
Don III vividly remembers arriving in Fairbanks the night before Christmas. It was already pitch dark in the afternoon and bitterly cold, but the University of Alaska had decorated their new, campus-based home with holiday lights and put up a big Christmas tree.
It was a good way to welcome not only the kids, but also Don Jr., who’d been hired to serve as the university’s vice president of academic affairs. The family were also welcomed by some other locals. One of Don III’s favorite memories is waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of his father yelling at the moose eating shrubs in the yard.
The Theophilus family homesteaded five acres right outside of Denali National Park under the Homestead Act of 1862. This suited Don Jr. very well. A lifelong outdoorsman, Don Jr. loved hiking and looked for any excuse to be outdoors. He was an avid big-game hunter and lifetime Sierra Club member, and his best friend was a wildlife game biologist.
WWAMI Enters the Picture
While Don Jr. was working as the VP for academic affairs, the University of Alaska became part of the five-state WWAMI medical education collaborative, organized by the UW School of Medicine. This collaboration meant a lot to the university, opening up opportunities for young Alaskans. As Don III was growing up, WWAMI became a familiar refrain, as some of his older friends were considering careers in medicine.
Approximately 30 years later, Don III — Don Theophilus III, a lawyer by training and an experienced fundraiser — became the chief advancement officer of UW Medicine, the umbrella organization that founded WWAMI. And in 2018, Don III decided to create a permanent scholarship for Alaska WWAMI students as a way to honor his parents.
The Family
Don Jr., retired at the age of 48 from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1983 at the age of 51 — shortly after he and Adrienne had moved back to Seattle.
In the meantime, Adrienne had become the administrative assistant for Earnest “Chappie” Conrad, M.D., in the Department of Orthopaedics. She thoroughly enjoyed her work and retired from the organization in the 1980s.
Don Theophilus III, the founder of this endowment, has very fond memories of growing up in Fairbanks on the University of Alaska campus. He credits his parents and the other interesting people he met during his youth for his lifelong curiosity, a love of nature and his ability to relate to people from all walks of life.
Don III also credits his parents — and his grandparents — for the knowledge that educational opportunities make a huge difference in the lives of young people, and that commitment to the public good can form the basis of a fulfilling career. It’s his hope that the people who receive the Adrienne and Donald R. Theophilus, Jr., Endowed Scholarship will share these values of access, inclusion and service.
