Huckabay-Ramsey-Watts Endowed Scholarship in Medicine
EST. 2011
Please address your letter to:
The Huckabay Family and Drs. Bonnie and Paul Ramsey
The Huckabay-Ramsey-Watts Endowed Scholarship in Medicine is the result of a shared passion for supporting medical students and a strong belief in the University of Washington School of Medicine. Susan Stark Huckabay and her family have long been staunch supporters of medical scholarships and the UW School of Medicine. Dr. Paul Ramsey, the current dean of the School of Medicine, and his wife Dr. Bonnie Ramsey have also expressed their commitment to and confidence in the medical degree program by actively championing the needs of medical students and contributing generously to scholarship endowments.
The Huckabay-Ramsey-Watts Endowed Scholarship in Medicine is a tribute to the two families’ shared interest in supporting medical students.
Through their generosity and long-standing commitment, the Huckabay family is considered the UW School of Medicine’s first family of scholarship support. Durward and Susan Huckabay made their first gift to support scholarships in 1995; to date, more than 350 medical students have received assistance from the Durward A. Huckabay, M.D. Endowed Fund. The Huckabays also established the Huckabay Family Endowed Fund for Medical Education which provides general support to the UW School of Medicine.
The Durward A. Huckabay, M.D. Endowed Fund was created by Durward and Susan Huckabay in honor of Durward (Huck) Huckabay’s father, the late Durward A. Huckabay, M.D., who continues to inspire their giving to medical scholarships today.
Durward A. Huckabay, M.D., was born in Gladewater, Texas, on January 15, 1902, and died in Seattle, Washington, on June 15, 1955. At the age of fourteen, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served almost four years, the majority in the Atlantic Fleet stationed at Murmansk, Russia. After returning from World War I, he enrolled in high school and premed courses at Centenary College in Louisiana. Completing these requirements in a year and a half, he entered Tulane University’s School of Medicine in 1919.
Durward A. Huckabay married Margaret Eleanor Richey on April 13, 1922. While working and finishing medical school, he also assumed responsibility for his two brothers and two sisters when his parents died. After graduation from Tulane, Dr. Huckabay served his internship at the Charity Hospital of New Orleans. He began his medical practice in Louisiana taking care of plantation workers, traveling primarily on horseback. Three years later, he moved to Shreveport where he practiced general medicine with emphasis on abdominal surgery. He kept up his surgical skills by attending sessions at the Mayo Clinic.
In 1942, the Huckabay family moved to Seattle and Dr. Huckabay became associated with the Polyclinic, where he continued to practice until his death in 1955. Durward and Margaret Huckabay had four sons and two daughters, three of whom graduated from the University of Washington: Ula Lee (drama), George E. Huckabay (civil engineering) and Durward A. Huckabay (zoology).
