JUNE 13, 2003 | A young Dorothy Reese dreamed of attending the University of Arkansas College of Medicine and becoming a physician. But times were difficult in Fort Smith, where she grew up, and financial circumstances prevented her from realizing the dream. Instead she married Paul Pelko and settled into life in southern California.

Mrs. Pelko never forgot her dream, and now, almost 60 years after moving away, she is supporting medical education in her home state by including the College of Medicine of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences among her beneficiaries. The late Mrs. Pelko of Anaheim, California, bequeathed approximately $300,000 to the UAMS College of Medicine. She died March 12.

In a letter to then College of Medicine Dean I. Dodd Wilson, M.D., a few months after the death of her husband in 1996, Mrs. Pelko spelled out her intentions for the bequest. She specified that one-third of the gift go to endowments for scholarships for medical students, and the other two-thirds go to research in aging and Alzheimer’s disease.

The Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatrics received approximately $200,000 from the Pelko estate. Her gift triggered a matching grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, enabling the department to establish an endowed research fund in her name.

The college used the balance of the gift to establish the Paul and Dorothy Reese Pelko Endowed Scholarship.

Dean E. Albert Reece, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., of the College of Medicine commented, “Through this magnificent gift, Dorothy Reese Pelko will carry on forever the work she dreamed of performing as a young girl. We are all touched by this kind woman’s generosity.”