Alumni give to expand veterinary hospital where daughter is studying 

Many things have changed at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine between the time Myron Bradley '86, DVM ’90 and Ann Beaudin DVM '90 graduated and today, as their daughter, Grace Bradley, is entering her third year of studies at the college.

But one thing that remains the same is the physical structure of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, completed in 1987 when Myron Bradley and Beaudin were students at the veterinary school. 

That will begin changing before their daughter graduates with her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 2028. Expansion and renovation of the teaching hospital are set to begin in 2027.

Myron Bradley and Beaudin, retired after a 35-year career that included establishing and operating Antrim Veterinary Hospital in Taneytown, Maryland, are helping the expansion happen with a $200,000 gift, donated in monthly installments over the next five years.  

It’s the type of gift they hope to see other alumni, especially those now approaching or entering retirement, make to the veterinary college, which is still seeking $13 million in philanthropic funding to maximize the vision of the renovation.

“We see Grace down here and the things that the college is in need of,” Myron Bradley said. “We worked hard and we saved and we invested and we now are to the point where we are financially sound, largely because of what this school taught us. And we want to give back.” 

Equipping tomorrow’s veterinarians

The couple’s donation is more than about a building. It's also properly equipping the hospital.

While Grace Bradley was on duty, an ultrasound machine overheated and could not be used for a period of time — a known failure mode when a unit is older or run hard for long periods. That problem highlighted to her parents the need for upgraded equipment in the teaching hospital, as it not only affected her learning but patient care.

“If we can get the facilities there so that the students can have the experience they need, using equipment that is relevant to today’s practices, then they can come out and be better veterinarians down the road,” Beaudin said. “All the people our age who are thinking about retiring or getting close to it, they're going to need somebody to come in and take over.”

Grace Bradley’s plans in veterinary medicine are much different than following her parents’ lead in building and running a clinic. A student on the small animal track, her biggest veterinary aspiration is to become an emergency and critical care specialist because she loves the focused work helping the patients that have the greatest immediate needs. 

“I really just want to be a good doctor, one that is both knowledgeable and a good person,” she said. “That takes a lot of learning, and it takes good facilities and equipment to foster an environment where that is a reality.”

Her parents’ veterinary clinic was an early learning laboratory for Grace, who became a regular employee during her teen years.  

“She was always grabbing stethoscopes, and she wanted to know, ‘Why?'” her mother said. “A lot of kids come through the clinic and they say they want to be a vet, and you talk to them and basically, they just want to hold puppies and kittens and the good stuff. And she always wanted to know: ‘Well, why did you treat that dog this way? Why did you do that?'"

“That gets me in trouble sometimes,” Grace  Bradley said with a laugh, “especially during the years that I would work in my parents’ clinic. They have a lot of other things to do besides answer all of their daughter’s million questions. Medicine in general is very interesting to me, and my mom and dad and I also have always enjoyed puzzles, which is essentially what you're given when you handle any case because it's not like human medicine, where they can tell you exactly how they're feeling. You have to trust your diagnostic tests and your physical exams, piece it all together, and when something doesn't make sense, that's when you ask, what piece doesn't fit, and why.”

Choosing Virginia Tech

Before being accepted into the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, Myron Bradley earned a bachelor's degree in dairy science from Virginia Tech, while Beaudin graduated from Rutgers University with a bachelor's degree in animal science.

They met when they were assigned as lab partners in their first year of veterinary school. Myron Bradley’s parents needed summer help on their dairy farm, and Beaudin needed large animal experience, so she helped out on his parents’ farm for two summers. They began dating during the second summer.

Even though Grace Bradley expressed an interest in veterinary medicine from a very young age, it was important to her parents that their children choose their professions because it was what they wanted, not because it was expected. Her brother, Paul, an electrical engineer, chose a different career and college. 

Grace Bradley, after experiencing her first of many veterinary college Open House events in elementary school, became hooked on the idea of attending the veterinary college at Virginia Tech. She studied dairy science in Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences for two years before being accepted into the veterinary program, where she now volunteers for the Open House.

Their daughter’s entry into the veterinary college brought her parents back to something both familiar and wildly different than what they had experienced four decades ago.

“The facility overall is expanded, and it's got a lot more stuff, but the biggest thing for me is the classrooms,” Myron Bradley said. “Man, this is plush. We were in these individual plastic desks, and the lecturer stood on a platform that looked like somebody took some two-by-twelves and made a box for them to stand up on. Everything was on one level with hard seats. I guess that probably helped keep people from falling asleep.”

Beaudin recalls having to walk outside in rain and snow between different unfinished phases of the veterinary college that was still coming together less than a decade after the college’s first class entered in 1981.

“We came back to see movie theater seats and everything like that. We had no air conditioning,” Beaudin said. “It's totally different. I used to say, ‘Hey, we had to go through all that, and now these guys have movie theater seats, and they have a beautiful big commons area.’ Then, the more I thought about it, what do you raise your kids for? You raise them so that everything's better for them than what you had. And so, yeah, it's pretty amazing.”

From their four-decade association with the veterinary college spanning two generations comes the desire to make this place that has meant so much to their family even more amazing.

“I think letting people know about the expansion is important,” Beaudin said, noting other veterinary alums they have interacted with, although aware of the expansion, did not know the details of the timing for funding the project. “It’s important to let people know they don’t have to make a major gift; any amount helps. The monthly installments over five years allowed us to give much more than we originally planned.”

For more information on the Veterinary Teaching Hospital expansion and renovation, or to make a gift, please visit the expansion page.