Distinguished Alumni Award 

Veterinarian and equestrienne Dr. Nellie K. Owen has been named State Fair Community College’s 2007-2008 Distinguished Alumna.

Owen, a 1991 graduate of SFCC, received the award Friday night at the college’s 39th annual commencement ceremony in the Fred E. Davis Multipurpose Center on campus.

Owen, 53, of Centralia, is senior research technician/clinical trials coordinator at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery in Columbia, where she does cancer research.

“When they called me at work to tell me I had won, it was quite shocking,” she said. “As I was saying thank you…thank you…they asked, ‘Would you give the commencement speech?’ There was this long pause, and I thought, ‘I can’t turn them down; Ron Wineinger was my speech teacher!’ My next thought was, ‘Oh, man, I’ve got to wash this wheelchair!’” 

Ron Wineinger, retired SFCC instructor and treasurer of the SFCC Board of Trustees, nominated Owen.

“In the spring of 1989, Nellie enrolled at SFCC,” said Wineinger. “Not only was she a nontraditional student; but also, she was paralyzed from the waist down due to an automobile accident. However, she refused to let her disability affect her.

“While here, she was actively involved in theater and proved to be a huge motivator for all students. Among her many honors were ‘Outstanding Student in Arts and Sciences’ and ‘Most Outstanding Student in Theater.’ She graduated with an Associate of Arts degree with a major in biology.”

Wineinger said the University of Missouri-Columbia offered Owen a scholarship, which she accepted since her goal was to become a veterinarian.

“Never mind that in the entire history of MU’s veterinary school no one in a wheelchair had ever been admitted,” he said. “Her motto was, ‘If you let a disability get you down, you don’t get back up.’ Despite all of the odds against her, she proceeded with her plan. She became the first person with such a disability to be admitted. Upon completion of the program, she became only the second person in the United States to graduate from a veterinary school with such a disability.”

Veterinarian Dr. Clark Fobian, Thompson Hills Animal Clinic, said he first met Owen more than 15 years ago when she brought her pets to his clinic. She first volunteered, then worked at the clinic.

“From the start it was obvious that Nellie had a sharp mind and a way with animals,” he said. “Nellie has always accepted nothing less than full and active involvement in all aspects of her life. Most recently she has garnered national recognition as an equestrian, but more importantly, recognition as a mentor to young people in helping them enjoy … an intimate equine experience.

“The determination exhibited by Dr. Nellie Owen and her intense desire to improve the lives of others makes her an optimal candidate for this prestigious award.”

Owen attributes much of her success to Fobian.

“If you have just one person who believes in your capabilities, it’s enough,” she said. “He believed in me. When he asked me what I wanted to do with my life, I said, ‘What you do.’ He just looked at me and asked, ‘Then why don’t you do it?’ I told him everybody was discouraging me because I sat in a wheelchair. He said, ‘I get paid for what I know up here (pointing to his head), not for what I physically do. I have technicians who can do that.’ The longer I worked there, the surer I was I wanted to go to vet school.”

Owen graduated from Kickapoo High School in Springfield in 1972. She had planned a career training and raising quarter horses until she was thrown from a vehicle in a car accident and became a paraplegic. She spent months in the hospital and much of the next decade bedridden or undergoing more surgeries.

In 1989—17 years after graduating and 12 year after the accident—Owen enrolled at SFCC. She was a member of Phi Theta Kappa academic honor society, worked with the Student Government Association, was named SFCC’s 1990-91 Outstanding Student, and won an award for sound effects she created for a play. In 1991 she received an Associate of Arts degree.

She majored in biology at UMC, where she helped found a nontraditional student organization and was elected vice president of the Pre-Vet Club. In May 1994—at age 39—she was accepted into UMC’s College of Veterinary Medicine, one of only 64 students accepted that year.

In 1996, she was in another car accident. She broke her neck, and lost the use of her right arm, only regaining its use after corrective cervical spine surgery. Determined to overcome the new health obstacles, she graduated with her class, earning her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 1998.

Prior to her current job, she worked as a senior research scientist at ABC Laboratory in Columbia for a year, and from 1999 to 2003 she was senior research specialist for the UMC School of Medicine Radiopharmaceutical Sciences Institute.

She also worked part-time as a necropsy technician in the Research Animal Diagnostic and Investigative Laboratory at UMC and as an intensive care technician at the UMC College of Veterinary Medicine.

In 2002, Owen realized another dream: for the first time in 25 years, she rode a horse at the Cedar Creek Therapeutic Riding Center in Columbia. By 2003 she had become an independent rider, and competed at the American Royal in 2004 and 2005.

“I was diagnosed with bladder cancer and kidney stones in November 2005,” she said. “They did a procedure to scrape the inside of my bladder, and seven days later I was riding in the Royal,” she said. “That was the stupidest thing I could have done. After I healed, they removed the kidney stones, and in January 2006 removed the bladder.”

Owen refused to give up riding. In 2006 she won the United Professional Horseman’s Association Exceptional Challenge Cup in national competition, and in 2007 she was named Independent Adult Equestrian of the Year at the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association’s annual conference.

Retired faculty member Joe Horacek was a counselor when Owen first came in to enroll at SFCC, and recognized her strength even then.

“She was a nontraditional student with a serious physical disability,” he said. “Not only did she need to pick out classes, but also to find housing accommodations suitable for wheelchair use.

“Nellie may have been physically challenged, but she was strong in mind and spirit. Her achievements at SFCC and MU were extraordinary—legendary may not be too strong an adjective.

“Nellie is an inspiration to all—of not letting barriers spoil our dreams. SFCC is blessed to have her as an alumna.”

Owen’s advice for SFCC graduates comes from her favorite book, “The Four Agreements,” by don Miguel Ruiz.

“They’re very simple, and I really believe in them,” she said. “They are, ‘Be impeccable with your word, don’t take anything personally, don’t make assumptions, and always do your best.’ The other things I believe in are also simple, but crucial: you just have to live, laugh, learn and love. If you go through life without any one of them, you’re missing out.”

She said June 6 will be her last day of work because she’s about to take on a ”very big” job.

“I need to take care of me, and try to enjoy me,” she said. “I’m a workaholic, and it’s time for me to slow down. I’ve worked hard for 20 years, and have done more in my lifetime than I ever imagined. My mind is clear, but this body is wearing down. I’m tired! But for the first time, this is not the doctors’ choice; this is my choice.

“Now I’m gong to relax a little, and maybe volunteer with the Cedar Creek Therapeutic Riding Center. People keep warning me that people who retire can get stagnant. I just tell them, “You obviously don’t know me very well.”