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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Friday, May 9, 2003

Veterinarian's love of Islands lives on in UH scholarships

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer

Through chance, plus an act of kindness by local research veterinarian Robert M. Nakamura, the estate of Charles H. Reid — known for years as "Hollywood's veterinarian" — has been providing scholarships for pre-vet students at the University of Hawai'i for two decades.

On Reid's death in 1979, proceeds from the sale of his North Hollywood home were willed to UH to provide scholarships, and in the years since they have given 181 students $369,900 for higher education.

"It's been a boon for the pre-vet students here," Nakamura said.

This year 13 UH students have been notified they'll win scholarships ranging from $2,000 to $7,500, and two of them — Cherilyn McGowan and Deidre A. Way — have been accepted at Mainland veterinarian schools. The other 11 range from a sophomore to several graduate students.

But the story begins years ago, when Nakamura and Reid struck up a friendship at the semi-annual meetings of the Hawai'i Veterinary Medical Association, which Reid attended here.

Nakamura was a UH professor in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, teaching a course on animal disease (he's now retired); and Reid had retired from a glittering career as a movie veterinarian caring for animals in such films as "Ben Hur" and "Samson and Delilah."

"He had come to Hawai'i probably in the early 1970s with his wife, and she loved it here," Nakamura said. "After she died he'd come back for nostalgic reasons, but he'd also come for the vet meetings."

They met when Reid was close to 80, but still doing veterinary surgery. When Nakamura discovered that the older man hadn't seen much of the island, he invited him for a sightseeing tour. Each time Reid came back for a meeting, they would get together, and eventually Nakamura asked him to speak to the pre-vet club at UH-Manoa.

"The kids really liked it and he really enjoyed them. That may have been the reason he changed his will," Nakamura said. "The lawyer told me he was chuckling when he was rewriting it. He said he wanted to make a big splash in a small pond. And he did."

Reid had no children and no heirs, having left England at 15 after his father refused to let him go into engineering, saying "that's no job for a gentleman."

Though his father did buy him a first-class steamship ticket, Reid traded it for a seat in steerage so he could use the extra money to live on at first.

"He was a lumberjack, a railroad worker, a farm hand, he broke horses, rode the rails, did everything ..." Nakamura said. "He had a fantastic life." He also managed to get into veterinary school and move into the rarefied Hollywood circles of movie work.

"One time a lion got loose (on a movie set) and everyone was panicking and he had to quiet everybody down and take over," Nakamura said. "He told everyone not to get excited because (lions will) chase you if you run."

Reid was also responsible for the establishment of the veterinary school at the University of California-Davis, Nakamura said. "He spent a weekend with (multi-millionaire William Randolph) Hearst at the Hearst Castle and got Hearst to have his newspapers promote development of a vet school in California and to also put some money into it."

The Reid scholarships are administered by a board of trustees and are one of the larger scholarships at Manoa. They may be given to students for each of their undergraduate Manoa years, but not once they've graduated, Nakamura said.

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.