George Mackey Grimball '48
(Year Awarded--1998)

During his years at Davidson, this Wildcat was involved in an array of activities from the Glee Club to the tennis team. He was an active member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and wrote for both the Davidsonian and the Scripts ‘n Cranks. Though his campus involvement was great, it did not diminish his commitment to the chemistry lab where he dreamed of becoming a doctor. This dream became reality and there begins the story of his service that extends far beyond the walls of the examining room.

As a graduate of the Medical University of South Carolina, this “Dr. Wonderful” went into private practice in surgery in Greenville, South Carolina. His service to the Greenville community has been boundless. He served both as President and Treasurer of the Alumni Association at MUSC. In his hometown of Greenville, he has served as Medical Director of the North Greenville Hospital, President of the Greenville Hospital System Medical Staff, Consultant to the Greenville Hospital System and St. Francis Community Hospital, and President of the local Rotary Club.

Though one would think he could have neither time nor energy to spare, his generosity goes on as his heart and the bulk of his service have been in the area of addiction services. Within this realm he has served as a member of the Greenville Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission and State Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse and on the Board of Directors of the Greenville County Alcohol and Drug Commission. In 1987 he was named the recipient of the A.H. Robins Company Physician’s Award for Community Service in honor of his previous role as President of the Medical Association’s Impaired Physicians Committee which helps “disabled” doctors defeat their addictions. That same year he was named 1987 Physician of the Year by the Governor’s Commission on Employment of the Handicapped. In honor of this same awareness of the needs of the handicapped, he was named Physician of the Year by the Mayor’s Committee for Employment of the Handicapped. And during all his involvement with the Greenville Community, he also remained a devoted son and servant of Davidson College.

Because of your ceaseless giving of self to the medical community; because of the heart-felt compassion you have shared with patient, co-worker, and employee; because you have so well earned and by your life clearly defined your title “Dr. Wonderful,” we name you, George Mackey Grimball, the worthy recipient of this John W. Kuykendall Award for Community Service on the occasion of your 50th Reunion.