In 2018, a transformational gift from the McQueary family led Missouri State University to name the McQueary College of Health and Human Services (MCHHS) in their honor.

Long before the McQueary name appeared on the college, it showed up in a simple act of care.

In the early history of Missouri State football, their grandfather, William “Les” McQueary, heard that some players could not afford new winter coats. They had outgrown the ones their parents had given them in high school.

Instead of trying to find out who needed help, he bought winter coats for the whole team. It was a quiet act of generosity, rooted in the belief that students, especially those from rural areas, often needed extra support.

For Les McQueary’s grandsons, brothers Dr. Fred G. McQueary, Mark L. McQueary and David B. McQueary, that story is more than a family memory. It is a blueprint of how their family has always lived.

“They did things without expecting anything in return, but simply because it was the right thing to do,” said David, a 1982 business alumnus of what was then Southwest Missouri State University (SMSU).

Roots in care

That spirit of generosity is grounded in the family’s earliest days in healthcare.

According to the McQueary brothers, their great-grandfather, William M. McQueary, opened a pharmacy in Ash Grove in 1886. Years later, after moving to Springfield, he opened a drugstore near what is now the Foster Recreation Center on the Missouri State campus. The store became a neighborhood hub where people, especially students, could buy goods on credit or be fed even if they could not pay right away.

In 1924, his sons, Les McQueary and Frederick Gordon McQueary, founded McQueary Brothers Drug Company. A wholesale drug company, the duo expanded from serving retail pharmacies in Missouri and Arkansas early on to supplying pharmacies across seven Midwest states. The business operated for more than eight decades before McKesson acquired it in 2007.

That milestone capped more than a century of the McQueary family’s impact on healthcare in Southwest Missouri.

The family’s connection to healthcare continued well beyond the sale of the business, with Dr. Fred retiring from medical practice in 2013 and from his Mercy Springfield executive role in 2021. His daughter, Dr. Melissa McQueary Broaddus, is also a practicing optometrist in Springfield.

Unwavering support for Mo State

Fred G. and Les and his wife, Jennie, carried on the family’s legacy of giving. Avid sports fans, they supported Missouri State and high school athletics, as well as local Kiwanis and American Legion baseball and softball teams for decades. The family began regularly attending Missouri State football games in 1917.

Les and Jennie instilled that sense of philanthropy in their two sons, William T. “Bill” McQueary and Fred M. McQueary (Dr. Fred, Mark and David’s dad). In 1982, the two of them served as the first co-chairs of the Papa Bears, which later became part of The Bears Fund supporting Missouri State student-athletes.

Bill and Shirley McQueary, along with Fred M. and Ramona McQueary, extended their support for Missouri State far beyond athletics.

“There are very few buildings constructed on campus in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s that don’t reflect some involvement from our parents, aunt and uncle,” Mark said. “We’ve all been raised in a tradition of support for Missouri State.”

Fred M. attended what was then Southwest Missouri State (SMS) College for two years in the late 1940s. After serving in the United States Army from 1952-54, he joined the family business and worked there until his retirement in 2005.

A 1952 graduate of SMS, Ramona McQueary joined the Alumni Association Board of Directors in 1973 and became the second woman to be appointed to the university’s Board of Governors.

During her tenure as the first female board president in 1978, she helped lead a period of major growth, including record enrollment of almost 15,000 and the opening of key campus facilities, such as the Hammons Student Center and Duane Meyer Library. In 1981, she was named to the Missouri State Foundation board.

“I remember graduating from SMSU in 1975 and having my mother, then a board member, hand me my diploma,” Dr. Fred said. “That doesn’t happen often.”

An orthopedic surgeon for over three decades at Mercy Springfield, holds a master’s degree in biology from SMSU.

Honoring their parents

While Fred M. and Ramona have passed, all three McQueary brothers are following in their parents’ footsteps. They support Missouri State and MCHHS in various roles and capacities.

Dr. Fred has served on the MCHHS Advisory Board since the late 1980s, helping to align hospital needs with classroom learning. Mark chaired the Missouri State Foundation Board of Trustees from 2013 to 2015 and served on the university’s earliest advisory councils. He also served on the search committee that selected Dr. Mark Smith to lead MCHHS as dean in 2019.

David was president of the Alumni Association Board in 1992.  In addition, he contributed to key campus committees, including presidential and athletic director search committees.

While the three brothers give back in different ways, they share one commitment: continuing their family’s proud legacy of giving and service.

Why health education matters

When offered the chance to name the college, the family did not have to think about it for long. Their cousin, Rick McQueary (the son of Bill and Shirley) also supported the effort.

“I thought it was an obvious fit. We’ve been involved in healthcare in this area since 1886,” David said.

Mark noted the family saw the opportunity as a way to help address the growing demand for healthcare workers. Springfield had grown into a regional healthcare hub, where the demand for trained professionals across every area was rising faster than it could be met.

Dr. Fred saw the critical need firsthand while working at Mercy Springfield.

“At the college’s naming ceremony, I thanked the students in the room,” he said. “They’re going to be the ones providing healthcare in the future. And we’re going to need it.”

David echoed the same sentiment with humor: “Because we’re getting old and we’re going to need them.”

More than a name

For the McQueary brothers, the college name is not about recognition. It is about continuity.

“When I look at the family name there, I think I’m a small piece of a much bigger group,” Dr. Fred said. “This is not about one single person’s contribution; it’s a family effort with multigenerational support and connections.”

David admits it still catches him off guard when he sees the McQueary name on campus, especially on the back of students’ T-shirts. Even now, it still surprises him.

“It’s as much about honoring our grandparents, parents, aunt and uncle,” David said. “Carrying on the legacy of what they established with the university and through healthcare, it was just a natural fit.”

For all three brothers, the college naming is not a finish line. It is another chapter in a story that began generations before them with a box of winter coats and continues today.

“It has simply always been part of our upbringing,” Mark said.

“Family has always mattered most,” David added. “It was never about any one of us individually. We always did everything together.”

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