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Retired Researcher Counts His Blessings

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By DEREK MAUL, Tribune correspondent

Published: October 10, 2007

Updated: 10/08/2007 09:44 pm

BRANDON - Jim McNeil is one of those deeply satisfied folks the rest of us would love to emulate. Long retired, he engages life with optimism and grace, grateful for his blessings and glad to be living in Brandon.

'We have wonderful neighbors,' he said. 'We like the surroundings, and we have a circle of true friends. The church, the friends - it's really what we wanted out of retirement.'

Born in central Arkansas in 1928, McNeil moved to Kansas during elementary school. 'Better work, better schools,' he said. 'My parents saw they had to give the family a chance at an education.'

The family was close. 'When I came along, my two sisters thought their prayers had been answered,' McNeil said. 'I was called 'Brother' the first 50 years of my life.'

His parents were clear about expectations.

'I tell my grandkids I don't ever remember a time when I didn't have the goal of college,' he said. 'It was the ticket to success, to more opportunity.'

McNeil studied chemistry at Central State University in Xenia, Ohio.

'I was on the verge of going to Howard University,' in Washington, he said, 'but I wasn't comfortable with the 'blue-blood' atmosphere.'

The Army denied McNeil's deferment, despite his scholarship to grad school.

'I trained in Missouri,' he said. 'It was the worst place on Earth! When they deployed me to Japan, I thought I was going to the end of the Earth.'
Military experience whet the young soldier's appetite for travel. He applied for assignments overseas, and the State Department offered him a job.

McNeil was suspicious.

'I said, 'Are you sure you have the right person? I'm African-American!' Going to a city like Washington was intimidating,' he said.

His duties included work in Tel Aviv, Israel, and he learned Hebrew.

The U.S. ambassador requested he return to Israel to attend some conferences.

'It was there I was able to get to know Prime Minister Golda Meir,' he said.

In 1956, McNeil married Ethel Graham.

'My next assignment was Norway,' he said. 'But I decided it wasn't fair to a young bride. I decided to get back into chemistry.'

The shift lasted 35 years.

'I spent my entire career in research at Walter Reed' Army Medical Center in Washington, he said. 'I started as a lab tech, then worked in physiology and nephrology. I learned so much from the people around me.'

Eventually, McNeil ran independent research projects, including studies about the side-effects of the cis-platinum chemotherapy drug and malaria in Vietnam.

By the time of his retirement in 1991, McNeil was assistant chief of the department of respiratory physiology. He also ran a Defense Department mentoring program designed to interest students in science and engineering.

'I spent a lot of time in inner-city high schools talking about the program and getting kids involved,' he said. 'Once I retired, I continued the program for another five years.

Meanwhile, McNeil and his family made quiet inroads against segregation.

'When we moved into Prince George's County, Maryland, the neighborhood was not necessarily friendly to integration,' McNeil said. 'My wife was actually challenged by the neighbors.'

Later, the family moved to Montgomery County, Maryland, where McNeil became the first black moderator at the United Church of Christ.

After a visit to Clearwater, Florida called.

'The only thing Ethel could say,' McNeil laughed, 'was, 'We've got to move to Florida.''

They purchased a second home, then moved to Brandon in 2002.

'This is how I wanted it to be when I dreamed as a youngster,' McNeil said. 'To be a successful husband, citizen, worker, church member. I feel so wonderfully blessed, and my prayers are prayers of thanksgiving. Not material things, but the emotional satisfaction.'

Most of all, McNeil enjoys his grandchildren, Robert and Melissa. He plays cards with friends, keeps in touch with people who are important to him and enjoys getting out for short road trips.

'I like to be engaged in anything that can help,' he said. 'I've tutored, and I'm committed to helping find some solutions to this homeless situation.'

McNeil said he believes an emerging coalition will find workable solutions.

'We all pray that we can accomplish something,' he said. 'If we continue to push, we'll be successful. It's not going to be easy. It's not going to be tomorrow, and it's going to take some time. But it is beginning to mushroom.

'I've been giving out meals when I'm on my Meals-On-Wheels route,' he said. 'It is always so well-received. They're the most polite people you'd ever want to see.'
JIM McNEIL
BORN: Arkadelphia, Ark., 1928

EDUCATION: Independence Community College, Kan.; Central State University, Xenia Ohio; University of Maryland

MARRIED: Ethel Graham, 1956

CHILDREN: Michelle, Monica, Millicent, William

POSITION: Elder, First Presbyterian Church, Brandon

Derek Maul can be reached at Derekmaul@Gmail.com.

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