DR. AND MRS. C. L. MCSHAN  

The following bio was taken from page 295 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

 Transcribed by Shirley Koym

 Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Cemeteries of Texas

Chester Lee McShan was born in Wichita Falls, Texas.  He studied at Trinity University before it was located in San Antonio.  He moved to San Antonio with the university when it moved there and graduated from Trinity University in 1940.  He went to war in World War II and was with the Navy as a communications officer on a destroyer assigned to Admiral John Halsey’s fleet in the Pacific theater where his ship took part in every major engagement in the war.

After the war, Chester applied for entrance into medical school, but while he waited he entered the University of Texas as a major in bacteriology and was working toward a master’s degree.  He was accepted at the University of Texas Medical School, Galveston branch, so he left the University of Texas at Austin and entered the medical school at Galveston.  This is where he met Oleta Beck.

Oleta Beck was born in Nacogdoches, and then her family moved to Tyler. She went to Stephen F. Austin for two years and then entered Baylor University at Dallas to be trained as a technician.  She enrolled in the University of Texas with a major in bacteriology and worked at the Texas Department of Health.  She also worked in the virology department.  From the University, she received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in microbiology.  She then transferred to Galveston, where she worked in the hospital and in pediatrics.  As an assistant teacher, she taught bacteriology to the medical students in the University of Texas Medical School, Galveston branch.  C. L. McShan was one of the students in her class.

Oleta and Chester Lee went together until he finished his medical degree.    They married then Dr. McShan entered the Navy to do his intern work since the Navy had paid for his medical education.  They were stationed at Bremerton, Washington, and then he was sent for an extra year to Pensacola, Florida as a flight surgeon.  He was with the Air Force and flying many hours weekly.  If he had continued in the military, he would be a part of the Space Program today.  But, their son, William Michael McShan, had been born in 1953 in Seattle in Virginia Mason Hospital.  Mike was eighteen months old when the McShan’s came to Henderson in 1955.

Mrs. McShan’s mother died in Tyler and to be near her father, the McShan's moved to Henderson.  The couple also wanted a small town in which to rear their son.  Doctors Shipp, Ross and Boswell had left vacancies in the medical staff in Henderson, and Dr. McShan established his office here in 1956.

Mike entered the Henderson School system and graduated from Henderson High School.  He went to Baylor then to Kilgore College, and then back to Baylor, where he received his B. A. degree in music.  He then married Carolyn McCollough of Longview.  He studied at Westminster College of Princeton University, where he received his master’s degree.  He and Carolyn have one daughter, Kathryn Elizabeth.  Mike is now studying microbiology in Bradenton, Florida at the University of Florida Medical Branch.  He is interested in receiving his PhD degree in microbiology and wants to enter into cancer and genetic research.

The McShan’s are members of the First Methodist Church.  Dr. McShan is a member of the Henderson Memorial Hospital and its Board, the Rusk County Medial Society, and other professional societies.  The McShan’s have traveled much during their free time.

Dr. McShan’s parents were Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Webster McShan.  They lived just outside of Wichita Falls, Texas where Mr. McShan had a dairy farm.  There were seven children in the family, three boys and four girls.  “Becky” McShan was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William W. Beck of Tyler.  She has one sister, Mrs. L. E. (Dot) Champion of Tyler.

Submitted by Virginia Knapp