Virginia Biddle, MD PS'65

“I grew up on the back of a horse in rural Milton, Massachusetts, and for a while, my family despaired of my ever doing anything except ride and ski,” says Virginia Biddle, PS’65. “I was kicked out of a

whole slew of schools and lasted only two years in nursing school before being expelled for breaking minor rules, like getting in after curfew.” One school told her parents she was not college material, but she graduated junior college with the highest scholastic honors!

Virginia became a registered medical technologist and nine years after the atomic bomb was dropped in Japan, she went to Nagasaki as medical director of a research lab for the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission. That led her to realize she needed more education, either in laboratory science or, perhaps, medicine. She was accepted into the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and graduated in 1965. Two years later, she opened her own practice in internal medicine on Cape Cod.

Virginia’s adventurous nature led her to earn her Coast Guard captain’s license for up to 60-foot auxiliary sailboats and, paired with a lifelong love of wooden boats, resulted in a WoodenBoat magazine cover story about “Saga” in 1982; she authored the cover story and articles in other issues.

Virginia has always been a supporter of VP&S and decided to fund a charitable remainder trust as a way of repaying her gratitude to VP&S for putting her on the path to a career in medicine.

The charitable remainder trust, which can be funded with a minimum of $100,000, will provide income and an initial tax benefit to Virginia Biddle. Upon her death, the remaining assets in the trust will be added to the VP&S Class of 1965 50th Anniversary Scholarship Fund or may fund an endowed scholarship in her name. She funded the charitable remainder trust in 2011, making the contribution eligible for the Legacy Challenge match that added to Virginia’s Class fund at the time.

Virginia Biddle, who took an unusual path to medicine, found a way to support the school that discovered the college material in her and set her up for a rewarding career.