Bea Lampkin Makes Helping Children Through UA’s RISE Program Part of Her Estate Plan

A desire to help children with special needs has inspired Beatrice Campbell Lampkin, ’56, ’60, to make The University of Alabama’s RISE Center the beneficiary of a portion of her IRA. Her planned gift will ensure that future children will gain the skills they require to reach their full potential in school and life.

After earning her MD degree from the University’s medical college in 1960, Bea began a 50-year career as a pediatric hematologist/oncologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Throughout her professional life she remained in touch with UA while gaining a strong appreciation for the RISE program.

A native of Tuscaloosa who walked with crutches and a leg brace after contracting polio at the age of 7, Bea understands the importance of helping children with special needs. The daughter of UA alumni, she benefited at an early age from her association with the University.

“My most helpful encounter at UA was being taught how to swim as part of a requirement for a wonderful lady to obtain her master’s degree in physical education,” Bea recalls. “She got her degree after I swam a mile using every stroke I had been taught.”

Through her planned gift, Bea’s love of the University will benefit young children far into the future.

“I attribute largely my success in life as a leader in the field of pediatric hematology/oncology to what I received from UA as a child and my time as a student,” she says.

Bea urges fellow alumni to join her in including UA in their estate plans. For her, the RISE program is a fitting UA program beneficiary.

“RISE is a wonderful program,” she says. “Perhaps the parents of children in the RISE program or other parents of medically, physically, or mentally disabled children will read my story and realize how important helping children early in life is to their becoming successful adults.”