Boggess-Callis Family
The Boggess-Callis family has a long history with WKU. It began when Clarence Orville Boggess came from Madisonville to attend the Business University in Bowling Green in the 1920s before it merged Western. His wife, Amy Galloway Boggess, received her teaching degree from Western Kentucky State Normal School and Teachers College the 1920s. Their daughter, Nelda Boggess Callis, obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from Western in the 1940s, and it was there that she met James Henry Callis. Jim played basketball for coach Ed Diddle while obtaining his Bachelor’s degree, with time on the Hill interrupted by WW ll. He also obtained his Master’s degree from Western before entering medical school at the University of Louisville. Jim practiced medicine in Owensboro his entire life. His sister, Betty Callis Slaton, attended Western also in the 1940s before entering the education field in Hopkins County. Lucille Riley Callis, Jim and Betty’s stepmother, also graduated from Western before becoming a librarian for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
All three children of Jim and Nelda Callis attended WKU in the 1970s and 1980s. James Timmons Callis graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree and attended Vanderbilt University Medical School, becoming a vascular surgeon practicing in Roanoke, Virginia. William Casey Callis graduated in 1981, also with a Bachelor of Science degree and attended the University of Louisville School of Dentistry and practices in Owensboro. His sons, George William Callis and Henry Middleton Callis, also attended WKU. Amy Callis Britt attended nursing school at Western and is a nurse anesthetist in Owensboro.
To honor the hundred-year relationship with the University and the four generations of family who have been shaped by it, the Boggess-Callis Family Scholarship Fund was established. The fund assists deserving WKU students in pre-health professional programs as they pursue their degrees. The Boggess and Callis families are grateful for the opportunity to help others achieve an education and life experience that will forever be beneficial. Through this fund, their legacy on the Hill lives on in perpetuity.