Seventy years after she joined the inaugural class of the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy, Katherine (Lum) Owyoung ’59, RPh returned to campus to tell her story. The string of pearls is replaced by a jade pendant, but her poise and keen mind remain the same. These attributes, combined with a steely determination, were key to her academic and professional success. Owyoung holds the distinction of being the school’s first female graduate.

In high school, career aptitude tests steered her in the direction of health care. Undeterred by the knowledge that, on average, women represented only 10% of the student body at pharmacy schools, Owyoung charted a course for a career in pharmacy. Financial constraints altered her initial plans and her collegiate journey started at Stockton College, what is now known as San Joaquin Delta College.

“While I was at Stockton College, my chemistry professor, Dr. George Eby, asked if I was interested in pharmacy,” she said. “He explained that the community pharmacists had got together and were trying to woo Dean Rowland from Idaho State University to start a pharmacy school here. And sure enough, they did. After just one year at Stockton College, I enrolled at Pacific. When I got to Pacific, in the beginning, there were two of us females and the rest were males.”

Reflecting on this dynamic she said, “I was just part of the gang. They were all like brothers. We had other electives, but for all the pharmacy classes we were all in one group, going from one class to the other. There was a lot of classwork, but there was a lot of camaraderie too. We had snow trips and picnics. Our class went on a couple Senior Sneaks to watch the San Francisco Giants baseball games.”

As a student, Owyoung commuted to campus.

“My mom and dad had a Chinese restaurant in Thornton,” Owyoung said. “After I got home from school, I’d be waiting on tables and trying to study at the same time. You just do what you have to do. Some of my classmates worked in pharmacies and were familiar with the names of the drugs, but for me, everything required memorization.”

When the school launched in 1955, its future was uncertain, enrolling in the inaugural class required both conviction and courage.

“The school was not accredited,” Owyoung said. “They held off on accreditation until the first class took the boards and waited to see how we did. We all passed, all 16 of us, on the first try. The dean and the school were very proud.”

Owyoung spent 40 years of dedicated service at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Stockton, with roles spanning from staff pharmacist to director of pharmacy. She witnessed the scope of practice of pharmacists in hospitals expand—and the need to support each other professionally intensify. Owyoung served as the inaugural president of the what is now known as the Central Valley Chapter of the California Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

Looking back on her career in pharmacy, she shares poignant advice for current students: “What you learn now may not be what you’ll be doing in 10 years. Be open and be flexible.”

In 1960, she married Vincent Owyoung ’62, who she met through mutual friends. He transferred to Pacific and earned his bachelor of science in civil engineering in 1962. The couple has been growing and styling bonsai trees for over five decades and are known throughout California by the bonsai community.