Dean Kesler ’62 felt the full benefits of a gift to RMC Nursing when his daughter received expert care from Via Zipp ’24, helping to forge a cross-generation bond.

Philanthropy is often about paying it forward, but Dr. Dean Kesler ‘62 recently found himself the beneficiary of his own gifts to support the creation of a nursing program at Randolph-Macon College.

The full-circle impact came when Kesler’s daughter Rebecca Laster was a breast cancer patient at Duke University Hospital last fall. She had several hospital stays during a challenging recovery from a mastectomy, and during one of those visits was impressed by a young nurse.

Via Zipp ’24 not only had a pleasant bedside manner, but also expertly handled every aspect of administering medicine. Rebecca, who had worked as a veterinarian, recognized a sure and gentle touch.

When Rebecca asked Zipp where she had gone to school, she humbly replied, “in Virginia” and “a little school I’m sure you’ve never heard of.” When pressed, Zipp revealed she graduated from Randolph-Macon, the very college that Rebecca’s father had attended over 60 years before—and now generously supports. 

As a supporter of both the nursing program at RMC and the construction of Payne Hall, Dr. Kesler, himself an OBGYN doctor for 35 years, had unknowingly attended the pinning ceremony and graduation of an individual now providing care to his daughter.

“I think it is more than a coincidence that this girl came into our family’s life,” Dr. Kesler reflected. He arranged to meet Zipp on campus last spring, along with Rebecca and Rebecca’s daughter Caitlyn ‘28, who was then a first-year student, closing the circle on a special connection.

“I’m really grateful to Dr. Kesler and his family,” Zipp said. “I’m still in touch with them and they’re just great people. He’ll send me emails all the time, just checking in on how I’m doing and telling me about his adventures.”

While never his intention, it is what Dr. Kesler refers to as “the selfishness of giving.”

“Sometimes it really does help you personally,” Kesler said. “It makes a better place for everybody to live.”