FOUNDATION TIES George Paret, ’73 • Donor
MCNEESE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION George Paret By Erin K. Cormier
George Paret has had the same seats at Cowboy Stadium since 1976. As a pharmacist, business owner and father of a college-aged son, his daily life rarely loses momentum, but one thing stays constant: His love for McNeese. Paret, an alumnus, was 16 years old when his father finished his degree requirements at McNeese after a long hiatus from college. “My father went to college, found a job, got married and quit going to school. He only needed three or four credits to finish, and when he finally did, he was in his 40s. I remember going to his graduation,” Paret said. “It was a proud moment.” Paret enrolled a couple years later and graduated in 1973 with a degree in biology. On a whim, he decided to enroll in
pharmacy school and has been a fixture in the Lake Charles community ever since. The week after he passed his boards, he was working prescriptions from Gordon Drug Store, a local pharmacy and gift shop that first opened its doors in 1897. He’s worked there for 32 years and has owned it for 15. Many of the part-timers on his staff are McNeese students. Paret’s son also attended McNeese before he decided to enroll in pharmacy school. Paret has been a member of the McNeese Alumni Association for 15 years and served as president from 2003-04. “I learned what McNeese’s needs were through my involvement with the Alumni Association. McNeese had a lot of needs that I probably wouldn’t have known about if I hadn’t been in the loop. Many of those needs followed the hurricane, and because I found out about them, I was able to help,” Paret said. “The Alumni Association also led me to
the Foundation. For a long time I didn’t even understand what the Foundation was or what it did. I figured it was an organization for millionaires to donate money, but I learned that you don’t have to be a millionaire to give. You can donate $100, $50 bucks, whatever you can.” Paret also likes to vanquish any misconceptions about the Alumni Association. He said although the Association certainly has a huge presence at the football games, the group does much more than celebrate Cowboy football – it provides student research grants, establishes professorships for faculty, honors past alumni, honors scholarship recipients and so much more, Paret said. Celebrating football is just one of the ways that alumni like Paret show their spirit. “I’ve been sitting in that same seat for 30 years,” he said. “Give or take a few rows.”
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