LOCAL

Riga resident gets surprise parade for med school graduation

Brad Heineman
bheineman@lenconnect.com
RaeLynn MacBeth of Riga celebrates her graduation from the University of Toledo's medical school during a surprise parade of family and friends on Saturday afternoon.

RIGA TWP. — To say it has been a seemingly smooth path for Riga’s RaeLynn MacBeth leading up to her recent graduation from the University of Toledo medical school would be far from the truth.

The road to her graduation was met with many obstacles and detours along the way. None of those barriers were far greater than losing both of her parents to cancer during her high school and early college years.

MacBeth’s mother, Tanya, died in 2013 from ovarian cancer. Three years later, her father, Danny, died of lung cancer right into the first months of her college journey at UT. On May 15 of this year, MacBeth persevered and graduated with her Doctor of Medicine degree.

The ceremony did not come with the usual pomp and circumstance associated with graduation,due to the coronavirus restrictions. That didn’t stop several family members and friends from giving MacBeth an ever-more meaningful and personal celebration Saturday.

In what has become a pandemic ceremony of choice, MacBeth was treated to a near 30-car parade of family and friends who drove past her grandmother’s home on Riga Highway, congratulating her academic achievement and wishing her luck upon her new upcoming career in the medical field.

Beginning July 1, MacBeth will start her first year of residency at Hurley Medical Center in Flint.

Parade-goers gathered together in the parking lot of the Riga Township Fire Hall and Municipal Complex where they decorated vehicles with congratulatory signs, streamers and balloons. When given the official go-ahead by MacBeth’s older brother, Tommy, the procession of family and friends made their to way to MacBeth — much to her delight and surprise.

“It was an absolute surprise to me,” MacBeth said. “Everybody completely fooled me.”

With the help of Tommy and aunts including Diane Kastel and Debbie Nearhood, family and friends were able to “sneakily” organize a time in which RaeLynne would be lured outside by both Tommy and their grandmother Joyce MacBeth while the parade of well-wishers rolled by.

“We had to promise her that we were going to pick up lunch at The (Riga Tavern),” Tommy said. “We stalled a little bit of time and had Grandma show her some family photos. Then we went outside, and Grandma made sure she showed off some of her flowers. I shot off the text to my wife, (Annie), and we were underway.”

The ruse of the operation, according to Tommy, was that a majority of family members were not supposed to be in the Riga area until this weekend,when they were supposed to assist RaeLynne with packing and moving. For the next year of her time at Hurley Medical Center she will be living in the Goodrich area under the same roof as Tommy, Annie and their little brother, Matt.

It is about a 25-30 minute commute from Goodrich to the Hurley Medical Center.

“We will all be together again under one roof,” RaeLynne said. “It will be interesting to see how all of our schedules work together, and how we are living together as adults, as compared to when we were children. Regardless, I am thankful for my brother and sister-in-law for letting me live with them for an entire year.”

After her year of residency at Hurley, MacBeth will then transition to Cleveland, Ohio, where she will embark on four more years of medical studies at Case Western Reserve University. After those years, she will be able to pursue a fellowship or begin her own attending practice.

Her main focus of study is radiology diagnostics.

“I got interested in radiology when my dad was going through his chemotherapy appointments,” she said. “Seeing the CT scans, having the medical staff show me and teach me about the human body really opened my eyes. My career and years ahead made sense to me then. Everything made sense to me medically.”

Danny’s lung cancer was fast moving. From his diagnosis to his death was about three months. Many of his medical treatments were at UT, so when she had time between classes, RaeLynne would find time to stop in and visit with him.

Her mother’s ovarian cancer, meanwhile, was a slow and steady course. The diagnosis of Tanya’s cancer came when RaeLynne was a middle school student in Blissfield. Her death was in one of her first years of high school.

The decision to enroll at the University of Toledo was made due to its proximity to family. Studying at UT would allow RaeLynne to care for her family while continuing her education. Her role in the household became much more like that of a parent. When her father became ill, RaeLynne juggled college life with caring for a parent, running a household and caring for a brother, who is seven years younger than her.

“Being at UT really helped me out with everything,” she said. “I was able to make sure that food was always on the table for each meal, I was able to take care of my own studies, but I could also help out my brother with his studies. When my dad was admitted to UT for treatment, it gave me the opportunity to check in on him when I could.”

After losing both parents to cancer, MacBeth said she didn’t take time off from school,nor did she take very much time to sit and lament. She simply continued forward.

“I really am a busybody,” she said. “I needed to take care of things. Yes, I was sad, but I simply felt the need to keep going.”

Her leadership role in the family certainly made an impact, especially to Tommy.

“She faced a lot of burdens along her educational journey,” he said. “One thing she never lost was her steam. She graduated top of her class in bio-chemistry. When our dad passed, she was in the middle of studying for final exam week and was planning a funeral too. That’s RaeLynne for you, though. She’s an inspiration. She never gives up.”

Tommy said he wasn’t expecting a huge reaction from his usually modest sister during Saturday’s surprise graduation parade, but he was hoping that it was enough of a gesture to let her know how much she is appreciated and loved.

“She doesn’t get starstruck easily,” he said. “She doesn’t get taken aback by many things. If it was up to her, she wouldn’t have made a fuss about graduating from UT. But we knew we had to make that fuss for her.”

“She put in a lot of long hours,and a lot of hard work to get where she is today,” Kastel said during Saturday’s parade organization at the fire hall. “She is loved and appreciated by so many family members and so many community members. This the least we can do for her.”

For RaeLynne, the parade was more than enough.

“It was my first-ever parade. All for myself,” she said. “It was more memorable than any kind of commencement ceremony UT could have done for me. The whole thing makes me tear up. It all touches my heart.”

RaeLynn MacBeth of Riga celebrates her graduation from the University of Toledo medical school during a surprise parade of family and friends Saturday afternoon.