William Carey staff presents handmade wooden pen

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - William Carey Medical School professor Doctor Rance McClain presented a very special surprise gift to the William Carey staff earlier Tuesday.

Rance had ink pens made from a piece of wood from the old Tatum court. The old building was destroyed from January’s EF-3 tornado and he says the oak made to use the pen came from a wooden support beam from the tornado’s debris.

"Our director of security is a long time friend of mine and he is the one that is an avid wood worker. He is the one that turns pens and does other projects and so he is the one that came down as the director of security," said D. McClain

He said when his friend gave him a handmade made from disaster debris, he immediately thought of an idea to do the same for Carey staff, "He gave me a pen that he had made from there as a token for appreciation. I saw it and we immediately start talking about the possibility of him making pens out of wood that was rescued from Tatum Court,”

Dr. Rance explained to be able to rescue apart of memorabilia of Carey will be a special keepsake for years to come, "To be able to rescue something and present them something that is hopefully going to mean something to them for years to come and for generations to come. I cant put it into words what that means for us.”

The Carey campus is near renovation completion. Over the past few weeks construction workers installed a new frame for the roofs of the new dorms and added new framing for the theater.