John O and Esther Wallace

John O. Wallace was born on September 14, 1896, at Dumas, Mississippi, to William Eason Wallace and Sallie Elizabeth Neighbors.
In 1917 when he was twenty, Wallace met a man in his Mississippi hometown who had been visiting in Soda Springs, Idaho, for health reasons. The man had decided he didn’t want to use his round trip ticket to return to Soda Springs before February 1, when the ticket expired. Wallace purchased the ticket on credit.
He arrived in Soda Springs young, broke and anxious to find a job. Despite his youth, he worked for the railroad and successfully performed jobs usually reserved for more mature men.
One day a physician in Soda Springs offered to help Wallace get a job in a drug store if he was interested. The job paid a handsome $90 a month. Always eager to better his position, Wallace took the job in the Rexall Drug Store where he worked for a year and a half until he entered the military in World War I.
“Johnny” Wallace served in Company I, Regiment 57 during the war. Upon his return to Soda Springs, he was offered a job in the Rexall Drug Store by Jack Minty, the owner. Before he accepted, however, he learned that Mr. Eastman, an elderly man in his nineties, was trying to sell the competing Eastman Drug Store for $3,000. Wallace visited a bank and persuaded them to finance his purchase.
Now Wallace found himself in the position of needing to hire a pharmacist to dispense prescriptions, and expense he could barely afford. He learned of a three year pharmacy school in Michigan, and decided to attend so that he could eventually reduce costs by serving as his own pharmacist.
Dr. Ellis Kackley, a pioneer Soda Springs physician, agreed to loan Wallace the money he needed for school. After three years of diligent study he took the exam, and was delighted to learn that he had passed, one of the few students in his class to do so. He returned to Soda Springs and went to work to pay his bills.
“In my mind, Dr. Kackley was a real man,” Wallace said. “I was just a kid, and didn’t have any credit, but whenever I needed money, he’d loan it to me.” During his lifetime, Wallace often loaned his own money to others he believed in.
Wallace paid Dr. Kackley all of the money that he owed him, and in addition to the drug store, he soon purchased a ranch and a herd of sheep in Henry.
He married Esther M. Lau on April 16, 1931. They had a long and happy marriage. She died on April 17, 1985.
Wallace took a deep interest in the establishment of a College of Pharmacy in Pocatello, and provided much encouragement and support as a citizen of Idaho. He also showed interest in the students generally.
Thirty years to the day after he purchased the Eastman Drug Store, he sold it to Lowe Brothers and began work at the Largilliere’s Bank, where he worked for fifteen years. He also continued in his successful sheep ranching business for thirty nine years.
Wallace was active in community and regional affairs. He enjoyed traveling, including trips to Hawaii and occasional trips back to Mississippi to visit his family. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church.
Wallace kept his home in Soda Springs for the rest of his life, and died on January 30, 1990, in the Capital Care Center in Boise, Idaho. Through his will he provided for the establishment to two major funds at Idaho State University, The John O. and Esther L. Wallace Presidential Scholarship Endowment Fund for scholarships for students attending Idaho State University, and The John O. and Esther L. Wallace Endowment Fund for the College of Pharmacy at Idaho State University.
Recipients of Wallace scholarships are encouraged to contribute, when they are able, to the Wallace Presidential Scholarship Endowment to help it grow and to benefit more students at ISU.