UNMC’s Wigton Heritage Center perfectly captures the legacy of Bob Wigton, MD.
UNMC leaders, including Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, MD, first saw the possibilities of such a center during a delegation trip to the Far East, where medical institutions marked their rich history at welcome centers.
When Dr. Gold shared the concept with Dr. Wigton — UNMC’s unofficial historian and longtime internal medicine faculty member — the concept found its perfect sponsor.
“It was just perfectly made for him,” said Carrie Meyer, head of special collections and archives for the McGoogan Health Sciences Library.
Today, the Wigton Heritage Center, the campus welcome center, is a new gem for UNMC.
And Monday, UNMC marks what will be a singular event in the campus’ history — a memorial service held in a place named for the very person being remembered. The celebration of life for Dr. Wigton, who died Aug. 22, will be held at the Wigton Heritage Center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Join the online stream for Dr. Bob Wigton’s celebration of life.
In the short time since its June 2021 opening, the Wigton Heritage Center has become a signature location on campus. It is a place for dignitaries to visit and ceremonies to be held, against the backdrop of UNMC’s history in the facade of the original University Hospital and exhibits that go into great detail on the university’s past.
It is that history that Dr. Wigton so cherished.
UNMC’s history was personal for Dr. Wigton. He represented a third generation of the Wigton family to attend UNMC and its predecessor institutions, and with that came a deep reserve of stories and connections.
Dr. Wigton himself graduated in the class of 1969 and, in his UNMC career, went on to serve the UNMC College of Medicine as associate dean for graduate education and chief of the general internal medicine section.
But as the campus kept progressing over time, Dr. Wigton said he perceived a missing link to UNMC’s history. In a 2018 interview with Dr. Gold, Dr. Wigton told the chancellor, “I thought there was a problem, and then this opportunity came up, because you had sponsored the idea of having a heritage visitor center, and this really corresponded a lot with what I was missing.”
At the Wigton Heritage Center’s groundbreaking in 2019, Dr. Wigton said, “We’re reaching a period where the people who grew up with this school and went through all of this are retiring and going away.
“So there needs to be a strong push to get all of this information out and to have the history really preserved.”
As plans took shape, Dr. Wigton was deeply involved in creating the center’s exhibits, down to the precise, accurate details, said Meyer, whose collections team worked closely with Dr. Wigton.
He always wanted to avoid glossing over those historical details, Meyer said. One example of that is the disclaimer present in the exhibits explaining UNMC and its predecessor institutions.
It marks the history as: “Omaha Medical College provided private medical education from 1880-1902. In 1902, it joined the university system as the University of Nebraska College of Medicine. The year 1968 marked the transition to the University of Nebraska Medical Center. For clarity, ‘UNMC’ refers to all iterations of the campus in this exhibit.”
Said Meyer, “That was from Bob.”
Meyer said it was a joy to have him so involved. He enjoyed history and enjoyed teaching it to the library staff, she said.
When she speaks at his service on Monday, Meyer said, “I just want to make him proud.”
Emily Glenn, interim dean of the McGoogan Library, said the celebration of life will mark the transfer to “the realization of and responsibility of sharing Bob’s legacy.”
Glenn said the library staff now has the privilege of honoring Dr. Wigton each time it welcomes visitors to the Wigton Heritage Center.
“Library staff take its role to heart to keep Bob’s memory and passion alive in the spaces he helped create,” she said. “This ceremony marks the last milestone for acknowledging that responsibility at UNMC. In the Wigton Heritage Center, library staff have a place to visit that holds the evidence of Bob’s imagination and passion for history.”
Dr. Gold said Dr. Wigton’s impact on UNMC will surround us and live on for generations.
“Bob Wigton had a special impact on UNMC, and we will celebrate his legacy through the Wigton Heritage Center for decades to come,” Dr. Gold said. “We are grateful to Dr. Wigton and his family for leaving us with these gifts of UNMC’s rich history and a transformational space for the campus.”