Honoring Great Healthcare

Opha and Homer Johnson regularly visited Champaign-Urbana to receive medical care at Carle. When Homer died of cancer in 1960, Opha made a provision in her will that gave Carle 120 acres of farmland in Sullivan. She simply asked that the gift support "research in the cure and treatment of cancer." Opha's gift played a major role in transforming Carle into a leading cancer research facility. The gift from the Johnson estate was instrumental in the development of the Carle Tissue Repository. The gift has also provided funding for the Carle Foundation Hospital–Beckman Institute Fellowship, awarded to recent doctoral recipients and dedicated specifically to research.