Box 16

J. Farra Van Meter, a native of Lexington, Kentucky, practiced medicine there from 1929-1978. He was associated for much of that period with Good Samaritan Hospital, particularly as director of the hospital's cancer clinic. He was a past president of the Fayette County Medical Society and a member of the Kentucky Board of Health (1964). His earliest involvement with the Mountain Fund was as a member of an advisory committee appointed by Fund Chairman, O'Rear in 1950 to oversee the planning and administration of Homeplace Hospital. He was named a Fund trustee in 1953, and assumed the chairmanship of the board on the 1972 resignation of Fred Bryant.

During Van Meter's tenure as chairman, an increasingly large proportion of Fund grants went to support scholarship programs and other education and health projects external to the greater Homeplace service area of Breathitt, Knott, and Perry Counties. The period saw ongoing discussions relating to the effectiveness of Homeplace programs and possible alternative uses of Homeplace property and buildings.