Interview by Abernathy Cochran intern and Gainesville High School senior Philip Mady
Meet David Stanley! David is the owner and pharmacist at McElveens Pharmacy. Mr. Stanley lives in Gainesville with his wife, Annie and children. David worked in the finance industry prior to becoming a pharmacist after attending Mercer University.
We want to thank Mr. Stanley for participating in the Faces of Hall County Project.
Question: Would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself?
Answer: “I purchased the pharmacy from Alan McElveen in July of 2018 and started working for him with the plans to take over in September of 2017. My wife grew up in North Hall. We met in Atlanta and got married in Atlanta and moved to Gainesville a few months after we got married. I will be turning 40 in May. I grew up in Fayetteville. After high school I went to Georgia Southern, got a degree in finance and went to work for SunTrust Bank at their headquarters in 2007 in their estate planning division. I worked in finance for a couple of years and decided to go back to school. I went to Mercer University for pharmacy school and spent four years doing that, worked for corporate pharmacy while I was in school and then continued working for that pharmacy until we moved to Gainesville.”
Q: What made you want to be a pharmacist?
A: “I was always really interested in medicine, but when I changed careers, I felt that if I had gone into medicine, into med school, that it would just have taken a long time to get through med school and residencies. I just wanted to go to school and get out and get a job and get married and have a family. I decided not to do medicine, and I thought the pharmacy was a good idea, the choice that matched up with my interests.”
Q: What is your favorite thing about your career?
A: “It is a lively, busy atmosphere. I get to meet a lot of local people. I love getting to help out people, and most of our customers are elderly. Just knowing that I’m someone that they can come see to help take care of needs they have is very cool.”
Q: Who is one of the most interesting people you have met in Hall County?
A: “Someone I have kind of seen as a business mentor. He’s a customer. He was a longtime customer of Alan’s. His name is George Jones. He’s a local businessman that had an insurance company here in town for a while, and then he sold his insurance company. I’m not sure how long ago, maybe 10 years ago. He’s big into philanthropy and donates a good bit of money to people in need of different organizations. And he’s still very active in the business community.”
Q: What are your favorite restaurants in Hall County?
A: “I like Avocados a lot. Atlas Pizza is really good pizza. I think they’re probably the best pizza in Gainesville. I like to support local businesses, too… Poor Richard’s, if you want a nice seafood meal.”
Q: If you could travel anywhere, where would you like to travel and why?
A: “An ideal trip that my wife and I have always talked about making would be to go to New Zealand. With COVID, things have been crazy and we’ve got two young kids and I don’t know how it is in New Zealand right now. I think New Zealand would be a cool place to go to.”
Q: If you could choose anyone that’s alive today, who’s not a relative to you that you could have lunch with, who would it be and why?
A: “This might be kind of controversial for the people in the whole county in North Georgia. I’m not an Alabama football fan at all. I’m really a Georgia and Florida State fan, but I would probably say Nick Saban. He teaches people how to get through really tough times. He teaches the benefits of hard work and keeps his team and his players focused on their goals instead of letting all this other stuff around them distract them. You know, he’s got a bunch of young guys who are going to be making millions of dollars in a few years, but he keeps his players really focused on what they’re trying to accomplish.”
Q: What’s your favorite thing about the Hall County community?
A: “It’s something that I’ve really noticed about it. It’s a big community. There’s a lot of people, but it still has a small town feel. It may just be that I’ve met so many people through the pharmacy, but you know, I can go anywhere in town and bump into someone that I know.”
Q: What are three words that like, truly mean home to you?
A: “So home is a place that you can escape to, a place you can be yourself, and a place that makes you happy.”
