Finding herself
in the animals she loves
Staff writer
Tristan Williams-Mallory can trace her career choice straight back to when she was a toddler, and a Marion County dispatcher walked across 4th St. from the courthouse grounds, cuddling a lost kitten.
“Obviously, I instantly fell in love. I begged my parents to let me keep it. I ended up having that cat for 18 or 19 years,” she said of Boots, who had four white paws. “That’s what got me onto the track of becoming a veterinarian.”
That childhood spark of a calling became reality this summer when the 2021 Marion High School graduate received her white coat at Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine.
Now in her fourth and final year, she’s completing clinical rotations in such things as soft-tissue surgery, orthopedic surgery, overnight emergency work, and diagnostic medicine before she starts practicing as a vet in the spring.
By her own account, in an interview where her stoic demeanor occasionally cracked into a warm smile, it has been a career path that spanned considerable hurdles from early childhood grief over her father’s sudden death, emotional struggles, and academic doubts after a stellar high school career capped by being a valedictorian.
Her father’s mother, Wanda Williams, helped raise Tristan and recounts how important horses — shared by family friends — were in soothing emotional reactions she had to her dad’s unexpected death.
“I have to cry if I tell these stories,” grandmother Wanda said.
And she did while describing how the discipline of caring for and loving a series of horses during Tristan’s school years gave her the emotional stability that would serve her on a “difficult path.”
When Tristan was 7, her father died of a heart attack at his mother Wanda’s home.
In the immediate aftermath, Tristan’s mother made a “controversial” choice: She took her children to see him before the ambulance removed his body.
She wanted them to understand what had happened and have a chance to say goodbye, Tristan said. But it was a painful introduction to loss — an insistence on confronting reality, she said, that helped shape her bluntness.
“I’d rather be honest and hurt someone’s feelings than not,” she said. “That’s kind of where the struggle comes into my story. After that, I became a really withdrawn kid, and I was just not who I was anymore.”
Her mother and grandmother looked for a way to reach her, taking her to a miniature horse operation run by family friends Deana and Larry “Farmer” Olsen, who eventually gave her a horse of her own.
“I started working with horses there and kind of just fell in love,” Tristan said. “And they really helped me heal from the loss of my dad.
“I don’t really know how to explain it, but that human-animal bond … you can just sit in silence, brushing a horse, and it just relaxes you and brings you a joy.”
By the time she got to Marion High, Tristan was excelling in everything she did — a 4.0 GPA, sports, cheerleading, and 4-H activities. She met her future husband, classmate Calib Mallory.
Tristan had a strong preference for STEM classes.
“I would have rather done a worksheet of math problems than read a chapter in this book assigned by my English teacher,” she said.
And yet, that English teacher — Topher Rome — was one of her favorites.
He remembers both Tristan’s ability and her drive.
“One of the first things I noticed about Tristan when I had her in class was her determination,” Rome said. “When she set her mind on a goal, nothing would stop her, so it is no surprise that she has thrived in college and has succeeded at a task as difficult as veterinary school.”
Rome said her work ethic was “unrivaled” and that he was impressed by “how quickly she could pick up new ideas and concepts.”
But the high achiever hit a wall in veterinary school.
“Up until vet school, I never really studied for anything,” said Tristan, whose dual-credit courses at Butler Community College allowed her to enter the selective veterinary school just two years after high school. “I just got it. But in vet school, there is just such a mass amount of information, and I had to learn how to study properly for every class.”
She tried different approaches: group study for bacteriology, flash cards for other classes, rewriting notes and rewatching lectures. The process was trial and error.
“Going straight into vet school and not knowing how I needed to be studying, it was kind of like a nosedive right off the bat,” she said. “I never failed a class. I won’t say I’ve never gotten an F on a test, but it definitely takes time to figure out those study methods.”
Her adjustment came while she was juggling other major events in her first two years of vet school: planning her wedding, a car crash that worsened a long-standing migraine condition, COVID during finals, having to put down her horse Smoky, the death of her grandfather, a back injury and, two weeks later, the death of her mother from cancer.
“When my grandma said, ‘not an easy path,’ she definitely meant not an easy path,” Tristan said.
“I would spend every evening as soon as I got home until I went to bed studying, maybe four or five hours a night, and I still wasn’t getting it,” she said. “Especially coming from being a 4.0 straight-A student, that is stressful.”
She began to feel what she called imposter syndrome.
“What am I doing here?” she recalled thinking. “I feel like I don’t deserve to be here. I don’t belong because none of this is working.”
Tristan’s professor of equine theriogenology — veterinary reproductive science — Adam Basset, said that experience was common.
“People get straight A’s or something all through high school and undergrad, and then they get into vet school and they get their first B and they’re worried about it,” Basset said.
Grades matter enough to pass, he said, but “it’s not the grades that make the vet; rather, it’s the character.
“A good vet is somebody who can relate well to their clients and their patients,” he said.
During an equine field-service rotation with Basset, Tristan demonstrated the work ethic and calm temperament he thinks will serve her well.
“She’s thoughtful and she’s compassionate and she’s a hard worker,” Basset said. “Certainly having a good work ethic is a major part of being a good veterinarian, especially with large animals.”
He said she was diligent and approached each day positively, including late calls that extended beyond the expected workday.
“She never complained,” Basset said. “She was happy to go out and see the cases and get the experience.
“She’s calm. She doesn’t get flustered easily. That’s a really good quality because this is a high-stress profession.”
Her hope to work primarily with horses means she probably won’t return to practice in Marion County, which wouldn’t sustain that kind of work, she said.
But Marion remains close to her heart, as the place where a kitten could spark a dream that could come true, where teachers recognized her ability, and where horses helped her through grief.
Whenever she returns home, Tristan said, the first person she wants to see is her grandmother, Wanda.
“She’s my favorite person in the world,” she said. Without her, “I would be a very different person today.”
By her own account, in an interview where her stoic demeanor occasionally cracked into a warm smile, it has been a career path that spanned considerable hurdles from early childhood grief over her father’s sudden death, emotional struggles, and academic doubts after a stellar high school academic career capped by being a valedictorian.
Her father’s mother, Wanda Williams, helped raise Tristan and recounts how important horses — shared by family friends — were in soothing emotional reactions she had to her dad’s unexpected death.
“I have to cry if I tell these stories,” grandmother Wanda Williams said.
And she did while describing how the discipline of caring for and loving a series of horses during Tristan’s school years gave her the emotional stability that would serve her on a “difficult path.”
When Tristan was 7, her father died of a heart attack at mother Wanda William’s home.
In the immediate aftermath, Tristan’s mother made a “controversial” choice: She took her children to see him before the ambulance removed his body.
She wanted them to understand what had happened and have a chance to say goodbye, Tristan said. But it was a painful introduction to loss — an insistence on confronting reality, she said, that helped shape her bluntness.
“I’d rather be honest and hurt someone’s feelings than not,” she said. “That’s kind of where the struggle comes into my story. After that, I became a really withdrawn kid, and I was just not who I was anymore.”
Her mother and grandmother looked for a way to reach her, taking her to a miniature horse operation run by family friends Deana and Larry “Farmer” Olsen, who eventually gave her a horse of her own.
“I started working with horses there and kind of just fell in love,” Tristan said. “And they really helped me heal from the loss of my dad.
“I don’t really know how to explain it, but that human-animal bond … you can just sit in silence, brushing a horse, and it just relaxes you and brings you a joy.”
By the time she got to Marion High, Tristan was excelling in everything she did — a 4.0 GPA, sports, cheerleading, and 4-H activities. She met her future husband, classmate Calib Mallory.
Tristan had a strong preference for STEM classes.
“I would have rather done a worksheet of math problems than read a chapter in this book assigned by my English teacher,” she said.
And yet, that English teacher — Topher Rome — was one of her favorites.
He remembers both Tristan’s ability and her drive.
“One of the first things I noticed about Tristan when I had her in class was her determination,” Rome said. “When she set her mind on a goal, nothing would stop her, so it is no surprise that she has thrived in college and has succeeded at a task as difficult as veterinary school.”
Rome said her work ethic was “unrivaled” and that he was impressed by “how quickly she could pick up new ideas and concepts.”
But the high achiever hit a wall in veterinary school.
“Up until vet school, I never really studied for anything,” said Tristan, whose dual-credit courses at Butler Community College allowed her to enter the selective veterinary school just two years after high school. “I just got it. But in vet school, there is just such a mass amount of information, and I had to learn how to study properly for every class.”
She tried different approaches: group study for bacteriology, flash cards for other classes, rewriting notes and rewatching lectures. The process was trial and error.
“Going straight into vet school and not knowing any of like how I needed to be studying, it was kind of like a nosedive right off the bat,” she said. “I never failed a class. I won’t say I’ve never gotten an F on a test, but it definitely takes time to figure out those study methods.”
Her adjustment came while she was juggling other major events in her first two years of vet school: planning her wedding, a car crash that worsened a long-standing migraine condition, COVID during finals, having to put down her horse Smoky, the death of her grandfather, a back injury and, two weeks later, the death of her mother from cancer.
“When my grandma said, ‘not an easy path,’ she definitely meant not an easy path,” Tristan said.
“I would spend every evening as soon as I got home until I went to bed studying, maybe four or five hours a night, and I still wasn’t getting it,” she said. “Especially coming from being a 4.0 straight-A student, that is stressful.”
She began to feel what she called imposter syndrome.
“What am I doing here?” she recalled thinking. “I feel like I don’t deserve to be here. I don’t belong because none of this is working.”
Tristan’s professor of equine theriogenology — veterinary reproductive science — Adam Basset, said that experience was common.
“People get straight A’s or something all through high school and undergrad, and then they get into vet school and they get their first B and they’re worried about it,” Basset said.
Grades matter enough to pass, he said, but “it’s not the grades that make the vet; rather, it’s the character.”
“A good vet is somebody who can relate well to their clients and their patients,” he said.
During an equine field-service rotation with Basset, Tristan demonstrated the work ethic and calm temperament he thinks will serve her well.
“She’s thoughtful and she’s compassionate and she’s a hard worker,” Basset said. “Certainly having a good work ethic is a major part of being a good veterinarian, especially with large animals.”
He said she was diligent and approached each day positively, including late calls that extended beyond the expected workday.
“She never complained,” Basset said. “She was happy to go out and see the cases and get the experience.
“She’s calm. She doesn’t get flustered easily. That’s a really good quality in this profession because this is a high-stress profession.”
Her hope to work primarily with horses means she probably won’t return to practice in Marion County, which wouldn’t sustain that kind of work, she said.
But Marion remains close to her heart, as the place where a kitten could spark a dream that could come true, where teachers recognized her ability, and where horses helped her through grief.
When she returns home, Tristan said, the first person she wants to see is her grandmother, Wanda.
“She’s my favorite person in the world,” she said. Without her, “I would be a very different person today.”