PHOTO BY BILL McDONALD Lampasas native and longtime pharmacist Max Berry has an exciting future planned after he retires. Here, Berry fills a prescription at the counter in Wal-Mart, where he has been since closing The Pill Box in 1993. After more than four decades in the pharmacy business, Max Berry is trading his mortar and pestle for traveling and golf, and he couldn't be happier.

None of the typical retiree worries plague him: "Will there be enough to do to fill a day?" or "What if I get bored?"

On the contrary, Berry might well ask how he can pack everything he wants to do into a single day's time.

Berry is a pharmacist at Wal- Mart, but he might never have had the opportunity to dispense pills without the generosity of his first employers, Clyde and Reba Fretwell, former owners of Lampasas Drug.

Berry, who had worked for the Fretwells since his freshman year in high school, did janitorial work, jerked soda and assisted in basically everything except dispensing medications.

"My opportunities were pretty limited," said Berry. "My family was not wealthy. I would have had to work my way through school, and I hate to think where I would have ended up without the Fretwells."

The 1957 Lampasas High School graduate was working for the Fretwells when the Mother's Day flood hit that year, virtually destroying Lampasas Drug.

Berry then borrowed money from his father, and for two years he studied liberal arts at Tarleton College.

When Fretwell reopened his store in 1959, he offered to help his protege go back to school to obtain a pharmacy degree if Berry would agree to return to Lampasas to work for the couple.

"By then, I knew I really wanted that profession. It was all I ever really wanted," Berry said. "My intention was always to come back to Lampasas because it is my home. I was born and reared here, and this is where I want to be.

"The Fretwells gave me an opportunity, and I jumped on it."

He earned his pharmacy degree from the University of Houston in 1963, and returned to the employ of Lampasas Drug.

In 1972, Berry struck out on his own and opened the Pill Box Pharmacy. He operated his store in several locations in town until he built his own store in 1979.

His wife, Wanda, then joined him in the pharmacy, selling gifts. When Berry began to handle medical equipment, Mrs. Berry took care of the billing.

The store closed in 1993, when Berry sold his files and merchandise to Wal-Mart.

"I told a friend of mine that if someone would buy me out, I would be willing to sell. My friend told someone at Wal-Mart, and they did it. I went to work for them 15 years ago."

It was a difficult decision, said the pharmacist, made easier because it would cut his 6 1/2-day work week to about four days. "I was tired of working such long hours, and I didn't get to spend as much time with my family as I liked."

Berry also said when assistant and technician Nadine Feild left the Pill Box to study accounting, that made his decision somewhat easier.

"Nadine was a wonderful assistant, and she was such a help to me through the years, but I know she wanted to go to school for her CPA license."

As Berry readies for retirement, he said he looks forward to the many activities there are for retirees who love to travel.

Though Mrs. Berry is a vocational counselor who isn't ready to retire anytime soon, the couple still plan to take a number of trips.

They recently returned from Ankara, Turkey, where they visited with their son, Lance. They also traveled to Istanbul and toured the Black Sea.

They plan to take a cruise in November that kicks off in Italy and will take them back to the Black Sea.

A recent trip to Hawaii also was taken, and the Berrys aim to revisit Spain, where they will have a place to stay with two foreignexchange students (sisters) they reared.

"We love to travel," said Berry of himself and his wife. "And we plan to do a lot more of it."

He also wants to take up golf again, a sport he hasn't had much time for in recent years. Hunting and fishing also are pastimes he plans to enjoy.

"I mostly hunt with my grandsons (Hunter, 16, and Caden, 12, who live with their mother, Lesley, in Abilene)," said the longtime pharmacist.

The Berrys also will continue their more-than-18-year tradition of staying at their getaway, a trailer situated at LBJ Lake near Inks Lake. "It's right on the water, and our grandsons love to join us there to play with the expensive toys -- jet skis and a boat. Those are great times for all of us," he said.

Back on dry land, Berry said he will fill in at Wal-Mart's pharmacy on an as-needed basis a couple of times per month.

Attending Texas Pharmacy Association conventions allows him to mingle with longtime friends and colleagues while earning continuing education credits. He must have 30 hours every two years to sustain his pharmacy license.

His full-time tenure is soon ending at Wal-Mart, and Berry looks forward to the beginning of his retirement.

"I worried about getting sick and having to retire before I actually wanted to retire. My wife and I like to travel and spend time with our kids and grandkids. There are a lot of things I still want to do.

"I've worked for a long time -- over 40 years -- and now I just want to play for a while."