Tuesday morning. Nine o'clock. Sunlight filters through the plate glass windows at Strickland Drugs on the Blanco square. The old wooden door creaks open and in steps a man dressed for work and his toddler son, who's carrying a green sippy cup filled with milk.

After conferring about a prescription, the two disappear among the four aisles of greeting cards and merchandise. "No, don't touch that," a masculine voice says from somewhere across the store. "Where'd you get that? Let's put it back.... OK, let's go get your prescription!"

Meanwhile, at the far end of the store, pharmacist Phil Strickland's talking on his telephone headset, trying to work out yet another medical insurance dilemma. "Until you get your deductible, you have to pay for it," he explains patiently.

Strickland, who was born and raised in Falfurrias, has filled

prescriptions in this Hill Country community of less than 1,600 people since 1976. It's a job he loves, despite the occasional frustrations. "I used to say I liked the pace, but it's gotten more hectic because of insurance," he says, leaning against a counter where he often stands, talking into his headset. "My assistants spend a lot of time on the phone -- on hold -- trying to solve insurance problems."

Growing up, he never imagined he might someday own his own drug store. "I graduated in '71 from the University of Houston with a bachelor of science degree in pharmacy," Strickland says. "My brother graduated with

a pharmacy degree a year before I went into school. I didn't have a real direction so I followed the same route."

After graduation, he married his wife, Frances, whom he'd met in school. The couple had one daughter, Amy, now 29, and one son, Bryan, 27 (the Stricklands have six granddaughters.) The family remained in the Houston area for nearly three years.

"Initially, I worked for Eckerd Drug and a clinic pharmacy at the medical center," Strickland recalls. "Then in 1974, we bought a pharmacy in Helotes. We ran that for two ...

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