Dr. Leonard A. Anderson of Glenwood City – 1975

Dr.  Leonard A. Anderson of Glenwood City – WVMA President 1975

During my presidency

      The federal area veterinarian, his name was Dr. Ray Biller. He lived in Balsam Lake, and he asked ked me if I was interested in being a candidate for president of the association. Thinking that he just needed names, I said sure, you can submit my name. Then it came down to a vet in Wausau, Dr. Norb Arnoldi, and his wife was a veterinarian for the state for a while. It came down to that, I thought there wasn't much of a chance because I wasn't well known in the state, but eventually I got it. I really enjoyed the meetings. We would try to visit all of the local associations throughout the state. While you're president-elect one of your roles is to visit all local associations and that was one of the parts that I think I enjoyed the most, but I didn't like the driving.

Annual meeting

       We had a hypnotist at the banquet. I don't remember that we had a speaker. We didn't as such, but we had a hypnotist that was very entertaining.

Veterinary school issue

       The school was being considered at that time and I frankly had a lot of indecision about if we needed the school. Of course, I'm up here pretty close to Minnesota, so that might have swayed some of my thinking about it. But in Minnesota, talking to the Dean and people from there, said they would increase the capacity and increase their numbers up to like 40 out of Wisconsin if we would make a compact with them. So, I had lots of indecision about a school.

       This was totally our feeling up here in northwest Wisconsin. It was probably 95 percent opposed to a school. So I kept questioning it. It wasn't very popular to say down there, especially to Bill O'Rourke, because he was gung-ho on the school and felt that that would enhance our prestige if we had a school in our state and I had no trouble believing that. You know, I just didn't think the school made that much difference, but it sounds like it's going and they've got it functioning well.

The changing profession

      The profession was changing even at that time and it looked promising. There were all kinds of ways of making a living, plus doing a good job, but I thought we should have used more of the techniques and lab work and that type of thing than what we were using. My partners weren't always convinced that we should spend money that way, but I would have preferred to have more, and maybe that was using them as a crutch. You still have to make a diagnosis somehow.

       One of the things I started trying was to get a program for so many dollars, I think the first figure I used was $26 per cow per year. I would do all the pregnancy work, and put magnets in all the heifers, dry cow treatment, then culture them, and worm the cows as they were coming fresh. This program was supposed to increase production by 480 pounds, they proved it in Wisconsin. Bangs vaccination of the heifers didn't sell very good.

       When I was practicing, every mile that use to have two or three farms, may not have any more. So I was just counting the road, coming in on Hwy. 128 from Hwy. 12, the number of farms that use to have cattle, and I think I counted 12 active dairy farms in 1960. And there are two now.

Final thoughts

       I kept thinking that I was sure I'd want to start practicing again. But it's changed enough that maybe, at my age, I'd have trouble coping with the paperwork, and the government regulations, and restrictions on types of medicines.

Burr Nussdorfer - Personal Comments

Good evening, this is Burr Nussdorfer, and I'm home. It's around 8p.m. after kind of a long day and I just thought that it might be worth a couple minutes to put a little addendum on the tape so to speak. Today was a real long day. We left early this morning and didn't get home until just a little bit ago. I would like to say that this finishes my

responsibility as far as the interviews are concerned, and that I've enjoyed the visits very much. The visits carried me into southwest Wisconsin, south central Wisconsin, north central Wisconsin, and today the last thing up in northwest Wisconsin. These doctors who were interviewed were of my era so to speak and their practices originally were mostly with food-producing animals. Dairy farm numbers have gone down greatly in all the practices that I visited but, oddly enough the personnel in these practices have increased in numbers and they are busy and are branching into different fields, so that's very encouraging. Another thing I thought was interesting was to hear about the families about all these different veterinarians, how successful practically all of them are; many of them are in professional fields. I think that attests to good family upbringing that so much of that we don't see now, so, Fred and our Historical Committee, I thank you for the opportunity to do these interviews.

Dr. Elvin K. Prather of Garnett, KS - 1974

Dr.  Elvin K. Prather of Garnett, KS - WVMA President 1974

Dr. Dale E. Kelley of Prairie du Sac – 1973

Dr. Dale E. Kelley of Prairie du Sac – WVMA President 1973

Dale E. Kelley, DVM

Photo:  Courtesy of Donna Kelley, wife of Dr. Dale Kelley

Personal information

       I graduated from Iowa State in 1951. I got interested in the veterinary profession when I was very young. I came from a home where there were four divorces. I went to 17 different schools before I graduated from high school so, when I got a Chesapeake Retriever from my natural father when I was age l4, I was thrilled to death with her, and spent hours and hours training her. Someone had given me advice that I should wait until she had gone through a heat period before having her spayed. I did so I took her down to Dr. Statter in Sioux City, Iowa. He spayed her: the surgery was very nice, went very well. After four days hospitalization, I brought her home. She contracted distemper about two weeks later and, subsequently, died. It was at that time that I decided to be a veterinarian.

      The years went by, I went in the service in 1944 and served in both the Army Air Force and the Naval Air Force as a cadet both times. I never got my wings. The war ended, I got discharged, and went back to school then to finish up my pre-vet requirements. Because both the Army and the Navy had a two-year college requirement before you entered flight service, they sent me to engineering school for two years, a little better than that actually, because I needed an extra year then to fulfill my pre-vet requirement. So, I went to Iowa State, finished up my pre-vet and was admitted to Iowa State.

      After graduation, I was deeply in debt, $3,000, so I took the highest paying job that anyone in the class had been offered, and it was $600 a month. I went to Early, Iowa, with Dr. Elvin J. Hopkins, a man with a marvelous work ethic, a super individual, but about all we did was vaccinate hogs. The summer I worked for him, we used more than a million and a half cc’s of hog cholera serum, and we vaccinated over 20,000 hogs for erysipelas.

       A friend of mine from Wisconsin called me one day and said, "You should come up to Sauk City, they desperately need a veterinarian up here." So, on a September day, I drove up to look at this place that my friend had told me about. I drove through Fair Valley along the Wisconsin River, and the leaves were turning. It was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. I thought, why would anyone want to live anyplace else. As it happened, there was a little building available for an office. There was a lady that lived adjacent to the building that was willing to serve as my receptionist, and I could room and board with her besides. 

I mean, God was looking out for me. So, I went back to Early and told Dr. Hopkins I wanted to leave. He gave me his blessing, "cause they didn't do much in the winter time there anyway." and I came to Sauk City in September 1951.

       My wife, Donna, and I have two sons (Joe is a veterinarian who practices with me), two daughters and five grandchildren.

Veterinary practice

       I would say ours was a rural practice or a general practice. We had a special night for small animals. Friday nights we took care of small animals, and late in the afternoon, in case of emergencies. When I came to Sauk City, we were right in the midst of the brucellosis eradication program. There was so much work that I would try to test at least 100 head of cattle every morning before breakfast, come in for breakfast, then go out on routine calls, mostly bovine. Small animal work would be late in the afternoon. Because of the regulatory work that we had to do, it soon got so that there was just way more work than I could take care of. That's when Dr. Roger Winans joined me in 1954. We had helped each other with large animal surgery quite a few times since he moved to Prairie du Sac.

       He arrived about the summer of 1954 and moved into Dr. Steuber's old practice. We worked together quite well, so I suggested to him one night after we had a sow caesarian, why don't we consider a partnership. So, we did. I was able to take my first vacation then in three years. When Rog joined me, we were maybe between 5 and 10 percent small animal and I did enjoy it. I really liked the small animal work much better than the large animal work. And that's been the way the practice has changed through the years. We got a third veterinarian, and then a fourth, and then a fifth and, at that time, it was just impossible for five men to have expertise in both small animal medicine and large animal medicine. I had been doing most of the small animal work for about 12 years, and in 1980, we parted ways. I took the small animal practice, and the other four guys stayed with the large animal practice, and it has worked out beautifully. We're on exceedingly good terms and everybody's much happier this way. I certainly am.

TB eradication

       I had come from Iowa where we would start vaccinating hogs at 4:30 in the morning, so I started making appointments with these farmers to TB test their cattle at 4:30. Almost none of them said anything. I said I'd be there at 4:30 and none of them said, well, I don't get up until 6:00, they just said, well okay. So, I'd get there at 4:00 and do their cattle, and they hadn't done their milking. Naturally, that upset the cows, and it just didn't work out well. It took me maybe two or three weeks before I realized that we had to change the way we were doing things, so I tried to get out there as soon as they were through milking. I'd make arrangements with the farmers, the early risers I could get first and the late risers I'd get later. I had very few problems with the farmers as far as cooperation.. .a few of course...but nothing big. There was so much work to do that there was no back-biting between the veterinarians in this area.

      During the Korean conflict, because I had only spent 19 months in the service, I got a notice from the draft board that I should report for duty. So I went down and took the physical. Dr. Holmes was the area veterinarian at the time and when he found out that I might be called back into service, he called Harry O'Connell from my office and said, "You gotta do something, Harry. We can't let this guy go, we need him here too badly." Subsequently, I got a notice from the draft board that I didn't have to report for duty. Anyway, it was largely because of the regulatory work that kept me from going back in the service.

  

During my presidency

      The vet tech program started in 1973. The dues increase started in 1973. I think those were the only major changes though we had our meeting at the Pfister, instead of the Schroeder. The greatest challenge we had during our term was to address issues other than the vet school because, at that time, the vet school issue was such a hot thing. Dr. O'Rourke's enthusiasm about establishing a veterinary school in Wisconsin had a tendency to overshadow some of the other issues confronting us. We had other issues, as well. Lay pregnancy testing was a big issue. The role of veterinary technicians, their education, their limitations; regulating them or licensing them was another important issue during my term of office.

       The executive board met at different locations, as I recall. I remember they met at my home once. Dr. Gentile was on the board at that time. I respected his candor, advice and sense of humor. Board meetings were also held in the Dells quite often because of the more centralized location. The annual meeting was held at the Pfister at that time, on the third week of January prior to my term. Then, because of the Super Bowl, we changed it.  During my term, it was held the 3^rd ,4^th  and 5^th of February, and it just happened that my birthday is the fourth.

        During my term, it was held the third, fourth, and fifth of February, and it just happened that my birthday is the fourth. Someone sent in a birthday cake during the banquet (I think it was my friends from the Cayman Veterinary Service that did it), but to this day, I don't know for sure who sent that big cake in. Those were interesting years for me because, in addition to being president of the WVMA, I was involved in the Cayman Veterinary Practice, and we would have to go down to the island three or four times a year. It was beginning to put a little pressure on my partners at home with me being gone about six weeks out of the year, (though they also had six weeks off), but we worked it out anyway.

Back to the annual meeting, I contacted Orin Samuelson from WGN to see if he would be our speaker. He was eager to come up and address our banquet. I can't remember if we had a keynote speaker at the meeting or not. If there was, I think maybe it was Orin again. I'm not sure. I know he was our banquet speaker and was very well received.

Veterinary school issue

        I came to Sank City in the fall of 1951 and in, I think it was 952, Dr. Sam McNutt from the Veterinary Science Department, conducted weekly practical pathology seminars for anyone that was interested. Ed Pope, who was director of the lab, Bob Hall and Wayne Birch were at the meetings, and once in a while Barney Easterday. We discussed the vet school quite a bit at that time. Roy Nichols was the one that seemed to be championing establishing a vet school in Wisconsin. Barney Easterday, at that time, was bitterly opposed to a veterinary school, probably because the talk from the legislature was that if we had a vet school it would have to be at River Falls. Or perhaps because they had a school at Minnesota already, it really didn't make sense. Anyway, Roy Nichols continued to champion the cause of a vet school in Madison and, of course, subsequently, his dream did sort of come to pass. It seemed to me like Roy never got the credit for the vet school that both Bill and Mr. Frankey did.

Presidential speech

     I just happen to have the notes of the speech I gave at the banquet when I was installed as president of the WVMA and so I'm going to read it.

      "Now, as the WVMA begins its second year under Irish rule, oh yes, of course, Dr. Carr is as Irish as I am, I understand he even has papers to prove it. Seriously, though, it's with great pride and humility that I accept this office. I realize that this office reflects the image of veterinary medicine in Wisconsin, and I will endeavor to make that image one of integrity and responsibility.

      "Once again this year our profession has been given the challenge to serve the citizens of this state by providing quality professional service to all parts of the state, negating the need for unqualified lay help. This year, through the help of Dr. Link's office, Mr. Frankey, the Legislative Committee, and the Examining Board, we hope to provide some type of certification for vet techs. Yesterday Dr. Harrold very ably explained why we need vet techs. I, too, feel they are a real asset to our profession and deserve the right to be properly recognized.

       "In other areas of education, I feel the citizens of this state need, want, and should have a school of veterinary medicine. This year we will continue to pursue the establishment of such a school, perhaps by having an unbiased study conducted and this information disseminated to responsible people in our state government. Your insurance committee, consisting of Drs. Barth, Coshun, and Bradford have done a fine job of putting together a comprehensive insurance program. This year we'll be able to offer you this insurance at a substantial saving.

      "This year we will have a legislative representative to aid our executive secretary. In the past, Dr. O'Rourke has played a dual role for us as our legislative representative and executive secretary and has done the job very capably. With the anticipation of legislation for vet tech accreditation, etc., I'm sure Dr. O'Rourke will welcome the assistance. All in all, our association is keeping pace with progress. We've even voted to increase our dues. And with the continued interest and leadership on the executive board, I hope we'll be able to serve you as well this year as last year."

Changes in the profession

       It seems to me like the first 10 years of my practice was sort of like manual labor. The last 10 years of my practice, I was able to use my education and experience. Of course, the last 10 years then were the most enjoyable.

       When I came to Sank City in 1951, I had just a so-so relationship with the surrounding veterinarians. The surrounding veterinarians were very old and actually were a little afraid of competition. But, after two or three years, I developed a wonderful set of colleagues and every one of the neighboring practitioners got to be a friend and I enjoyed this relationship for many, many years. As a matter of fact, not only my surrounding practitioner colleagues, but veterinarians all over the country seemed to have sort of a fraternity. I could stop at most any veterinary clinic, any place in the United States and say, hey, I'm a veterinarian from Wisconsin, and probably get invited for lunch or a cup of coffee or a drink someplace.

        I'm afraid that we're losing this. I'm afraid we're back to the concern about competition and the backbiting, etc., and I would hope that maybe we should stop and rethink about where we're going, and what we're doing, and try and get back to the good old fraternity of veterinarians again.

Dr. Dennis J. Carr of Montfort – 1972

Dr. Dennis J. Carr of Montfort  – WVMA President 1972

Dennis J. Carr, DVM 

 Photo: Courtesy of Dr. Dennis Carr

Editor’s Note:  Dr. Carr served the WVMA and the State of Wisconsin well over his professional career. He received the WVMA Meritorious Service Award in 1979, was on the AVMA Executive Board from 1974 to 1981, served as the Wisconsin State Veterinarian from 1988 till 1992, served on the Veterinary Examining Board in the late 1960s and received the WVMA Veterinarian of the Year Award in 1989.

During my presidency

       In 1972, and that's been a good number of years ago, we were more focused on a fire engine type practice. Now, with the vet school in Madison, our practitioners are becoming more herd health oriented. Much more of a professional veterinarian, if that's the right word to use. When I started in practice in 1956, the vast number of veterinarians in the state were of the mixed practice type who were a jack-of-all-trades and, essentially, maybe not a master of anything. They could treat any species when I graduated from Iowa State in 1956; we use to think we were well based in basic medicine. You could treat an elephant or a canary. But the breed of veterinarians now are much more narrowly focused, whether it be large animal, small animal, swine health, equine medicine, or whatever, and even getting into the aquaculture now.

        Being WVMA President was an excellent experience. We toured like they do now. We visited the different local veterinary associations and I might say, that the Coulee Valley in those days was one of my favorites, next to our Southwest Veterinary Association, as far as the congeniality and the type of a veterinarian that I could relate to. But it was a challenge to get around and to meet the various segments and also, at that time, the president was the alternate delegate to the AVMA convention. And that was a highlight of my term in office.

        At that time, we were trying to get more veterinarians involved in the local association, as well as the state associations. Dr. O'Rourke was our executive secretary, and I know he worked very hard getting these committees to meet on a routine basis. We tried to get more people involved and try to explain the benefits of organized veterinary medicine to the general practitioner to get them more closely involved with their colleagues.

       It seemed we were more concerned with lay practitioners than we are now. One of our challenges at that time was trying to hold lay pregnancy diagnosis down to a trot so to speak. The University at that time had had a training program to research pregnancy checking and they developed two or three so-called experts and all through the years, they tried to expand their lay pregnancy. And at that time, it was one of the challenges we had. Legislatively, I can't think that we had anything else. We always fought for support of the rabies vaccination program to be more closely related to the practitioner, rather than turn it loose to the general populace. At that time, brucellosis and to some degree TB was still one of the things we were trying to keep a handle on and trying to generate money from the legislature to our state veterinarian's office. Government programs use to be a very nice pa11 of our practice. It seemed like for a number of years, always vaccinated for brucellosis for most calves in May. I don't why that was...but it just happened. But that was nice money in those days.

WVMA Executive Board

      The board met three times a year, plus during the state convention. We met most of the time in Madison, although occasionally we'd get up to the Wisconsin Dells for a meeting. Of course, we met in Milwaukee generally for the state meeting and had a board meeting then, but we didn't get around the state quite like they do now. I appreciate the fact they're getting out and moving around the state where it's been such a burden for some of the people that are coming in from a long drive, like the people in northeastern and northwestern part of the state. They get a chance now to meet half way to those destinations sometimes.

Veterinary Examining Board

       I served on the Examining Board I believe in the late 1960s. I served with Leonard Winn and Dr. Metzig and Keith Downy. It was a gubernatorial appointment. I served on a panel one time in that era on the prophylactic use of antibiotics and I remember I ran into a buzz saw. There were people there from some of the drug companies and, of course, they were wanting to promote the prophylactic use of antibiotics and I was of the opinion they should be strictly related to the therapeutic use.

      I enjoyed the experience. It was quite a challenge trying to stay ahead of these young graduates or even to stay even with them. And I was impressed with their abilities. We all had a few little trick questions, and I was impressed...the kids were coming through. They were pretty well educated. At that time, I always wondered in my own mind what our credentials were that we should be up there quizzing these young people that were coming out of school. They had been quizzed by experts, professionals, and we were trying to come up with questions to trip them up. I wondered the sound basis of that.

       I always figured our job was to sort out the square pegs and keep them out of the roundhole situations, but as far as trying to trip them up on veterinary medicine, I thought that we weren't qualified to do that, being a bunch of old practitioners, so to speak. And since the national exams have come along, it's done an excellent job of evaluating these candidates for licensure.

State veterinarian

       Being state veterinarian was very positive experience. The state veterinarian job at that time, which evolved more so now due to budget cutting, was a lessening of staff. A bigger challenge because we had less people to fight diseases and still had the issue of rabies. TB surfacing in the elk and red deer population. We had our work cut out for us and, consequently, it's more of a challenge now than it was back years previous. But, I say it was a positive experience, and it was certainly quite an experience for an old practitioner to get into the bureaucratic set-up and do business with civil service employees and try to keep them happy and keep things rolling.

       When I was state veterinarian, we had several requests for importation of animals from other countries and other states. Some of the different ones I can remember were really exotic. They had hissing cockroaches from Egypt. They'd perform in carnival acts. And then there was a request from Alaska. A guy wanted to bring in some octagon gnu, I believe, is what they call them. We didn't allow it. If they got loose, that would be a terrible problem. They were native to the mountain ranges of South America. And this guy in Alaska wanted to bring one into Wisconsin. Another time, a fella from Ohio imported some reindeer from Alaska sold part of them to his partner here in Wisconsin. We found out that they were infected with Brucella suis, so we had to shut that importation down in Wisconsin. One crated one fell off of the conveyer in Seattle and killed a bunch of them, so that was less to worry about.

AVMA Executive Board

      One of the more interesting jobs I had was being on the executive board of the AVMA representing Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois form 1974 to 198 I. That was an excellent experience. It always brought back the fact that Wisconsin had some of the best educated, most professional veterinarians in the country, and possibly that's due to the type of practice these people are in. The dairy practice is prone to be very professional, and so is small animal. I always figured Wisconsin had the best veterinarians in the country and, with the advent of the vet school, I'm sure they've been updated that much more.

       It was an excellent experience, because you got into the nuts and bolts of organized veterinary medicine, into the different programs, and also the relationship with the federal government, legislators, and so forth. So it was quite an interesting program.

Final thoughts

        If I had to stress one thing, I would stress for the young veterinarians to get involved in organized veterinary medicine. It's been a great joy for me and a great stimulation for practice. Get involved in your local association and try to get involved in some of the other entities ...the examining boards, and executive board and you'll always get rewarded ten times of what you put into it.

Dr. Raymond G. Pahle of West Allis - 1971

Dr. Raymond G. Pahle of West Allis (ISU ’54) – WVMA President 1971

  

 Raymond G. Pahle, DVM

Photo:  Courtesy of Dr. Ray Pahle

       I was president in 1971.  Previous to that, I was chairman of the Animal Technician Committee for the State of Wisconsin, and we had worked out a program with the Madison Area Technical College and were ready to institute an Animal Technician Training Program, a two-year curriculum for training animal technicians.  In my travels around the state to talk to local associations, I’d gotten an awful lot of questions and quite a bit of flack, in fact, from veterinarians, some of them claiming that we were training people to be veterinarians and were going to hurt their businesses.  But, fortunately, the majority of the veterinarians were for it and eventuality the technician school did come to reality; and to this day, I think it’s pretty well proven itself.

       Regarding my other activities in veterinary medicine, I’m the only President of the American Animal Hospital Association from Wisconsin, I was fortunate to be president there in 1981 and 1982.  There is another thing that John Kuenzi and I can take credit for.  We were the first ones to use gas anesthetic machines in the city.  St. Michael’s Hospital wanted to get rid of some anesthetic equipment, and they called me.  I went over there and picked up a couple old machines and John took one; and between the two of us, we learned how to do gas anesthesia.

       I did use my experience with the WVMA to carry over to the American Animal Hospital Association because I was one of the first chairmen of the Public Relations Committee of the Animal Hospital Association.   In those days, public relations was not really felt to be too important; it was just coming into the forefront, and we felt we had to do something to sell ourselves.  In AAHA we did a lot more in public relations and I think I carried some of the Wisconsin philosophy over into the national organization.

WVMA

      I was Public Relations chairman for a number of years, and probably the most success we had was with the State Fair exhibit. We started an exhibit at the Wisconsin State Fair in 1974. This was done to promote the veterinary school and to do something about public relations work on animal overpopulation. So we did surgical demonstrations - spaying and neutering - for about 10 or 11 days at the State Fair every year since 1974 and it's still going on. The initial response to that was very negative from several people - Animal Protective League and several other organizations were very upset at first that this was going to happen. Fortunately, we had the backing of the humane societies and Dr. Bill O'Rourke. I never will forget the support that he gave us, otherwise this thing would never have been successful.

       Probably the most favorite letter I ever got was four years later from the Animal Protective League. We had decided that maybe we were overexposing ourselves and we were going to stop the surgical demonstrations. This letter came, begging us to continue the procedure because it had done so much for animal population control. It was a complete turnaround from the groups that initially were opposed to us. The surgical demonstrations are pretty much in the same format that we started in 1974, doing four surgeries a day for the entire length of the Wisconsin State Fair. Budget-wise, it practically cost our association nothing because the state fair picked up a great majority of the price for running this operation. To start the state fair project, we received $2,500 each from Fromm and from Hill's so we built a $5,000 surgical suite at the state fair. About two years ago, the state fair actually built an entire Animal Science building, including a surgical suite and other animal exhibits, so we've graduated from a very small surgical suite to a more modern enlarged surgical suite for our surgical demonstrations.

When I was PR chairman, the AVMA had a secretaries and PR chairmen meeting. The secretaries and the PR chairmen from 48 states were invited to Chicago for this meeting. And it was at this meeting that we heard about surgical demonstrations at the Missouri State Fair – they were the ones that had started this - and I poked Bill and said, "Hey, that would be a great job for us." "Oh," he said, "that's too much of a job. That's a lot of work. We'd never get that done." Well, again that piqued my interest. So, I told him I'd like to run with it, and after that he gave me the fullest support of the Executive Board of Wisconsin. If it hadn't been for Bill, I don't think this thing would really have gone off because he was very much behind us. But it was the cooperation of all the veterinarians in the state that really made it go. It was a tremendous group of people to work with.

Other activities

        Regarding my other activities in veterinary medicine, I'm the only President of the American Animal Hospital Association from Wisconsin. I was fortunate to be president there in 1981 and 1982. There is another thing that John Kuenzi and I can take credit for. We were the first ones to use gas anesthetic machines in the city. St. Michael's Hospital wanted to get rid of some anesthetic equipment, and they called me. I went over there and picked up a couple old machines and John took one; and between the two of us, we learned how to do gas anesthesia.

       I did use some of my experience with the WVMA to carry over to the American Animal Hospital Association because I was one of the first chairmen of the Public Relations Committee of the American Animal Hospital Association. In those days, public relations were not really felt to be too important; it was just coming into the forefront, and we felt we had to do something to sell ourselves. In AAHA we did a lot more in public relations and I think I carried some of the Wisconsin philosophy over into the national organization.

       While with AAHA, I was on the Board for about eight years, starting out as just a representative from Wisconsin, then a district representative, and then eventually President of AAHA. I was fortunate to do a lot of traveling. I know one year I had to go to 27 different meetings, and I actually took a leave of absence from my practice and hired another veterinarian for a short while so I could get away a little bit more. I enjoyed the experience very much. I was able to travel all over the country - Alaska, Hawaii - for meetings and made a lot of good friends. I think to this day, I could almost go to every state in the union and stay with some veterinarian I know because of the relationship with this national organization.

Personal information

        I worked for my father in a meat market in West Allis and right across the street there was a veterinary hospital owned by a Dr. Sullivan, which is now the West Allis Animal Hospital. I always used to wander over there in my free time to watch them and he would show me some things and finally, after awhile, I told him I would like to become a veterinarian. He said, "That's the worst thing you could ever do." He said that's no life for you, there's no money in it, and he just tried to discourage me.

Well, that piqued my interest, and I wasn't discouraged. Ever since I was a freshman in high school, I wanted to be a veterinarian. I went that route and when I was drafted into the Army, I got into the Veterinary Corps as an enlisted man. After being discharged from the Army, I enrolled at Iowa State College for my career in veterinary medicine.

       I graduated in 1954 and started there in 1948. I know in my veterinary career, I thought they only had five years to go; but, while I was in pre-vet, they added another year, so I had to go six years. As far as my family's concerned, we had five children, one son and four daughters.

One last comment.

       My first wife, Ethel Marie Pahle, was really an inspiration to me, and very helpful in our practice. She worked right alongside me in our practice. And without her, I don't think I ever would have gotten anywhere. She, unfortunately, passed away of cancer when she was only 47 years of age, but she will always be remembered. The Wisconsin Veterinary Medical Association Auxiliary honored her, and there is a scholarship award given by the Animal Technician School each year, the Ethel Pahle Award, to an outstanding student at the Animal Tech School Program at Madison Area Technical College. I remarried another wonderful gal, Clarice, and I have been blessed to have had two great women in my life. After 43 years of practicing small animal medicine, I retired in July 1997.

Dr. Ronaldean Pawlisch of Broadhead - 1970

Dr. Ronaldean Pawlisch of Brodhead - WVMA President 1970 

Ronaldean Pawlisch, DVM

  Photo: Courtesy of Dr. Dean Pawlisch

        During my term in office, our Wisconsin Practice Act was challenged.   Dr. Roland Anderson from Elkhorn had a client whose cow had been aborted by a lay pregnancy examiner.  The suit was brought to court against the examiner and the co-op.  Rock Valley Association hired an outside law firm to prepare a side brief, thus helping to establish a solid case against the lay examiner.  In a short trial, only Dr. Lyle of Waukesha and Bill O’Rourke testified (Bill over-whelmed the court) in Elkhorn.  The case was won and the Practice Act stood.  However, the group of farmers that were involved went before the legislature and got a bill passed to grandfather the three lay examiners and they continued to practice examining cows for pregnancy.

        Several changes were made in the annual winter meeting.  There were increased complaints about the facilities and there was a decrease in attendance.  The executive board voted to move from the Schroeder Hotel to the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee.  Fro the program, at the banquet, I engaged the New Glarus singers and flag throwers.  Because of the Swiss theme, we decided to give each exhibitor and speaker a package of Swiss cheese in appreciation, from the WVMA.  By the way, as a matter of history, a group charged $175, plus 10 cents per mile for their program.  The program was accepted with enthusiasm and high acclaim.

       Mastitis was a very important issue to most practitioners at this time, so our professional program emphasized that problem.  We had three practitioners on the program.

       Our summer program was proceeded by a meeting conducted by Dr. Robert Madson and Dr. O’Rourke for the presidents and secretaries of the local associations.  It was an effort to establish better communications between the state and local associations.

       Dr. Ray Pahle and his committee hired a veterinary director of the Animal Technician School at MATC.   Dr. Emil Roth was hired as the veterinary director at MATC.  An attempt was made about 1965 to establish the Wisconsin Association of Professions (WAP), consisting of nine professions.  The organization was spearheaded by Executive Secretary, Howard Brower.  It was  meant to have legislative clout, bur some refused to include the chiropractors in the group.  They were to be developed into a splinter group.  Dr. O’Rourke and I were responsible for the speaker at the first all-day convention.  We acquired the vice-president of the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago to speak.

        A volunteer group organized the Academy of Veterinary Practice.   Dr. Don Postle from the University Extension Department of Veterinary Science started to develop it.  He resigned to go to Cornell because the university there guaranteed to educate his children.  Dr. Richard Bristol replaced him and developed the program further.   The individual records for continued education were placed in the main frame computer at the University of Wisconsin and it became so fouled up that Dr. Robert Madson’s wife, Peg Madson, did the entire recording by hand.  Dr. Fred Born was commissioned to design the lapel pin.

Personal information

       I'm a native Badger, born in the town of Baraboo, Wisconsin, and raised in the village of North Freedom. I was always interested in animals and thought farmers needed help with their sick livestock. However, I never realized how difficult it would be to become a veterinarian. My education was interrupted a couple of years during World War II, as I joined the Navy, serving in the submarine service for most of my two years.

      Upon entering college, the first words from my advisor, Bonner Bill Morgan, were “Are you willing to spend four years here at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, before getting into a vet school?” I told him, whatever it took! There were 209 pre-vets at the time, on the Madison campus alone. Only a few actually became veterinarians. I became extremely discouraged and frustrated at times. After submitting letters to many colleges, Michigan State wrote back that I lacked seven credits of European history. Kansas took students only west of the Mississippi River. Illinois was just starting and would only accept straight "A" students. Some schools would only accept resident students. I was accepted and graduated from Minnesota in 1954.

       Our oldest son, Ray, had a similar experience. After getting his master's degree from the University of Wisconsin, he was finally accepted into Michigan State School of Veterinary Medicine. To my surprise, he was willing to come into practice with our group. My wife and I have two other children. Our daughter is a nurse and the other son is an engineer.

Veterinary school issue

       I became extremely interested in the State of Wisconsin developing a School of Veterinary Medicine after my experiences. In my opinion, a parasite is never as strong as its host. We were defeated at legislative hearings in 1969. One individual persuaded the committee against us.

       Speakers for a school included educated and astute individuals such as Dean Pound and David Berman, who forgot more about Brucellosis than most of us will ever know! We were not listened to and most of the legislators had already made up their minds.

       In April 1970, we traveled to Chicago to hear a hastily prepared Moran report from a supposedly independent study. This report was a compilation of statistics showing that there was no need for another veterinary school. It was a very damaging report to our cause. The school finally materialized, and I now can smile for those so vehemently opposed to it were some of the first to use the facilities. Also, some of their children have been accepted as students in the veterinary school.

During his presidency

       During my term in office, our Wisconsin Practice Act was challenged. Dr. Roland Anderson from Elkhorn had a client whose cow had been aborted by a lay pregnancy examiner. A suit was brought to court against the examiner and the co-op. Rock Valley Association hired an outside law firm to prepare a side brief, thus helping to establish a solid case against the lay examiner. In a short trial, only Dr. Lyle of Waukesha and Bill O'Rourke testified (Bill over-whelmed the court) in Elkhorn. The case was won and the Practice Act stood. However, the group of farmers that were involved went before the legislature and got a bill passed to grandfather the three lay examiners and they continued to practice examining cows for pregnancy.

Annual meeting and summer meeting

        Several changes were made in the annual winter meeting. There were increased complaints about the facilities and there was a decrease in attendance. The executive board voted to move from the Schroeder Hotel to the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee. For the program, at the banquet, I engaged the New Glarus singers and flag throwers. Because of the Swiss theme, we decided to give each exhibitor and speaker a package of Swiss cheese in appreciation, from the WVMA. By the way, as a matter of history, the group charged $175, plus 10 cents per mile for their program. The program was accepted with enthusiasm and high acclaim.

        Mastitis was a very important issue to most practitioners at this time, so our professional program emphasized that problem. We had three practitioners on the program.

        Our summer program was proceeded by a meeting conducted by Dr. Robert Madson and Dr. O'Rourke for the presidents and secretaries of the local associations. It was an effort to establish better communications between the state and the local associations.

Wisconsin Association of Professionals

       Dr. Ray Pahle and his committee hired a veterinary director of the Animal Technician School at MATC Dr. Emil Roth was hired as the veterinary director at MATC An attempt was made about 1965 to establish the Wisconsin Association of Professions (WAP), consisting of nine professions. The organization was spearheaded by Executive Secretary, Howard Brower. It was meant to have legislative clout, but some refused to include the chiropractors in the group. They were to be developed into a splinter group. Dr. O'Rourke and I were responsible for the speaker at the first all-day convention. We acquired the vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago to speak.

Academy of Veterinary Practice

       A volunteer group organized the Academy of Veterinary Practice. Dr. Don Pastol from the University Extension Department of Veterinary Science started to develop it. He resigned to go to Cornell because the university there guaranteed to educate his children. Dr. Richard Bristol replaced him and developed the program further. The individual records for continued education were placed in the main frame computer at the University of Wisconsin and it became so fouled up that Dr. Robert Madson's wife, Peg Madson, did the entire recording by hand. Dr. Fred Born was commissioned to design the lapel pin.

Final thoughts

       There were many changes in our practice from the time I started to retirement. When I went into partnership with Dr. G.M. Miller in 1954, we practiced in a converted chicken coop. We then moved to a three-car garage. In 1960 we built and moved into a modem veterinary clinic. Due to expansion and information explosion, we added computers, although we had two-way radios practically from the start of our practice. Our wives were a very intricate part of our serving the public by answering the phone, keeping books and billing. Many of the drugs that we used were taken off the market or restricted. I said about the only thing left that could be used in practice would be a vinegar douche and carrot oil. Both client and personnel problems have changed little. There are so many human beings of different persuasions that need to be managed. Costs have escalated, both in education and materials. Gender is changing the way veterinary medicine is both perceived and practiced. Some things are cyclical, now there are more horses in Winnebago County in Illinois than there were in the horse days.

               

However, it seems veterinary medicine will survive and go with the flow.

Editor’s note:  After contacting Dr. Dean Pawlisch, in July 2014, he wanted to add the following text:

The need for veterinary medicine is not new.  Back in Job’s time they recognized this.

Job 12:7-8

⁷ “But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
    or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
⁸ or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
    or let the fish in the sea inform you.

New International Version (NIV)

I don’t believe in one medicine per se.

        Veterinary medicine has too many unanswered questions.  I remember complaining to Dr. Elmer Woeffler that we were not getting NIH grants that we should be getting.  Elmer said, “Remember, Dean the human being is the most important arrival on the planet.”

       We need to listen to the engineers, physiologists, soil scientists, sociologists, educators, and technologists in order to advance veterinary medicine in this global economy and environment.

Two significant events that occurred during my presidency were:

        We worked hard to establish a volunteer continuing education program because I felt you can’t legislate a thirst for knowledge.  Later it would required by law.

        We were again defeated when Governor Lucey vetoed the veterinary bill to establish a veterinary school.

My picture includes my wife.  I feel our spouses are an integral part of any practice. 

My wife even wrote my obituary.

 We as veterinarians should keep in mind the advice Mother Teresa gave, “People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.  If you are kind,people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.   Be kind anyway.  If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.  Succeed anyway.  If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway.  What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway.  If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  Be happy anyway.  The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Give your best anyway.  In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.”