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 3rd ,4th
and 5th 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.
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