Dr. Howard H. Krueger of Evansville – 1976

 Dr.  Howard H. Krueger of Evansville – WVMA President 1976

Photo: Courtesy from Dr. Howard Krueger

       The Wisconsin Veterinary Medical Association has been a big part of my professional life.  Dr. Ferguson made sure I joined the Rock Valley Veterinary Association and the WVMA early on.  I represented Rock Valley VMA on the executive board for three years, after which I was elected president-elect of the WVMA.

        As did every president-elect, I visited all of the local associations as outlined for the duties of president-elect.   Of course, there were fewer veterinarians at the time and most of us knew each other, if not personally, certainly by name.  Visiting each local association was still an important function, however, in that it permitted the president-elect to get to know the leadership better and to understand the concerns and problems of the group.

       Two noteworthy and controversial changes, or events, occurred at the time of my presidency or my term on the executive board, (exact time is obscure in my memory).   The first was the employment of a professional lobbyist.  Dr. Bill O’Rourke was the long-time executive secretary, a position he filled because of dedication to the veterinary profession, and he was paid a minimal salary.  Bill was also a registered lobbyist and represented the WVMA to the legislators very well.  Representation was becoming ever more important, however, and a majority of the board felt that we should employ a profession lobbyist who was involved with the legislature on a full-time basis.   Employing a large firm to fill this function was, of course, very expensive.  The board was divided on this issue, but it did pass and a law firm was engaged to represent the WVMA before the legislature.

       The second noteworthy event was the establishment of the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine.   Efforts to get a school in Wisconsin began in the late 1940s and continued up until the period that I was on the executive board and president.   About this time, all of the efforts to create a school came to fruition and a bill to do so was passed by the legislature and signed by then Governor Dreyfus.  I believe this last step occurred the year after I was president .

       Both of the actions of employing a professional lobbyist and the creation of the veterinary school were controversial and consensus of opinion between the WVMA membership, the executive board, and Dr. O’Rourke did not always exist.   Bill had done a good job dealing with legislators and he was very reluctant to reluctant to relinquish the duties of legislative representative.  He was a leader and, as such, he was a strong, confident person, very reluctant to give anything up.  On the veterinary school issue, a majority of the membership was strongly in favor.  However, the veterinarians in northwest Wisconsin had been well served by the University of Minnesota Veterinary School and the diagnostic laboratory at Barron, WI.  In addition, for political reasons, the University of Wisconsin Veterinary School was to have an ambulatory satellite clinic at River Falls.  It is understandable then that some of the northwest members did not support the creation of a school in Wisconsin.

        These were perhaps controversial issues, but they were dealt with by the members and the leadership.  I must say that I feel much of the credit for a veterinary school in Wisconsin must go to Bill O’Rourke.  This was around for a long time and was kept alive from one executive board to the next by Bill’s persistence and determination.  I believe that in most years while Bill was executive secretary, a  resolution was passed by the executive board to support creation of a school of veterinary medicine.

       As to national concerns that were affected by veterinarians, an issue that affected veterinarians and the nation as a whole was the beginning of the drug residue problem.  It was insecticides rather than the antibiotics that were of concern at the time, but I believe that it was the beginning of the quality milk program and, as now, veterinarians were very involved.  In general, I feel that veterinary medicine was enjoying a period of being looked upon very favorably by the population as a whole.  All Creatures Great and Small  was being aired on television, giving veterinary medicine exposure and popularity, which it hadn’t enjoyed prior to this time.