I’ve had several doctors retire over the years here in Lake Havasu City and in Anchorage, Alaska. Dr. John J. Smith retired after like 50 years of practice in Alaska, with Dr. Ernest Meinhardt taking over some of his family medical patients, with me being one of the lucky ones. Dr. Meinhardt had a dry sense of humor, yet I could make him crack a smile.
Meinhardt was the main flight physical examiner in Anchorage, and he owned an airplane. A picture of the Helio Courier was on his office wall, with the late Alaskan explorer Lowell Thomas Jr. owning one almost identical. Only doctors, lawyers, and successful businesspeople seemed to buy these Helio planes because they are expensive to maintain.
I once asked Dr. Meinhardt if he thought I could fly helicopters. Looking at me, with a hardened face, he said, “You’ve got high blood pressure, vertigo, inner ear problems, and I just prescribed Xanax for your anxiety attacks. What do you think?” After that, he let go with a rare smile.
Dr. Joshua Wright II was my Anchorage dentist, and I was his client long enough to see him retire and leave the practice. Dr. Wright was also a politician, and several of my letters to the editor went against the grain on how he viewed things. Wright was a staunch Democrat while I was Republican. Despite this, we still got along, and I trusted his medical advice on teeth and oral health.
Here in Havasu, I’ve watched Dr. Thomas Wrona retire, Dr. Pareed Aliyar, and, just recently, Dr. C. Reese Mead, my dentist. My wife and I attended Dr. Mead’s going-away function outside his office. A live DJ played music, with free non-alcoholic beverages and tasty hors d’oeuvres, as I’d call this finger-lickin’ good food.
Dr. Wrona and his wife were there, and she too was a retired dentist. Listening to the conversation going on around me, there was no lack of professional folks along with simply clients like Joleen and me, or is that Joleen and I?
Years ago, when Dr. John J. Smith retired in Anchorage, I wanted to wrap a carton of Camel cigarettes as a gift, because back in the 1940s and 1950s, the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company advertised that doctors recommended Camel over all other brands.
Dr. Smith didn’t smoke, and I thought this joke was perfect for his retirement. I didn’t go through with things after being told it was a waste of money. How I wish I hadn’t listened to that person. Dr. Smith lived to be 94, and I hope all of my doctors make it that far or further.
For Dr. Reese Mead’s retirement, a few pieces of Reese’s candy were tossed into his card basket. Someone told me that dentists can sometimes be the biggest candy aficionados. I’m not sure Dr. Mead is, but he can get rid of it quickly with Halloween coming up.
Speaking of Halloween, candy, and cigarettes. Just recently, I saw an advertisement for a box of different varieties of candy cigarettes, undoubtedly meant for the upcoming holiday.
When I was a kid in Selma, Alabama, some parents occasionally gave out these popular candy delights when we trick-or-treated. They all tasted the same to me, much like sweetened chalk.
For a brief two seconds, I thought of buying a carton and sending them to my youngest grandchildren. After thinking it over, kids these days would probably be expelled from school for having such in their lunchboxes. I can still picture one of them in their school lunchroom, pulling out a pack and passing it around to classmates like soldiers did in WWII Army movies.
This acting wasn’t punishable in 1960, but today, being a kid and trying to have harmless fun without causing a serious nuclear meltdown is a thin gray line. I would’ve never survived!
