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After 40 years practicing dentistry, Dr. Cowgill retires |
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By Daniel McGonigle
Argus Managing Editor
It was the first year the Big Mac was sold. President Johnson was on television notifying the American public that he would not be seeking a second term in office. Simon and Garfunkel had a hit on the radio with “Mrs. Robinson,” as did The Beatles with “Hey Jude.”
The average price of gas was 34 cents a gallon, and a gallon of milk would set you back $1.07. The Dow Jones Industrial Average would close out the year at 943 and the average home could be purchased for $14,950.
1968 was also the year Dr. Kemper Cowgill, M DDS, came to Caledonia.
“This is God’s country,” he would say. “My wife and I came here from the cities spent a few hours and we knew this was where we wanted to be.”
After 40 years of practicing in Caledonia, Dr. Cowgill stepped aside from his practice on April 16.
The decision wasn’t an easy one, and it still elicits quite a bit of emotion in the doctor.
“I’m going to miss the entire staff,” he said fighting back tears. “That’s why it’s been so much fun. I’ve had great partners and a great staff.”
Cowgill also noted that he’ll miss seeing the customers who he came to be so close with in his time as a dentist.
“Many of them said to me ‘you can’t retire, you’re the only dentist I’ve ever seen,’” laughed Cowgill.
As can become common in a small town, Cowgill said he’ll miss his customers stopping by with a loaf of bread or an item from their garden, or some such token of their appreciation for the work the good doctor has done.
A nice career
Dr. Cowgill began his career just out of the U of M dental school with the Army.
“I was stationed at Ft. Leonard Wood,” recalls the former captain.
Cowgill would work on patients bound for Vietnam. Some needed a lot of work, others were shipped out and good to go. But before any went, they would see Cowgill, and 150 other military dentists just like him first.
He would remain in the Army for two years, just prior to moving to Caledonia.
Dr. Kurz was instrumental in recruiting Dr. Cowgill to join his practice.
“He bought a house to help lure a dentist to this small town,” noted Cowgill. “We lived across the road from one another and practiced together.”
He and wife Nancy raised two children in Caledonia, twins, a boy and a girl.
Each of their children now have three children of their own, something the couple plans to do a lot more of now that they’re both retired...spend more time with the grandchildren.
Nancy worked along side her husband in his practice for 21 years. She retired three years ago.
“It was unique in many ways,” she noted. “We were among the first dentists to get a computer system. (That was sometime in the 70’s she would recall). “We also had our own lab downstairs, one of only a few who’d done that.”
“So the turn-around on things was fast,” added Dr. Cowgill. “If someone wanted work done on their false teeth or something like that they didn’t have to wait for us to send away for it.”
Retirement plans
Their careers now behind them, the couple, beyond spending more time with family and friends, plan to travel a little more. They also plan to take life as it comes.
“Just sit in my chair and watch the fish go by,” joked Cowgill as he sat in his living room overlooking the Mississippi River. “We just got back from spending time in the cities kid-sitting.”
In all Dr. Cowgill was content to call it a career. He’s seen a lot of things and met many, many wonderful people.
The humble father of two, proud to display the Corvette his son purchased for him just to say “thanks,” sums up his time in the field as this: “I’ve been a regular old dentist plugging away trying to make a buck.”
His son followed his father’s footsteps and is a dentist in Onalaska Wisc.
Surrounded by his greatest treasures, pictures of his family on the walls, his wife by his side and his cat “Bailey,” on his lap, Cowgill looks out the window of his Brownsville home across to Wisconsin, suddenly a fish jumps...ah retirement.
You can contact Daniel McGonigle at
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