Relieved, Gerald chuckled too—Dr.
Johnson’s laugh was far too infectious to avoid joining in.
His memory went back to that summer day when
he was a boy so many years ago. He and
his twin brother Darold thought the world of Vere Johnson, a neighbor boy just
a few years older than they. They all lived in the small rural town of Beaver Dam, Utah. Often, they went to see what Vere was up to, and did their best to shadow him
and do whatever he was doing. Even though the two little boys almost certainly got in his way, Vere never sent them away. Instead, he teased them and paid attention to them. They loved being with Vere. He laughed all the time. It was just plain fun to be with him.
One day when they were shadowing
Vere on an errand, they came to an electric fence along the way. Vere got that distinct twinkle in his eye
Gerald and Darold learned to avoid. Vere
asked them how tough they were. “Are you
tough enough to bite an electric fence?” Vere asked. Vere cupped his hands close to the fence and
pretended to bite between his hands, so they couldn’t tell he wasn’t really
biting the fence. Gerald and Darold knew
they could do it too. Gerald leaned in
quickly, mouth wide open and clamped his teeth onto the fence. The electric shock proved that Vere had
gotten them again! And Vere’s
accompanying laugh all the way back to their house rang in their ears. Vere had tricked them into other scrapes as
well— once he sent them in to the chicken coop to look for a skunk with
clothespins on their noses. “There’s no
tunk but there’s plenty of tink,” they reported, a statement Vere repeated with
relish for years to come. There were
other little boys who liked to follow Vere around; they were treated to greased
ears (don’t want to catch brain fever) or taught to swim by being roped and
thrown into a river, or hung up in the barn by their overhauls.
After these kinds of pranks as
kids, why did Gerald trust Vere Johnson, now Dr. Johnson, to take care of his
teeth? Could he trust a man who got such
a kick out of teasing people to not take advantage of him? Gerald, like many others, had decided that
Vere was the most honest dentist in Cache Valley and Gerald wouldn’t go to any
other dentist. Dr. Johnson’s rates were
the lowest and he didn’t do work that wasn’t necessary. It was hard to get an appointment with Dr.
Johnson because he was booked up solid six months ahead.
Indeed, Vere had discussed his
fees with his wife, Winnie Johnson. She
often heard how the other dentists in the area were angry with Vere because his
prices were so low. He’d tell her, “I
don’t have to answer to those other dentists about what I charge my patients. I know what my expenses are and I make a good
living. I don’t have to gouge my
patients to be in line with what my profession charges. I only have to answer to God and my own
conscience for how I run my business.”
Kathy, Vere’s daughter, worked
for him for a few years, recording the charges for services rendered. She explained, “Bitewing x-rays were $4,
there were three different charges for fillings, depending on the size: $4, $8
and $12. There was never any charge for
a check-up if no work was needed. I
remember a time when a family came in with 10 children. All, including the parents, were checked,
which took most of the morning and none had any work needing to be done, so
there was absolutely no charge to that family.
It isn’t any wonder that my dad was booked every 15 minutes. He called the office ‘the salt mine’ because
he was so pressed by people there.
People would come from Alaska and California to have him do their dental
work because they could pay for their whole trip and stay a week in Utah and
have spent less than going to a dentist where they lived. I remember Dad saying that wisdom teeth were
usually the easiest to extract. There
was usually no expense to the dentist to do the extracting. He only used a little Novocain and an
extraction tool. He was angry when he
heard what other dentists charged.”
Indeed, Dr. Johnson charged far
less than the average dentist. According
to a study published in the American Dental Association about this time, other
dentists charged $5 on average for an exam and an average of $10 for a one
surface filling and $22 for a three surface filling at the time.[1] Dr. Johnson charged nothing for an exam and
about half of the other figures.
“What an extraordinary man was my
father,” Kathy continued, “How little the world and greed controlled his
decisions.”
Gerald Simmons' wife emotionally explained her husbands’ love for
Vere, saying that he truly idolized Vere all of his life. When Gerald wrote his personal life history,
he named Vere as one of three heroes he had as a child growing up. She said how sad it was for them to miss Vere’s
funeral, as they were serving a Temple Mission in Nauvoo when he died. She expressed how much Vere meant to herself
and to her husband and how she still missed Dr. Johnson after all these years
since his retirement. “I still can’t
bring myself to go to another dentist,” she said. She made this statement some 25 years after
he retired.
Vere clearly had a sense of humor
and teased his friends and associates.
This was one of Vere’s many endearing traits. Many found his honesty and fairness made him
the most trusted dentist in Cache Valley.
Combined, this made a visit to the dentist an enjoyable experience. A family friend made this statement: "When Dr. Johnson attends, the pain is
gone, the patient smiles." Indeed
all who interacted with Vere Johnson, either as a friend or a Dentist, always
left with a smile. Proverbs 17:22 reads,
“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”
Over the years, Vere shared a great deal of merriness that was indeed good medicine for all of us who knew and loved him.
[1] L. Jackson Brown, D.D.S., Ph.D.;
Vickie Lazar, M.A., M.S., Dental Procedure
Fees 1975 Through 1995: How Much Have They Changed? Journal of the American Dental Association,
Vol. 129, September 1998, pp. 1291-1295.
Sources:
Thatcher, Kathy Johnson. Email correspondence March 2009.
