Neuder’s retirement leaves a void hard to fill
by Marianne Love
for The River Journal
September, 2005
With no root canals, no fillings and no tooth extractions, Ed and Edie Holmes’ back-to-back appointments with Dr. Richard “Dick” Neuder on Sept.19, 2005, could have been pretty routine.
Not so on this day.
As Dr. Neuder’s last patients in the practice he established nearly 40 years ago, Ed and Edie each planned to give their beloved dentist a big hug before saying good-bye.
“We’re gonna miss him,” says Ed Holmes. “He’s so nice, so professional.” Ed and Edie (a dentist’s daughter) have gone to Dr. Neuder since moving to Sandpoint in the early 1980s. The Holmes, along with hundreds of other patients (in some cases three generations’ worth) will miss their longtime dentist but wish him well.
Dr. Neuder anticipated some tough “good-bye’s” with patients and staff but also viewed this final chapter of his successful practice as an opportunity to spend more time indulging in his other passions---family, dahlias, wood-working and traveling. A couple of young granddaughters named Julia Pearl and Camille Ann have added new flames to the ever-present fire in his belly. Tagged “the Energizer Bunny” by adoring dental assistant Susie Puckett, Dick Neuder hopes to launch an all-out assault on his never-ending goals.
Like so many folks in the Sandpoint community, I consider Dr. Neuder, his wife Mary and son Steve as longtime friends---ever since Steve’s high school days as one of my English students and as stage performer extraordinaire in the late 1970s, to be exact. I still marvel at the 400 photos of actress Kristy McNichol that once covered Steve’s bedroom wall. Now, he’s much more enamored with his lovely wife Elizabeth (a former Neuder dental trainee).
Over the years, I’ve seen these family members in action and appreciate them each as civic-minded, dedicated individuals. Upon hearing that “Doc” Neuder was seeing his “final-final” patients, I knew it was story time. And, so, I’ve learned a lot about this meticulous man who, for decades, has followed a strict daily regimen, including a two-mile early-morning run.
He told me recently that he keeps three lists: the “immediate” list, the “long-term” list and the “wish” list. He’s also very aware of another list.
“There’s one for Mary, but I’m not quite as efficient with hers,” he admits. “Team Neuder” started about 50 years ago in Dick’s native Detroit when he met Mary, then a Department of Justice staffer, on a blind date. After their 1956 marriage in Western Washington, the Michigan farm boy and Korean veteran, who’d also performed polio vaccine research, finished dental school at the University of Detroit and started practicing.
Cross-country trips via HWY 2 to the Seattle area, where Mary grew up, took them through North Idaho. Always an angler looking for a good trout stream, Dick succumbed to the perennial lure of Deep Creek and Sandpoint. The Neuders moved here in 1966, opening a practice on First and Superior, later moving to the colorful Bavarian-style facility on West Ontario. Mary took care of office records while Dick took care of teeth.
“The Dick-and-Mary team is amazing,” says dental hygienist Debbie Vaughan, who’s worked in the office for nearly 22 years. “They were always extremely careful, hiring personality types who worked well together, which created a ‘team-player’ atmosphere. It’s a very happy office to work in---such a rare thing this day and age.”
Dick says he feels lucky to have found Mary and considers their marriage bond “the greatest institution that’s ever been contrived.” Mary retired as office manager about ten years ago while Dick began to gradually scale down his appointment schedule about 8 years ago after selling the practice to Dr. Bruce Johnson, who didn’t mind having a sidekick taking on some of the load. Then, in 2001, along came fellow Michigander and fisherman, Rob Harrison who purchased the practice and welcomed Dr. Neuder’s continued presence as associate dentist.
“Dr. Neuder is an honorable professional,” Harrison says, “He and Mary have been a good part of the fabric of Sandpoint for many years now . . . he has contributed more than his share to this life.” In so doing, Dick Neuder has received numerous honors from his peers, including Idaho State Dental Association Man of the Year. Gov. Cecil Andrus even appointed him to the Idaho Dental Board.
Through the years, I’ve always admired the joyful camaraderie which Dr. Neuder enjoys with his patients and staff. Since the mid-‘60s, more than 40 individuals on his staff have received training, envious perks (like his personally hand-crafted wooden music boxes) and family-like status from this gracious man and his wife.
“He’s my mentor,” says Susie Puckett, who’s helping Steve Neuder plan a reception for the dad, the dentist and the friend on Sunday, Oct. 23 from 2-4 at the dental office grounds.
“I never get tired of observing Dr. Neuder interact with his patients,” Puckett adds. “He has a way with them, no matter their age from 2 to 102.”
Various sources, including Susie, have told me that he also has a way with those granddaughters. Besides taking them to the park or introducing them to the museum or teaching them gardening skills, he’s even developed special dahlias with their namesakes. While the “Julia” dahlia is still undergoing perfection, his “Camille” variety recently took first place at a Kalispell competition.
As Susie Puckett says, “this man that you want me to talk about is so much. It’s hard to describe him. He has integrity, he is kind, compassionate, generous, and has a great sense of humor.”
As a first-hand recipient of all of the above, I totally agree with Susie. I’ll never forget the night after our house burned down in December, 1984. I answered my mother’s door. There stood Dick Neuder, looking very sad, saying nothing. He handed me a check, gave me a warm hug, then turned around and walked back through the snow to his car.
Talk to just about anyone who knows this man, and they’ll happily sing his praises. I could easily write reams about the interests, accomplishments and zest for life, which so characterize him. Instead, I’ll slightly alter what Roman Senator Marc Antony said of his friend Julius Caesar to sum up our own community’s dear friend, Dick Neuder: “Here is a man; when comes such another!”
Happy retirement, Doc! Keep on going, going, and going!
This story about Dr. Neuder can also be read on line at www.mariannelove.com under “Love Notes” or at www.riverjournal.com.
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