Celebrating 100 Years! The 1920s The good old days… In October 1922, there were just thirty-five charter member dentists in the newly- organized East Coast District Dental Society. They all were white, male and individually declared “ethical” by the Board of Censors and Ethics. Dr. D. E. Sheehan, Miami was the first president. Their interest in quality continuing education and their concerns for their patients and each other were paramount. As it is today, the dental politics of the times related to licensing laws, fees and dues.
Issues of those times In the October 11, 1924 minutes of the society’s Executive Committee, the elected Secretary recorded, in his beautiful Spenserian handwriting, that a motion passed directing, “…the delegate to the state meeting be instructed to object to the sum of $3 for annual license renewal as excessive.” Annual dues to the district were $4, FDA $3 and ADA $2. They contributed $1 a year to the relief fund. The total was $11. It is interesting that the Relief Fund contribution designated to help needy fellow dentists was 15% of the dues…a biblical tithe.
About Budgets In the second quarter of 1928, the Secretary-Treasurer reported, “…there is $111.60 cash in the First National Bank of Miami, and $209.25 was on deposit when the Ft. Lauderdale Bank and Trust closed its doors.” The great depression was at its zenith, but by 1921 the financial report showed $561 cash on hand. The membership had more than doubled to 72 paid dentists. In 1934, a Treasurer’s report listed paying $14 for 56 din-
ners at 25 cents per person. What a bargain compared to 1997’s usual $30-$45 per person!
The 1930s Tragedy in a Miami park: On February 15, 1933, Dr. Rupert H. Gillespie, then East Coast Secretary, wrote descriptively of the unexpected ending to a General Membership meeting being held in the Huntington Building in Downtown Miami. “Due to the lateness of the hour and further, “… due to the fact the President-Elect of the United States who was in a city park, but two blocks distant, had escaped attempted assassination, the election of the officers was deferred to a called meeting at which time a larger attendance is hoped for.” The incident occurred in Bayfront Park, Miami, when a disgruntled citizen tried unsuccessfully to shoot Franklin D. Roosevelt. Tragically, the Mayor of Chicago took the bullet intended for FDR and died.
Pioneer Families 75 years later, there were only two familiar names of the original charter group in East Coast’s dental family. One was Dr. Glenn O. Skaggs, a Life Member, who lived in East Ridge Retirement Community. The other was Dr. Benjamin L. Wilkerson, Jr., a retired endodontist living in Southwest Miami, who also reported that Dr. L. Wilkerson, also a charter member, “… is doing well, but doesn’t go out at night much anymore.” Another descendent of an early East Coast member was Dr. Lindsey D. Pankey, Jr., an active South Miami orthodontist. He was the son of Dr. L. D. Pankey, and a thennew practitioner to Miami and the East Coast District in 1926.
