His only comment to him was that he was wasting his talent doing alloys, and if he wanted his work to last, he should start doing gold castings. George said nothing to Dick about the quality of the work. After completing four quadrants of beautifully carved and polished alloys on one of his patients, he paid the man a whopping five dollars to travel to Dr Ellsperman's office for inspection. Can you imagine sitting around the dinner table at Christmas or Thanksgiving in the Tucker family home?ĭr Tucker was so impressed by the quality of Dr Ellsperman's work that he wanted to show George some of his own best work. Dr Tucker's passion for dentistry was so contagious that Vickie and Dick Jr became dentists, and Vickie also married a dentist, as did her sister Anne Marie. Dick and Elaine were married for 71 years and had 4 children: Ann Marie, Dick Jr, Victoria, and Martha. Dick would practice there until he retired at age 91. He found it was exactly the kind of town where he wanted to practice, and Elaine thought it was a perfect place to raise a family. When one of his patients told him of Ferndale, a small farming community of 500, north of Bellingham, that was in need of a dentist, he investigated. After his Naval service, he practiced briefly in Seattle, but he told me not long ago that Seattle was too big and busy for his liking. Dick served in the US Navy from 1946 to 1948. He attended the University of Washington from 1940 to 1942, where he met Elaine, whom he described to me as “the love of my life.” They continued on to St Louis, Missouri, where Dick attended the Washington University School of Dentistry, and they were married in 1944. Dr Richard Vaughn Tucker was born in Orofino, Idaho, on November 25, 1922.

Worml with 229 dicks