On Saturday, Dublin community members joined Dr. Harlan Raley and his wife, Eddie, in celebrating his 70th anniversary of opening his dental practice in Dublin. The milestone coincides with the recent announcement of him selling his practice to Dr. Thomas Carroll, but he isn’t looking to retire just yet.
“He’s going to stay around as long as he wants,” Carroll said of keeping Raley on as an employee.
Carroll also assured the sign out front will keep Raley’s name. “I think it’s a historical marker,” Carroll said.
Raley was a Clyde native who grew to like Dublin when his father, William Raley, took a position as superintendent. He enrolled at John Tarleton Agricultural College before he enlisted in the Navy during the Pacific War and ended up stationed in Pearl Harbor.
Following the war, Raley finished his degree at University of Texas and attended Baylor Dental School.
Following his graduation, he learned that Dr. Henry Potts was selling his practice. Harlan bought the business in 1951, which he still operates in the very same building today.
Raley said he likes the change since handing over leadership of the practice. “It’s really nice,” he said, with a smile. “A problem might arise and now, I can leave.”
Carroll first came in to help the practice a few months ago when Raley got sick and needed help. Carroll is friends with Raley’s son-in-law, who asked him about coming to assist.
Carroll is a Dallas native who attended college at Ouachita Baptist University in Kansas before starting a career in education. It was a six year stint in the Navy that first inspired him to become a dentist.
While serving as the Quartermaster for the USS Hornet, he observed the dentist onboard. “I saw how good the Navy Dentist had it and I went, ‘that’s a nice career,” he remembered.
Raley said he was more influenced in his career by a pharmacist he knew from Clyde. One day, Raley told him he was thinking of becoming a pharmacist because of him. “He told me he had three brothers, one who was a doctor, one who was a funeral director and one who was a dentist. He said, ‘I think I’d be a dentist.’ ”
The choice must have suited Raley well. “If I were starting over, I’d apply to Dental school and do it again,” Raley said.
Serving in the Navy is one of many things that Raley and Carroll have found they’ve had in common. “There’s been a lot of Navy talk,” Carroll confirmed.
Both men also got their dental training at Baylor University.
“We essentially have the same training,” Carroll said although the difference in their backgrounds (Raley has been in dentistry for 70 years; Carroll has been in dentistry for 37 years.) means that the dentists are able to share different practices and teachings.
Both dentists also appreciate getting to know their patients and feel the best part of their job is to get them out of pain and feeling and looking better. This becomes even special when treating the same patient for decades and getting to take care of their children or grandchildren.
Carroll has actually been coming to the Dublin area since 1993 for hunting and fell in love with the community almost instantly. He and his wife, Carol, decided it was the perfect place to move when he became “semi retired” and they have been joined by two of their four children who also moved to Dublin.
“You can go sit on your front porch and you won’t hear a thing,” he said. “In the city, there are-all these things that are bombarding you constantly.”
Carroll still works at his Dallas office three days a month but the rest of the time is spent in Dublin.
Both Raley and Carroll expressed great appreciation for Monica Fenn, who has been handling day to day activity for the office for decades and continues to manage the schedules of both doctors.