Lawrence “Larry” Baldwin started his life in Farmington in far southeast Iowa. His uncle was a dentist, and Larry was intrigued by the dental program. He admired his uncle. Larry and his parents moved to Sanborn where he graduated from Sanborn High School in 1954. By this time, he knew he definitely wanted to pursue the dental field. He attended the University of Iowa in Iowa City where he was enrolled in their dental program.
Larry married Coleen Ganzevoort, daughter of John and Freda Ganzevoort of Sheldon on Aug. 24, 1957, in Sheldon. He graduated from the dental program in 1960 and moved back to Sanborn where he launched his dental practice, which was interrupted when he served in the U.S. Army 1962-64.
Larry and Coleen were blessed with a son, Ryan, and two daughters, Lori and Rhonda. Rhonda preceded her parents in death.
Dr. Baldwin moved his dental practice, called Family Dental Clinic, to Sheldon in 1965. His first office was downtown on the north side of Ninth Street in a building that is was vacated when the Sheldon Vision Care moved into the old Hy-Vee building. Then he moved his office to the Business & Professional Center along Highway 18 until he moved back downtown and located his office in the Arlington Plaza on Third Avenue.
“It’s a clean job, even though you’re working in a mouth that’s not too clean,” Dr. Baldwin said. “I like to do things with my hands. I liked the idea of having a business of my own. You can arrange time off. You’re not concerned about other people telling you what to do.”
He felt he was blessed with great dental assistants, hygienists and office personnel during his four-decade span as a dentist. Many new technologies surfaced during this time, but he thought the biggest help was the drill. He could get his work done faster and his patients suffered less pain and discomfort. Another change was bonding materials for tooth fillings.
At the beginning of his practice, he found himself learning and gaining experience, but in his later years it took more physical dexterity and more effort to do a good job. He really enjoyed diagnosing and preventing diseases of the gums, teeth, and jaw and building teeth back to their original shape, but he was not excited about pulling teeth.
After a while, he suffered from carpel tunnel, which made his job more difficult.
It was at this time that Dr. James Hanno, another Sheldon dentist decided it was time to retire and he was my dentist when I started teaching in northwest Iowa. So, I had to find a new dentist. I made an appointment with Dr. Baldwin, and he became my dentist.
Then Dr. Baldwin started to slow down, by taking all day Wednesday and Saturday mornings off. Then he took off the month of March, and he and his wife went to Arizona.
Dr. Cory Borer joined him at the Sheldon Family Dental Clinic in 1999. It was at this time when Dr. Baldwin was in Arizona that I needed some dental work done, so I had to go to Dr. Borer, instead of Dr. Baldwin.
Dr. Borer had worked with Dr. Baldwin for six years when Dr. Baldwin announced he was retiring after serving as a dentist for 41 years in Sheldon and about six years in Sanborn. Dr. Baldwin said he was leaving his dental office in capable hands. Dr. Baldwin said he planned to take more trips; spend more time with family; become more active in his church, St. Paul Lutheran; and be more involved in the Stephen Ministry program. Also, he planned to spend more time creating his artistic hobbies, such as stained-glass pieces, painting and drawing. Larry said he expected to have some emotions on his last day.
“It could be tough,” he said. “We have some pretty nice people here that you hate to leave.”
An open house for Larry’s retirement was held in the Sheldon Community Services Center and was attended by many friends and former patients.
No matter what event was happening in Sheldon, such as the Labor Day Celebration, Larry would walk around dressed in a clown suit with a huge toothbrush and stop and talk to everyone. He also had a funny joke to tell, usually something about teeth.
Larry and Coleen were avid Sheldon High School sports fans. They attended almost every athletic game the Orabs played in town and out of town. To watch a game in Sheldon’s gym, Coleen always sat on the top row of the bleachers, and Larry sat on the next row down in front of her. They knew each player and their abilities on the playing floor. Both were given an award for being outstanding Orab fans. When the boys basketball team went to the state basketball tournament in Des Moines, Larry and Coleen were interviewed on TV about their interests in the Sheldon Orabs’ athletic games.
When they moved to the condo on the south end of Sheldon, they had a new addition to their family, a new pet, a puppy named Cola. There were several times they had to chase the dog when she got loose.
As a puppy, Cola had a delightful time chewing things. Cola’s name was a combination of the first two letters of Coleen’s name and the first two letters of Larry’s name.
Coleen was known to be a good cook. She made many extra meals and delivered them to deserving people, such as World War II veteran Vic Schulz. He was thrilled when she brought him a homemade meal or cookies.
Larry, Coleen and their dog, Cola, moved into an apartment in Des Moines to be closer to their family, Lori and Ryan and his family. Lori became Cola’s caretaker when Larry and Coleen could not care for Cola. Coleen died Friday, Oct. 22, 2021. Larry has had some medical problems since he moved there, so he is fortunate to live close to family.
Millie Vos is the secretary/treasurer of the Sheldon Historical Society and the museum director and a board member of the Sheldon Prairie Museum. This is part of a series of historical articles about Sheldon. Members of the Sheldon Historical Society receive a yearly newsletter with articles like this. To join the society, call her at 712-324-3235.