- Email: [email protected]
Southwestern's Martin Dewey Award goes to W. Kenneth Thurmond
AMERICAN
ASSOCIATION
OF ORTHODONTISTS
Southwestern’s Martin Dewey Award goes to W. Kenneth Thurmond The Martin Dewey Memorial Award is given each year by the Southwestern Society of Orthodontists in recognition of the contributions to orthodontic education, research, and practice. The Award is presented in memory of the early teaching and faithful attendance at the meetings of the Society by Martin Dewey during its formative years, 1921 to 1933. This award was established in 1953 by the Southwestern Society of Orthodontists to honor the memory of the first editor of the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHODONTICS. Dr. Dewey was the teacher Of man.y of the early members of this Society, and he served as a frequent essayist, without compensation, at many of the early meetifags of the Society. He was one of the first seven directors of the original American Board of Orthodontics.
Presentation bg Dr. Murphey
I
t is indeed a privilege for me to make this presentation to my very good friend, Ken Thurmond. This award is presented in recognition of his many contributions to the dental profession and to the specialty of orthodontics. Ken is a charter member of the South Fort Worth Rotary Club, and he is past-president of the Fort Worth District Dental Society and the Texas Orthodontic Society. He has held important committee and council assignments in the Texas Dental Association, the American Dental Association, and the American Association of Orthodontists. While he was chairman of the ADA Council on Dental Health, he kept the officers of the American Association of Orthodontists informed about the actions of that Council. He served with distinction on the Council on Orthodontic Health Cart of the American Association of Orthodontists. He was a member of the Texas State Board of Health for 10 years. He received the Distinguished Service Award from the Texas Dental Association in 1973 and the Distinguished Service Award of Public Health Dentists in 1975. He is presently serving on the Peer Review Committee of the Fort IVorth 91
Dental Society and the Council on the Availability of Orthodontic* Services of the American Association of Orthodontists. He is very active in his church and serves as a deacon of the Broatlwa> Baptist Church. He is also vice-chairman of the Radio and Television (‘ommission of the Southern Baptist Convention for Fort Worth, and he served as vice-chairman of the Special Gifts IXvision in 1973. Dr. Thurmond and his charming wife, ,Jean Wingo Thurmond, have a daughter, Mrs. Pete Nikolaisen of St. I,ouis, and two sons, Ken Thnrmond of Fort Worth, and Tim Thurmond of Dallas. Ken, it is a great pleasure for me to present to you the 1975 Martin Dewey Memorial Award.
Response bg W. Kenneth Thurrnond “Pleasant words are as a?l honeycomb, sweet to the soul, axd health to the bones.” Proverbs 16:24
I
n preparation for making this response, I found it necessary to go back to 1954 when the first Martin Dewey Memorial Award was made, to last year, and I read all the responses to this award. To reconstruct the impact on this specialty of one man, who wrote hundreds of articles, started three orthodontic magazines, and wrote several textbooks, who was instrumental in establishing the Southwestern Society of Orthodontics and was President of the American Association of Orthodontists and the American Dental Association, is indeed a thrilling experience. I was struck by the similarity of problems that beset Dr. Dewey and those that beset our specialty today. He had little patience with “oversized egos” and “stuffed shirts ” as he called them, and he struggled with problems concerning the membebship of the American Dental Association which accounted for only about 50 per cent of the practicing dentists in the United States in 1932. He attacked programs for dental care underwritten by insurance companies, and he defended the profession against those who brought charges about the high cost of dentistry. He fought against free dental care in university dental clinics because it represented an “entering wedge” by state and federal governments into the practice of medicine and dentistry. He bristled against any program that invaded the private practice of dentistry or medicine. His last associate, J. A. Salzmann, told me that Martin Dewey fought the battles for Edward H. Angle in establishing the standards of the orthodontic specialty which, for a time, wavered between becoming a branch of medicine or a branch of dentistry. It finally settled into the dental profession. And he said, “Dewey was a well-nigh inscrutable personality, and yet, in constant association with him, one could percieve under his profound reserve and stoic
W. Kenneth Thurmond Murphey, Sr., during dontists
in September
the
(left) receives the fifty-fifth annual
in Dallas,
Martin meeting
Dewey Memorial Award from of the Southwestern Society
Willis H. of Ortho-
Texas.
demeanor, a man of deep, human, and sympathetic understanding. He was not so much a blazer of trails as an interpreter and inspirer of scientific research. The most outstanding characteristic of Martin Dewey’s personality was the superhuman zeal with which he defended his views. He brooked no opposition and spared neither friend nor foe in championing his avowed beliefs. In spite of his worldwide renown in dentistry and orthodontics, the real Martin Dewey was known to but a few.” Dr. C. V. Mosby of the C. V. Mosby Publishing Company decided to publish a journal on orthodontics, and he felt that orthodontics provided a much needed link between medicine and dentistry. He thought that an M.D. should edit the journal, as he believed that orthodontics was destined to advance as a supplementary treatment for complex rhinologic cases. With this in mind, Edward H. Angle, M.D., D.D.S., was invited to edit He declined, and Martin Dewey, M.D., D.D.S., an up-and-coming the JOURNAL. writer, dental teacher, and former teacher in the Angle school, was asked to become the first editor. starting line-up included C. V. Mosby, M.D., financial backer ; The JOURNAL'S Martin Dewey, M.D., D.D.S., editor; Charles Mayo, M.D. contributor; William Sauer, M.D., rhinologist; Phillip Skrainka, M.D., editor of a medical journal, who wrote articles on orthodontics for circulation to the medical profession; and H. C. Pollock, D.D.S., editor of News and Notes and later the second editor-in-chief of the JOURNAL. Dr. Dewey was concerned about group practice, and 42 years later we still
argue the pros and cons of such arrangments. He was interested iI1 t,he preve~ltive area of dentistry and expressed dissatisfaction with the scientific tlevelopments. As I read about Dr. Dewey’s professional life and personal remembrance of 3 years of association by Dr. Salzman, I realize that dentistry and its future still have many of the same clouds that prevailed over the profession during his lifetime. He met an untimely death in 1933 at the relatively young age of 52, but hc left his mark on the profession and the specialty. He was demanding; he was untiring; he was intellectually honest; and WC must expound the same virtues to help us lead our specialty to the solution of the problems th,at beset us in this year of 1975. I am indeed grateful to the Martin Dewey Memorial Award Clommittce--W. J. Schoverling, Milton Yellen, and Willis Murphey-for this recognition. I wish to share this honor with my wife, Jean, who is in the audience, and with my children, Kenny, Tim, and Becky, who could not be here, for each of them has made a contribution in my behalf. It is a great experience to be named the twenty-fourth recipient of the Martin Dewey Memorial Award. Dr. Dewey was a great man. This is a great honor.
ASSOCIATION
OF ORTHODONTISTS
Southwestern’s Martin Dewey Award goes to W. Kenneth Thurmond The Martin Dewey Memorial Award is given each year by the Southwestern Society of Orthodontists in recognition of the contributions to orthodontic education, research, and practice. The Award is presented in memory of the early teaching and faithful attendance at the meetings of the Society by Martin Dewey during its formative years, 1921 to 1933. This award was established in 1953 by the Southwestern Society of Orthodontists to honor the memory of the first editor of the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHODONTICS. Dr. Dewey was the teacher Of man.y of the early members of this Society, and he served as a frequent essayist, without compensation, at many of the early meetifags of the Society. He was one of the first seven directors of the original American Board of Orthodontics.
Presentation bg Dr. Murphey
I
t is indeed a privilege for me to make this presentation to my very good friend, Ken Thurmond. This award is presented in recognition of his many contributions to the dental profession and to the specialty of orthodontics. Ken is a charter member of the South Fort Worth Rotary Club, and he is past-president of the Fort Worth District Dental Society and the Texas Orthodontic Society. He has held important committee and council assignments in the Texas Dental Association, the American Dental Association, and the American Association of Orthodontists. While he was chairman of the ADA Council on Dental Health, he kept the officers of the American Association of Orthodontists informed about the actions of that Council. He served with distinction on the Council on Orthodontic Health Cart of the American Association of Orthodontists. He was a member of the Texas State Board of Health for 10 years. He received the Distinguished Service Award from the Texas Dental Association in 1973 and the Distinguished Service Award of Public Health Dentists in 1975. He is presently serving on the Peer Review Committee of the Fort IVorth 91
Dental Society and the Council on the Availability of Orthodontic* Services of the American Association of Orthodontists. He is very active in his church and serves as a deacon of the Broatlwa> Baptist Church. He is also vice-chairman of the Radio and Television (‘ommission of the Southern Baptist Convention for Fort Worth, and he served as vice-chairman of the Special Gifts IXvision in 1973. Dr. Thurmond and his charming wife, ,Jean Wingo Thurmond, have a daughter, Mrs. Pete Nikolaisen of St. I,ouis, and two sons, Ken Thnrmond of Fort Worth, and Tim Thurmond of Dallas. Ken, it is a great pleasure for me to present to you the 1975 Martin Dewey Memorial Award.
Response bg W. Kenneth Thurrnond “Pleasant words are as a?l honeycomb, sweet to the soul, axd health to the bones.” Proverbs 16:24
I
n preparation for making this response, I found it necessary to go back to 1954 when the first Martin Dewey Memorial Award was made, to last year, and I read all the responses to this award. To reconstruct the impact on this specialty of one man, who wrote hundreds of articles, started three orthodontic magazines, and wrote several textbooks, who was instrumental in establishing the Southwestern Society of Orthodontics and was President of the American Association of Orthodontists and the American Dental Association, is indeed a thrilling experience. I was struck by the similarity of problems that beset Dr. Dewey and those that beset our specialty today. He had little patience with “oversized egos” and “stuffed shirts ” as he called them, and he struggled with problems concerning the membebship of the American Dental Association which accounted for only about 50 per cent of the practicing dentists in the United States in 1932. He attacked programs for dental care underwritten by insurance companies, and he defended the profession against those who brought charges about the high cost of dentistry. He fought against free dental care in university dental clinics because it represented an “entering wedge” by state and federal governments into the practice of medicine and dentistry. He bristled against any program that invaded the private practice of dentistry or medicine. His last associate, J. A. Salzmann, told me that Martin Dewey fought the battles for Edward H. Angle in establishing the standards of the orthodontic specialty which, for a time, wavered between becoming a branch of medicine or a branch of dentistry. It finally settled into the dental profession. And he said, “Dewey was a well-nigh inscrutable personality, and yet, in constant association with him, one could percieve under his profound reserve and stoic
W. Kenneth Thurmond Murphey, Sr., during dontists
in September
the
(left) receives the fifty-fifth annual
in Dallas,
Martin meeting
Dewey Memorial Award from of the Southwestern Society
Willis H. of Ortho-
Texas.
demeanor, a man of deep, human, and sympathetic understanding. He was not so much a blazer of trails as an interpreter and inspirer of scientific research. The most outstanding characteristic of Martin Dewey’s personality was the superhuman zeal with which he defended his views. He brooked no opposition and spared neither friend nor foe in championing his avowed beliefs. In spite of his worldwide renown in dentistry and orthodontics, the real Martin Dewey was known to but a few.” Dr. C. V. Mosby of the C. V. Mosby Publishing Company decided to publish a journal on orthodontics, and he felt that orthodontics provided a much needed link between medicine and dentistry. He thought that an M.D. should edit the journal, as he believed that orthodontics was destined to advance as a supplementary treatment for complex rhinologic cases. With this in mind, Edward H. Angle, M.D., D.D.S., was invited to edit He declined, and Martin Dewey, M.D., D.D.S., an up-and-coming the JOURNAL. writer, dental teacher, and former teacher in the Angle school, was asked to become the first editor. starting line-up included C. V. Mosby, M.D., financial backer ; The JOURNAL'S Martin Dewey, M.D., D.D.S., editor; Charles Mayo, M.D. contributor; William Sauer, M.D., rhinologist; Phillip Skrainka, M.D., editor of a medical journal, who wrote articles on orthodontics for circulation to the medical profession; and H. C. Pollock, D.D.S., editor of News and Notes and later the second editor-in-chief of the JOURNAL. Dr. Dewey was concerned about group practice, and 42 years later we still
argue the pros and cons of such arrangments. He was interested iI1 t,he preve~ltive area of dentistry and expressed dissatisfaction with the scientific tlevelopments. As I read about Dr. Dewey’s professional life and personal remembrance of 3 years of association by Dr. Salzman, I realize that dentistry and its future still have many of the same clouds that prevailed over the profession during his lifetime. He met an untimely death in 1933 at the relatively young age of 52, but hc left his mark on the profession and the specialty. He was demanding; he was untiring; he was intellectually honest; and WC must expound the same virtues to help us lead our specialty to the solution of the problems th,at beset us in this year of 1975. I am indeed grateful to the Martin Dewey Memorial Award Clommittce--W. J. Schoverling, Milton Yellen, and Willis Murphey-for this recognition. I wish to share this honor with my wife, Jean, who is in the audience, and with my children, Kenny, Tim, and Becky, who could not be here, for each of them has made a contribution in my behalf. It is a great experience to be named the twenty-fourth recipient of the Martin Dewey Memorial Award. Dr. Dewey was a great man. This is a great honor.