Take away the goatee and you can see the resemblance. He has the same smile and if his choppy dark hair was smooth and silver, he’d look just like his dad.
LUKE WEZEMAN has a sunny disposition to begin with. He’s extra happy these days to be a partner in the dental office of TIMOTHY WEZEMAN, DDS, the family business.
Luke taught at Coupeville Middle School for five years and saw the family sliding backwards instead of making financial progress, enough to send their children, Jackson, 10, and Emma, 8, to college.
“It was about priorities,” Luke said. “I was teaching with a master’s degree and with a family of four it was tough to succeed financially.”
In a leap of faith, the young family left Whidbey Island and Luke enrolled at NYU Dental School. “We had a really wonderful apartment, part of the Peter Cooper and Stuyvesant Town in mid-town New York. It was like a college campus — a family complex, built for people coming back from World War II.”
Now he and his wife Cara and their children are home to stay in Oak Harbor and he works at the Whidbey Avenue Dental Care clinic.
“I could not ask for a better place to work, experiencing dentistry with my mentor. Now dad and I can talk dental.”
“The best part is working with TAMMY, DARLENE, CARRIE and KERRI, JOHN and JENNA, part-timers JESSI and AMY, two dental hygienists NANCY and JAMESA and LAYNE and VICKI in our in-house lab,” he continued. He has been working every day at Whidbey Avenue Dental Care from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. “Friday is a half-day.” Imagine that.
Luke is a prankster and practical joker who prefers the stealth method of delivery. My advice to Tim is to watch your back.
Unnerved, Tim said, “It’s great to get to know your son on a professional level. It’s nice to learn from each other.”
The two are enrolled in a fellowship program in Scottsdale this year, attending classes covering every phase of dentistry in 10 courses.
Dentist as glass artist
The outside of the building is plain gray and white in the manner our Dutch fathers would approve.
Step inside the office of GARY BERNER, DDS, and color fills the eye. A blown glass ball passes for a sea urchin; variations of blues and crackled silver dance along vases that belong in Architectural Digest and a chartreuse bowl with wavy scallops rests on its side.
“It was back in the 80s when attending dental seminars that I first saw Dale Chilhuly’s work,” Berner said. “I met T.C. Robertson who owns studio ‘Due Vetro’ on Goldie Road about four years ago. He agreed to give me lessons. That means I can spend part of the day with the glass work and get in a little dentistry too.”
His close friend and associate CLARK DONNELL has helped them raise over $12,000 in the last four years by donating glass art pieces to be auctioned at local fund raisers. Berner and Donnell spend a half day together every other week.
He doesn’t advertise. Instead, his consultant tells him what to do, such as letting the patients fall in love with samples on display opposite the front desk. Patients have told him, “If you can do that, you can fix my teeth.”
Berner played football at Oak Harbor High School, class of 1970, and wrestled his way to a Pacific Lutheran University scholarship. His strong build is helpful because large glass pieces can be weighty. He’s a man with endless enthusiasm who finds things to be grateful for in every day.
“At 56, I feel fortunate to be here. I will work as long as I can do so to the level I expect.”
Check his ID
HAROLD ‘KYE’ ROTH had to show his ID to Oak Harbor Police on Aug. 30, his 99th birthday. Satisfied he was not an imposter, he continued to be the center of attention and was a good sport when the OH Fire Dept. showed up to put out the “fire” on his cake.
A resident of Harbor Tower Village since 2006, this German immigrant knows his cakes. He worked as a baker for many years in Walla Walla and Wenatchee. He and his late wife Mary managed Whistling Jacks Resort near Mt. Rainier on Chinook Pass.
Stopping by were clowns JUS WALLY and KRISSIE, also known as the Lockes.
Harold’s son DON, a Coupeville resident, divulged that his uncle FRED died just short of his 100th birthday, as did his maternal grandmother. Don will be 76 on Sept. 29.
Call me at 675-6611 or email lifeonwhidbey@yahoo.com
