Going to the dentist as a child was just as frightening for Don Ridgeway, Jr. as it is for most kids – even though the dentist was his Dad.
“Having nothing else really to compare to, I would think it was a normal experience for me and my sisters,” Ridgeway says. “But I guess that made it a little more comfortable.”
Must have been. He became the second dentist in the Ridgeway family, following in the foot steps of his father, D.L. “Don” Ridgeway, Sr. The two are part of a threesome at the Lakewood Family Dental Clinic, which opened its doors on Oram Street in 1946.
The clinic has treated generations of patients, including the Beadle family. Richard Beadle has been an associate since 1981.
About a year after graduating from Baylor College of Dentistry, Ridgeway, Sr. joined in plans for a Lakewood clinic.
“We decided on the Lakewood location because of the beauty here,” Ridgeway, Sr. says. “The other choice was Snyder Plaza, and at that time, there wasn’t much happening around there.”
He says there was once a bowling alley where the clinic sits, “but the owner got tired of setting pins,” he says.
Childhood dental problems intrigued him so he decided to study dentistry, which brought him and his bride, Heloise, to Dallas.
“She was a very stablizing effect on me, which was important for a student,” he says. “I was a Scout with her brothers, and the older Heloise got, the prettier she got. We became childhood sweethearts.”
Ridgeway, Sr. has but back to only Thursdays at the clinic. It gives him time with his bride to travel to the mountains of Wyoming, an annual tradition.
