Storytelling

Senator John and Mrs. Annie Glenn discuss her father, Homer W. Castor, ’19 DDS, and his impact as a small-town dentist.

On August 10, 2016, Patrick M. Lloyd, dean of The Ohio State University College of Dentistry, met with Senator John Glenn and Mrs. Annie Glenn at Ohio State's John Glenn College of Public Affairs. They spoke about Homer W. Castor, ’19 DDS, father and father-in-law to Mrs. and Senator Glenn respectively. The Glenns' stories about Dr. Castor’s dedication and service to his patients in his Ohio hometown of New Concord are a reminder of the important contributions dental professionals make to the fabric of any community—large or small.

"Annie’s dad was the only dentist in New Concord," said Senator Glenn. "He was very active in community affairs and after World War II was head of the American Legion for a while and was president of the school board. In his practice he was very proud of the fact that he was known in that area as the dentist to go to if you had a problem with your false teeth. If they didn’t fit right and were giving you trouble, you came to 'Doc Castor.'"


Homer W. Caster, ’19 DDS (standing far right), pictured with his wife, Margaret, was honored during the opening of the 1962 meeting of the American Dental Association in Miami, Florida, for "typifying a life of leadership and service that every dentist should aspire to live.” 

Mrs. Glenn helped her father by sterilizing his instruments and developing his patient's dental x-rays. "I thought I would someday go back and go to dental school," she said. "But that was at the beginning of the Second World War and John and I got engaged." 

Mrs. Glenn said she never knew why her father, who grew up on a farm, chose dentistry for his profession. She does remember that he played an important role in their town. 

Senator Glenn also reflected on Dr. Castor's vital professional role in the community. "Pearl Harbor occurred in the middle of my junior year in college and so I dropped out and went into flight training. Dr. Castor had developed a wonderful practice in New Concord and had a lot of very loyal patients. After he was gone, he didn’t know what would happen to that practice. He had talked to me several times about whether I would want to come back after the war… and would I consider going to dental school and working with him and gradually taking over his practice. But I had started flying at that time—fighters—and I’d flown through World War II out in the Pacific and I loved flying and I had applied for a regular, permanent commission in the Marine Corps and had been accepted, so I had that. I guess had I made a different decision I might be an alumnus of the dental school at Ohio State."

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