Retired Collingwood dentist David Ripley celebrated his milestone 80th birthday this month, and looks back over the past eight years he’s spent giving back to the Collingwood community with warm feelings.
For this week’s edition of People of Collingwood we spoke with Ripley, 80, former dentist and current volunteer.
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: I was born in Woodstock, but I grew up mainly in Mississauga.
My dad was in the Navy. When he got out, he got his teaching certificate and we moved to St. Jacob’s where he was principal of the public school there for a couple of years.
When I started school at five, we moved to Peel Region, in the Clarkson/Erindale area. I stayed there until Grade 13.
I started at the University of Guelph and transferred to the University of Toronto for dental.
Q: When did you know you wanted to be a dentist?
A: I was interviewed in Grade 3, and I said I wanted to be a dentist. My cub scout leader was a dentist, and I thought he was the neatest guy.
I really didn’t know all that was involved but I knew he was a neat guy and had chosen a good profession or he wouldn’t be a scout leader.
It’s been a great profession. I had wonderful patients in Collingwood.
Q: What brought you to Collingwood?
A: When I graduated, my wife and I got married two weeks afterwards. I married my high-school sweetheart.
We did volunteer work with the Red Cross in Northern Ontario for a year. After that, I wanted to go to a town that was roughly the size of the one in which I had grown up.
Real estate sales reps will tour (dentists) all around, and there was a suite that became available in Collingwood. A chap that had practised here had moved to Ottawa. I talked to other dentists here and they said another dentist would be welcome in town.
We headed here. It was a good move.
Q: For how long did you practise as a dentist in Collingwood before you retired?
A: Close to 40 years in town.
My wife was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. I expected her to have two to five years to live, so I sold my practice in 2006. She died the day before the sale closed.
It was a tough weekend.
After that I did locums, which is when you look after somebody else’s practice.
Q: You’ve also travelled to other countries to do dental work. Why is that important to you?
A: It’s a case of giving where you can.
I went with Medical Group Missions – a terrific group of people – but you’re mainly relieving people of pain. I went to the Dominican Republic in the 1990s with my wife Donna... there would be a big line of people who would show up. I think I saw 400 people in the two weeks I was there.
It was good, but we were exhausted when we came back. We went with my two sons, when my oldest son was eight.
I always had that attitude, to give. It feels good to be able to help people who don’t have the opportunities you have.
The one I loved the most – I was there for about a month and a half – was at a clinic in Jerusalem. It was set up by a Holocaust survivor. They brought in dentists from all over the world. A lot of the time when you’re going off-shore to do dental work, you’re doing a lot of tooth removals, but not very much quality dentistry. It’s getting people out of pain.
We could do top-quality dentistry there and restorative work. (Patients) had to pass a test to show they could take care of the work we did on them and they followed up with return visits.
That clinic really pleased me a lot because I knew the work I was doing was going to have a lasting effect.
Q: You’re an active volunteer locally. Can you talk about that a bit?
A: My wife and I walked the whole Bruce Trail in 2002, and I took over looking after a section of it after that for the past 20 years.
I was president of the Collingwood Chamber of Commerce for four years and on the board for a long time.
I volunteered with Hospice Georgian Triangle as a visitor for a long time. I have not been active since COVID. This is prompting me to get my act together and get in touch with them. (laughs)
I’ve been a coach with Special Olympics for 17 years. I was thrilled and overwhelmed when I was given the Rudy Heigelsberger award as a coach of the year.
I was with the Lion’s Club for a long time in Collingwood. We didn’t have enough people. I’ve also volunteered at the Collingwood YMCA.
I was probably the longest-serving person on the Collingwood Library Board. It was more than 35 years.
Q: What made you want to support these causes in particular with your time?
A: I wanted to support the library because I think it’s the great equalizer. If you can’t afford to get an education, you can get a decent education just by making use of the library staff. They’re so knowledgeable.
My wife was really into genealogy.
When the new library was built, I was part of putting that together. I purchased the naming rights for the genealogy and local history section. If you go into that section you’ll see my wife’s favourite picture of our family on one of the pillars.
When my wife passed away, Hospice Georgian Triangle was hosting a grieving course and someone suggested I get involved with it. I took it, and I found it offered a lot of support. That was what started me on getting involved with Hospice.
I don’t expect that the people I meet at Hospice are going to be around for a long time, but there was one chap I visited for three years. We became really good friends.
Q: Do you have other hobbies?
A: For 30-some odd years I owned a Piper Warrior airplane. I flew out of Collingwood Airport and I took a lot of people out on rides. It was a lot of fun.
Q: You just turned 80. If you could give some life advice based on your past 80 years, what would it be?
A: I think you become more open-minded (as you get older), in realizing that everybody is the same. People have the same desires, and things that trouble them. The world is uniform in terms of needs. It’s better to give than receive.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like people in Collingwood to know about you?
A: I think Collingwood is a great town with a lot of great people in it.
I hope the new people moving in don’t try to change it too much.
For our feature People of Collingwood, we speak with interesting people who are either from or are contributing to the Collingwood community in some way, letting them tell their own stories in their own words. This feature runs on CollingwoodToday every weekend. If you’d like to nominate or suggest someone to be featured in People of Collingwood, email [email protected].
