Richard “Doc” Scranton offers an unvarnished look at his career.
By John Johnston, Associate Editor
April 2020
Retirement has been good to Richard “Doc” Scranton and his wife, Laurie, F219098, who are both 83. They spent this past winter in Florida living in their 2010 Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome. They planned to return home to Delhi, New York, a town in the Catskill Mountains, in early April.
You might recall reading about the Scrantons in Family RVing (“Going With The Flow,” January 2018, page 78). That article focused on Doc’s hobby of making maple syrup, from which he has taken a break.
In 2019 Doc wrote and self-published a book, The True Story Of A Veterinarian: Autobiography Of Richard E. Scranton, DVM. Much of it centers on his experiences from 1965 to 1977 when he and Laurie owned a rural veterinary practice in Gouverneur, New York. Doc treated countless animals, big and small — cows, horses, dogs, cats, sheep, and even a baboon from a traveling circus. Laurie was the office manager and accountant.
“Writing this (book) has been on my bucket list for a long time,” said Doc, who, after selling the practice, taught for 21 years in a veterinary technology program at State University of New York at Delhi. He retired from teaching in 1998.
“Many of my students wanted to be veterinarians, because they loved animals,” he said. “But so many kids had the wrong idea of what it’s like to be a vet. A lot of the things you have to do are not too nice. You don’t spend a lot of time cuddling animals.” The book explains the grim realities he faced, which included euthanizing animals, dealing with cruelty cases, and performing difficult procedures.
Doc was on call 24 hours a day, every day of the year. It sometimes meant that the two Scranton boys, Rick and Tim, had to wait to open Christmas presents until their father returned from an emergency call. They each wrote a chapter of the book, as did Laurie, who recalled needing emergency surgery on a day when her husband was swamped with appointments. “The hired man took me to the hospital, let me out at the door, and said, ‘If you need a ride home, give me a call.’”
Doc acknowledged that Laurie had to make sacrifices.
But in her portion of the book, Laurie noted that veterinary work also has its rewards. “I guess I wouldn’t change a day of my life,” she wrote.
The price of the book is $20 plus $5 shipping and handling. To order a copy, email rvlaurie@yahoo.com.