PART TIME - After 45 years in dentistry. Dr. George Lundstrom closes his private practice, long cherished by the community. Dr. Kurt Erickson and Dr. Seth Huiras recently purchased the practice, where Lundstrom now works in semi-retirement.
Star Eagle photo by Melanie Piltingsrud
By MELANIE PILTINGSRUD
Staff Writer
After 45+ years of attending to the dental needs of Albert Lea residents and the surrounding communities, Dr. George Lundstrom has decided it's time to retire – at least part-time.
“You can't do it forever,” said Lundstrom, who graduated from dental school at the University of Minnesota in 1976. “You're either going to retire or die.” Lundstrom considers himself very fortunate to be able to continue practicing dentistry at the age of 76.
Lundstrom took a vocational interests test in 9th grade that suggested he would like dentistry, and the idea clicked. “I like working with my hands,” said Lundstrom.
Back when he graduated from dentistry, the thing to do, according to Lundstrom, was to work in private practice. His other options would have been to work for another dentist, or take over from someone who was retiring. In either case, Lundstrom calculated that those patients would have been used to someone else's methods. “I decided that I would start my own business and do my own thing,” said Lundstrom. “[If] they went to me, they would understand that things would be different.”
Integrity was a big factor in Lundstrom's decision to open his own practice. “If I worked for somebody else, I might work for somebody that wanted to cut corners,” said Lundstrom. “I didn't want to do that.” Lundstrom wanted to take the time to do a good job, and use quality materials, and that's what he did.
Lundstrom opened a dental office across from the library in downtown Albert Lea. Eventually, he moved the practice to 209 N. 9th Ave., Albert Lea.
“I liked doing the dentistry,” said Lundstrom. “Running a business wasn't necessarily my thing, but it allowed me to do the dentistry the way I wanted to do it.”
As both a business owner and a dentist, Lundstrom put in a lot of hours. “There's treating patient hours and then running a business hours that you do on evenings and weekends,” said Lundstrom. “Like any business, there's a public face and the business that people see. And then there's the behind the scenes that people don't see.”
Lundstrom compares running a dental practice to being a pastor; many people think their pastor only works on Sunday morning, but it may have taken 4 – 6 hours just to prepare the sermon. And then there's meeting with parishioners during the week.
“I have an appointment with my pastor Monday morning. I'm going to talk to him about my funeral,” said Lundstrom.
“You never know,” said Lundstrom. “I don't have any kids. My brother and sister live up in the Cities. If I were to die next week, they wouldn't know what to do.”
Lundstrom lost his wife, Madeleine, 11 years ago to a 14-year battle with breast cancer. “We were at the doctor, and the doctor said you have ten days to two weeks,” said Lundstrom, who suspects that it was the last cancer treatment that killed her. They had tried a new treatment, and it finished her rather than the cancer. “Sometimes in life you face a fork in the road, and you go to the left fork or the right fork, and, once you start down one road, you can't stop and go back and go down the other road. You're committed. You don't know what's past the first corner. That's life. Life doesn't promise you all good choices. Sometimes you have a choice of two bad things, and you don't know which one is worse.”
Lundstrom has missed his wife. “I think if God sent angels down into this world, she was one of them,” he said.
The end came suddenly for Madeleine; Lundstrom had to make funeral arrangements for her in the space of four days. “I just don't want to put that burden on other people,” he said.
“I had a lot of patients in my practice the last several years tell me they didn't want me to retire,” said Lundstrom. But they understood that no one can keep working forever. “I think a lot of people were pretty happy for me,” said Ludstrom concerning his retirement announcement.
The old building on N 9th Ave., where George Lundstrom Family & Cosmetic Dentistry existed for 25 years, now stands empty. Dr. Kurt Erickson and Dr. Seth Huiras purchased the practice, and moved it to 146 W Clark Street, Albert Lea, where patients can still find George Lundstrom practicing part-time at Fountain Lake Family Dental.
“I like it,” said Lundstrom of the new situation. “I don't have to worry about payroll or running a business anymore. I just go in there and do dentistry and go home.”
Once Lundsrom has tied up the loose ends on closing his personal practice, he plans to spend more time reading and exercising with his typically methodical approach. He plans to spend one hour a day reading a book, visit the YMCA at least three times a week to add strength training to his jogging routine, and limber up with a helpful app he found.
Another hobby that Lundstrom usually only found time for on vacations is photography. “I've got some pretty good pictures of animals, but it's pretty rare, because the buggers don't pose for ya,” said Lundstrom. “Landscapes - it just kind of sits there, and the light might change slowly, but normally you have a few minutes you can get your camera ready and get a good picture.”
Lundstrom isn't one to sit around; he takes his Canon 70D and a Tamron 16 – 300 lens with him on hiking trips to Colorado. He just got back from such a trip in August, in which he hiked for seven or eight miles in the mountains. “I always figured I'd rather wear out than rust out,” he said. “You can't enjoy life if you don't get out and move.”