Crockett Dentist John Garner Puts Down the Drill For Good
Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
CROCKETT – For more than four decades, Dr. John Garner has been a fixture in Crockett — as a dentist, a school board trustee, a church leader, and a compassionate neighbor. Now, after 46 years in dentistry, he’s putting down the drill.
Garner, 73, announced his retirement this spring, closing a chapter that began not only in the same small town but on the very lot where he once played as a child.
“I literally played freeze tag and built forts on the lot where I later built my dental office,” Garner said with a laugh. “It’s been full circle in every way you can imagine.”
Raised in Crockett, Garner’s path to dentistry was born from personal pain. As a child with severe dental problems, he was treated at the UT Dental Branch in Houston. At just four years old, he underwent a traumatic procedure: eight baby molars pulled in a single day. For nearly a decade after, he made frequent trips to Houston, wearing partial dentures and working with dental students who would inspire his own career.
“I think I was a research case before I even knew what that meant,” Garner joked. “By the time I was five, I knew I might want to be a dentist.”
His second-grade teacher, Mrs. Easterly, even wrote him a poem about being a dentist — a memory he still treasures. It was one of many signs that he was destined to return and serve the town that raised him.
After completing his degree in mathematics and computer science, Garner realized he didn’t want the corporate life. He returned to dentistry and eventually opened his own practice in Crockett in 1984.
“I didn’t want to get caught in some big city machine,” he said. “Coming back here gave me self-determination — and a chance to give back.”
Garner’s practice was more than a clinic; it was a cornerstone of community care. Patients came not just for cleanings, but for conversation, comfort, and continuity. He’s treated multiple generations — sometimes grandparents, parents, and children all under the same roof.
“It’s been rewarding,” he said. “These people aren’t just patients — they’re my friends, my classmates, my neighbors.”
Garner’s commitment extended beyond dentistry. He served 12 years on the Crockett ISD school board, often during challenging times. He was student council president during Crockett’s integration in 1969-70, when federal court-ordered desegregation merged student bodies, bands, and football teams in a matter of weeks.
“We had to work together, fast,” he recalled. “There were tensions, sure, but we made it work. That year taught me a lot about leadership and listening.”
His long-standing service at his local church, Grace Street Church of Christ, has also been a source of strength and purpose.
As he enters retirement, Garner says he looks forward to doing even more for his faith community — “more than just Sundays and Wednesdays.”
Health concerns played a role in his decision to step down. Over the past six years, Garner has weathered multiple medical challenges, including a heart attack, prostate cancer, and triple bypass surgery. Still, the hardest part, he says, isn’t walking away — it’s not having a successor.
“The worst part is not being able to entice another dentist to come take care of these wonderful people,” he said. “It’s hard to get young dentists to leave the big cities. They want to be employees, not employers.”
Garner’s departure leaves a void in a region already short on healthcare providers, particularly dentists. He worries for his patients, but remains hopeful someone will recognize what he did so many years ago — that Crockett is worth coming home to.
As for what’s next? Garner plans to spend more time with his wife and visit his children and grandchildren scattered across Dallas, Lubbock, and Oklahoma City. Travel, rest, and church involvement are high on the list.
Asked what legacy he hopes to leave, Garner smiled.
“I want people to say I listened,” he said. “I didn’t talk over them — I just tried to take care of them.” He paused, then added with a chuckle, “And if I hadn’t been a dentist, I might’ve tried stand-up comedy. But with my stutter, that wasn’t going to happen.”
Crockett will remember Dr. John Garner not just as a skilled hand with a dental pick, but as a steady voice during change, a generous spirit in service, and a proud member of a generation that helped shape the soul of the town we live in today.
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
