Each week, the Shreveport-Bossier Journal’s Tony Taglavore takes to lunch a local person – someone who is well-known, successful, and/or influential, and asks, “What’s Your Story?”
By TONY TAGLAVORE, Journal Services
“Your son is running down the street naked!”
Not exactly what a father wants to hear when answering the telephone. But sure enough, his four-year-old – along with a large, black accomplice – had escaped the back yard where he was playing.
“My dad finds me about three doors down in the ditch. He jerks me up, fixing to wear me out. He says, ‘Why in the world are you running down the street naked?’ My response was, ‘Manfred ain’t got no clothes on.’ I did not get a spanking. I did get schooled that, ‘Manfred has fur, so he doesn’t have to wear clothes. But you don’t, and you need to get back in the house and put your clothes on.’”
Thus began Dr. Gordon Calahan’s education of animals. Now in his 44th year as a practicing veterinarian, Gordon told me that story, and his story, during lunch at a place he chose, Strawn’s Eat Shop Too. Gordon had the lunch special of fried chicken, and a Coke Zero to drink, while I enjoyed a hamburger, fries, and water with lemon.
“This is what God put me on earth to do,” Gordon told me of his career. This is my purpose in life.”
Gordon was born in Ruston, but wasn’t there long enough to toss a dog a bone. Gordon’s father had taken a job in El Dorado, Arkansas, just before Gordon was born. So, when Gordon was only six days old, he and his family crossed the state line. Gordon spent summers back in Louisiana on his grandparents’ 240-acre farm just north of Monroe, where the oldest of two children became acquainted with pigs, chickens, and 100 head of cattle.
Maybe that’s where Gordon found his love for animals.
“My mother said she used to read a book to me about a puppy dog who broke his leg. As a child, I would cry when she got to the broken leg part. Obviously, I was empathetic—sympathetic—about those kinds of things back then.”
In fact, Gordon had such a caring nature for animals, it was a given he would grow up to look after their health.
“In middle school, I did an aptitude test. It said I would be a veterinarian, dairy farmer, or beef rancher. I’m not one that likes to get up early in the morning, so dairy farmer was out the window. I wouldn’t feel comfortable raising cattle for slaughter. So, by default, it fell to being a veterinarian.”
But Gordon’s father wasn’t about to rely on some test to determine if his son would be a good animal doctor. The two were close, but didn’t talk much. However, on a Saturday morning when Gordon was 14, his father spoke with his actions.
“I was laying on the floor watching TV like you would as a teenager. My dad comes over and nudges me with his foot. He said, ‘You still thinking about being a veterinarian?’ I said, ‘Yes Sir.’ He said, ‘Get in the car.’ ‘I said, ‘Yes Sir.’ . . . . We drove past (our regular veterinarian) and went to (a vet clinic) on the other side of town over by the country club we did not belong to. He pulled up in the driveway, stopped, and said, ‘Get out and see if you can get a job. I’ll be back in 20 minutes.’”
Sure enough, Gordon quickly convinced the vets to let him work for free. First, on Saturdays. Eventually, every day after school. Gordon just about did it all – walked dogs, took X-rays, and prepped animals for surgery.
That experience strengthened Gordon’s desire to go to vet school. But first, he had to get to vet school.
Through elementary and high school, Gordon had not been a very good student.
“I don’t think I was very motivated. I am not particularly academically smart. I am blessed. I am talented. I acknowledge that. But chemistry and math and physics and English? None of those came easy.”
But studying Animal Science at Louisiana Tech, Gordon flourished. He made straight A’s his first quarter – more A’s than he had ever made. It wasn’t that his classes were easy. But without much of a Plan B, Gordon had to make Plan A work.
“I was scared to death, so I studied a whole lot more than everybody else. I studied every night. I knew the odds were way against me. At that time (vet school) was – and still kind of is – the hardest professional school to get into. It was significantly harder than getting into med school, because of the numbers. The number of applicants compared to the number of seats available.”
But Gordon’s hard work paid off. The year he graduated Tech, only 16 people from Arkansas got into veterinarian school. Gordon was one of them. Four years later, he had a doctorate from LSU School of Veterinary Medicine.
“God got me through – into school and out. There were many people much smarter than me, who academically, things came easier to than me.”
But Gordon had a way with animals – a way that can’t be learned in a classroom.
“In my fourth year during clinics, it became notable to me and to professors that this guy’s got talent. This guy can do it. Teachers who I did not impress in clinics initially, by the end of clinics, were relying on me to do stuff. Give it to him. It will get done.”
And Gordon has been getting it done for more than four decades. But not every day is filled with giving belly rubs and behind-the-ear scratches. I don’t think I have to tell you what happens on the bad days.
“Once I’ve made the decision and the owner has made the decision that this is the best thing for this pet, and I’m in agreement with it, it’s not like I get pleasure in doing it, but I do recognize that I am relieving suffering in this process. I am doing the animal a favor. So often, they’re looking at you in a way that says, ‘I want relief, whatever direction it comes from. I want relief from this situation. I’m struggling to breathe. I don’t know if I can take my next breath.’ That needs to be stopped.”
Remember a young Gordon crying when hearing about a dog with a bum leg?
“I’m more empathetic toward animals than people. I feel like people can take care of themselves. (Adults) can always go get help. You can ask somebody for help. But with an animal, that wouldn’t be the case. They are reliant on us to do something about it.”
There’s no telling how many animals Gordon has humanely relieved of their suffering. For the most part, he has kept a stiff upper lip. But now two years shy of his 70th birthday, Gordon is beginning to get emotional.
“Moreso than I used to.
“How come?”
“Age. I get choked up easier now than I used to.”
It was the luck of the Irish that Gordon was in town to have lunch. Gordon has been to his beloved Ireland (His name is Calahan) 29 – that’s right, 29 – times. He first went in 1997, taking his then 71-year-old father and 11-year-old son. When Gordon made reservations, he didn’t have the $6,000 to pay for the trip. But before they left, good ‘ol Uncle Sam came through.
“That April, I got my first-ever tax refund. It was for $6,010. Talk about being touched by God.”
At one point while Gordon was telling me his story, the married father of eight children (his four, plus his wife’s four), pulled up a picture on his phone. Not of his kids, but of he and Laurie’s five dogs (they also have three cats). All the dogs are rescues, and just like a proud papa, Gordon had a story about each of them.
“Julie was brought into the emergency clinic as a puppy by a lady who had seen three boys outside cutting its tail off with a pocketknife, trying to make it into a Rottweiler. They weren’t successful. We completed the job and got it done right.”
With one of Gordon’s patients at the South Shreveport Animal Hospital waiting to be discharged, I thought it time to ask my final question. As always, what is it about his life story that might inspire others?
“You’re going to need to be self-sufficient at some point. If you’re going to raise a family or be part of a family, you need to be able to provide for that family. You need to find a purpose. I recognize that is potentially harder for some people than others. But you need to find a purpose . . . . Find something you can do that is going to make a difference. Whether that’s being the best, most helpful salesperson in a clothing store, or the most dedicated policeman.”
Or a veterinarian who cares for animals as much as Gordon.
Do you know someone with a story? Email: SBJTonyT@gmail.com
The Journal’s weekly “What’s Your Story?” series is sponsored by Morris & Dewett Injury Lawyers.