For almost 50 years, Middle Georgia veterinarian who died from COVID changed lives

Dr. Ivey C. Dennard was more than a veterinarian.

To the people of Gordon and the surrounding area who brought him their pets to heal for the past 46 years, he was part of the family.

To those who worked for him, he was a guide, a teacher and, for one, a business partner.

To his five children, he was “Dad,” a man who stopped on the side of the road to save animals, who was more concerned with how people treated their pets than their social status.

“He did not care about how much money you had, what your titles were, the kind of car you drove, or how fancy it was, and he didn’t care about any labels you had,” Samuel Kevin Dennard, Ivey’s oldest son said. “You were judged when you walked in that clinic by how well you took care of your pet.”

Dennard ran the Gordon Animal Clinic for almost five decades. He died from COVID-19 on Aug. 19.

Growing up in Gordon

Dennard grew up in Gordon, a city of a few thousand situated on an old railroad stop in northwest Wilkinson County. He first realized he loved animals while working on a chicken farm, and after graduating high school, enrolled in the University of Georgia’s veterinary college and graduated in 1964.

He then enlisted in the U.S. Army for four years, but by 1975 he was back home and running his practice, the Gordon Animal Clinic. Slowly but surely, his clientele grew, from a few dozen to more than 30,000 customers over the decades. But folks — and their animals — were never just a number for Dr. Dennard.

“If he saw your file, instantly he knew everything about you; it was like the catalog system in his mind set off,” Kevin said.

And he had a way with animals of all sizes, Samuel said, earning their trust, then figuring out what they needed.

“He had a remarkable way of just talking to any animal like it was a friend,” he said. “It could he sitting there and grumbling and growling, and he could sit there and talk down it down in five minutes. Then it would be sitting in his lap, just as comfortable as could be.”

A teacher

There are two names on the Gordon Animal Clinic sign: Dennard’s, of course, and Dr. Valerie Reynolds. Reynolds is a Gordon native too, but she didn’t start at the clinic as a vet. She first visited in high school, shadowing Dennard for a week for her school’s newspaper. She fell in love with the clinic and the important work that was done there, and decided to come back.

Kevinl said she returned every Saturday, cleaning out cages and watching as Dr. Dennard treated animals

“She told Pops, ‘I want to come work for you one day and he said ‘Okay, you come to me with your diploma in hand and I’ll let you go to work with me,’” Kevin said.

Reynolds graduated, worked hard and learned from Dennard as his assistant. He was particularly adept at performing quick surgeries.

“By the time she graduated from UGA, she had over a thousand surgeries under her belt, more than any other student in her class,” Samuel said. “And she came back to us and never left.”

A family man

Dennard didn’t just take care of other people’s pets: his family owned more than 40 pets over the years, including a basset hound named Snoopy, a poodle named Carey and a series of English mastiffs that served as the clinic’s mascots.

“We are an animal-loving family, everybody there was; we took in every animal,” Samuel said. “If you were riding down the road and there’s an animal on the side of the interstate, we’d have to stop, pick it up.”

The animal-loving family began with Dennard and his wife of 57 years, Jan Edwards Dennard, a Gordon native who Dennard referred to as “his girl.” The Dennards had five children: Kevin, Kelly, Kerry, Keith and Keleste.

His extended family included folks in the community who crossed his path, such as Stephanie Garbutt, who worked with Dennard and now owns her own pet grooming business in Byron.

“It was never a dull moment,” Garbutt said. “He touched so many lives, and he was such an honest person who would tell so many stories, crack jokes, and always made it feel like home. He felt like my father.”

Going to dinner

The days leading up to his death were confusing for Dennard and his family. He was admitted to a local hospital for what started off as a cough and he tested negative for COVID-19. But he became extremely dehydrated with a fast heartbeat.

Further tests later confirmed Dennard had COVID, and for three days hospital staff worked to treat him, but on Aug. 19, he died.

Samuel, who also lost his mother in February of 2020, said he’s managing the clinic and doing his best to cope with the death of his parents.

“I wasn’t ready, but I had to be ready. I became ready,” Samuel said. “I had a day to deal with my father’s passing. And after that, it’s like, we’ve got to get stuff done. And there wasn’t anybody here so I stepped in and I’ve been running ever since.”

The family is waiting to schedule a funeral date until all members and clinical workers are able to attend.

“We’re not going to fold, we’re going to be here and we’re going to be here for the people who come in, we’re going to be here for the animals,” Samuel said. “We’re going to take care of everyone who is family and our family is a huge family. It’s not just the immediate family. It’s the clients and the animals.”

Asked what he was doing after the funeral, Samuel said he’s going to his parent’s favorite restaurant.

“My parent’s favorite restaurant was Steve’s Corner Cafe,” he said. “I’m going to sit down at a table and I’m going to put a photograph of my mother and father on the table, and order their favorite: onions rings, fried green tomatoes, and a glass of tea. I’m going to dinner with my parents.”

This story was originally published September 9, 2021 at 5:00 PM.