Likness Family Pictured Above. New Years Eve 2018.
2018 was a big year for the Brown Clinic…we had three excellent providers follow suit with Dr.Ed Gerrish and retired (Dr.Ed retired in 2017). Dr.Kim Wilde and Dr.Catherine Gerrish retired at the end of June and Dr.Clark Likness at the end of December. A fun fact is that all four providers went to USD Med School together so they certainly had put their time in and were ready for the next phase of their lives! As most of you know, Dr.Likness is my father and has been a part of our STRIVE 2 Survive team since inception of the 12 week program. Thankfully he has agreed to continue that role into retirement, joining us for his talk of the program each session. We are glad he will still be able to be a part of the program as his talk is truly a key piece of the wellness puzzle we strive to put together to achieve optimal wellness!
On Thursday, January 24th, we will be celebrating Dr.Likness at the Event Center from 5-7pm. Please join us for a time of fellowship, story telling, and of course gratitude for his years of service to this community!
Brown Clinic has been in my blood since day one! My parents moved to Watertown in the early 1980s after my dad finished up his residency at USD’s School of Medicine-Family Medicine Residency program in Sioux Falls. My dad is from Webster and my mom is from Madison, so Watertown was the perfect fit for them…in between both towns and parents! They moved here with my two brothers and I came along in 1984. We have many great memories of my dad’s career–fun trips for medical meetings (of course we thought they were fun…they were probably more work for dad than anything!), wheelchair races at the Main Clinic every Sunday afternoon when dad was here working on his paper charts, rounds at the hospital or nursing home with him, and the list can go on and on. We couldn’t (still can’t) go on a vacation or really anywhere for that matter without someone knowing him and always wanting to visit, he was always ready to lend a helping hand (still is!), and really instilled in us kids the value of hard work and the importance of caring and compassion for others. Most supper table talks were consumed about medicine and science and the real obvious way he made an impact into us kids is that all three of us choose to go into medicine–my two older brothers as physicians and myself as a dietitian. Medicine and helping others be well is our passion and blood.
Left to Right: Kelsey (Dietitian at Brown Clinic), Micah (ENT in Yankton), Dad aka Dr.Likness, Lincoln, (Sports and Spine Physician at Hudson Physicians, WI).
My dad didn’t always have a lot of time for us kids or our activities…but we always knew why….he was helping someone else who needed it more than us at that time….and we were ok with that. We are excited for this next chapter of his life-retirement, as he gets to put himself and his family first and truly be able to take the time to enjoy life’s greatest blessings and make the most of all activities and happenings in life. He’s three weeks in and already enjoying not spending his evenings charting and enjoying less stress in his life. He’s a man that likes to be busy, so I am sure he’ll relax and enjoy but eventually get back to some of his neglected hobbies and enjoy getting to the grandkid’s activities and other happenings in our community.
He made an impact in our community–touching the young and old (I’m pretty sure he delivered over half the kids in my class and I graduated with 325–that’s a lot of babies in a year!). If he made an impact in you or a loved one’s life, please join us Thursday. We would love to see you and hear your story! We are grateful for our great community and a great place to work all of these 37++ years for my dad and most of all, I am grateful for the last 9+ years that I got to work with him! He is a great teacher and educator and I am sure that won’t stop in retirement!
See you Thursday at the Event Center from 5-7pm!
-Kelsey
