Chronicles from the Care Center: Dr. Dan Cotner reflects on life of service

This story is part of an ongoing series called “Chronicles from the Care Center,” in which people who live in care centers throughout Southeast Missouri tell the stories of their lives. This is the first installment.

In 1923, the President of the United States was Warren G. Harding. A gallon of milk cost 53 cents, and a loaf of bread was just 7 cents. That same year, TIME Magazine was first published, Yankee Stadium opened and the Walt Disney Company was founded.

But for Barrett and Bertha Cotner of Southeast Missouri, 1923 was the year they welcomed their one and only baby boy, Dan Barrett Cotner, into the world.

From a young age, Cotner learned to love and appreciate music. His father, a merchant worker and founder of Auto Tire & Parts, played the saxophone. His mother, who cared for him while his father worked, played piano. By five years old, Cotner was playing piano, as well.

Growing up in the Cape Girardeau public school system, Cotner also became a skilled trombone player. In high school, he started a Dixieland band, an orchestra of friends that often played music for school dances when they could get authorization to have them; with a Baptist principal in the late 1930s, this wasn’t always easy. But according to Cotner, “We had teachers that did authorize them” and made sure they had places to play.

After graduating from high school in 1941, Cotner planned to attend college but asked the dean to hold his place so he could enlist in the Army. While stationed in the Philippines, Cotner developed rheumatoid arthritis and spent more than a year in the hospital. Unable to continue his service, he received an honorable discharge and returned home to pursue his education.

At that time, it was not a requirement to receive an undergraduate degree before attending dental school, so Cotner enrolled in the dentistry program at Saint

Louis University.

“It was the only subject that combined biological science and mechanics, and I liked both,” Cotner says.

During his years in dental school, he met the love of his life, Paulette Sturgeon. Connected by music, they both ended up on a bus headed to the Muny in St. Louis. Later, their dates consisted of Paulette sitting next to him on the bench while he played the organ at funeral visitations. It may not be how dates happen these days, but it worked.

Married on Christmas Day during the ice storm of 1948, Cotner and Paulette started their new life together. Just a few months later, Cotner received his post-graduate degree as a doctor of dental surgery. In 1949, he opened his first dental practice at the H&H building in downtown Cape Girardeau, the current location of the Marriott hotel. Paulette was his dental assistant, and their first baby, Danna, played in a playpen as they worked. Next came Danice, and later Danel; three baby girls within three years, all named after their dad.

In the early 1950s, Cotner was inducted into the Air Force as a dentist. Paulette and the girls joined him at Wheelus Air Force Base in Tripoli, Libya, where they lived until 1953. Upon returning home, their son, Paul, was born. The youngest of four and the only boy, he carries the family name of both grandfathers, the shortened version of his mother’s name. All four children grew up working in their father’s dental office, and all four are currently working in the dental field today. Cotner has also been blessed with six grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

In 1977, decades after receiving his doctorate degree, Cotner went back for his Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Southeast Missouri State University. He didn’t have to, but it was important to him. He also spent time playing music in the Cape Municipal Band, where he contributed more than 75 years of service.

When he wasn’t practicing dentistry in Cape Girardeau, he used those same skills across the globe. With more than 17 world missions, Cotner took his practice to remote locations providing dental work to those who needed it. His success for more than 60 years as a dentist has always been the ability to listen to his patients.

“It’s all the patient needs,” Cotner says.

In retirement, Cotner tries to keep busy. At the Chateau, where he’s lived since 2012, he plays music, reads nonfiction books and enjoys the occasional game of dominoes. On holidays, he likes to spend time with his family at a little cabin in the woods, a spot originally owned by his parents. While this last year has been a little rough on his health, Cotner continues to find joy in a life well-lived.

At 98 years old, there are “fewer responsibilities,” Cotner says. And for a man who has spent his entire life living, working and serving, that’s probably a nice change of pace. Still, his best advice to the next generation is to “do your best” and “serve others.” Humble and modest, Cotner has been faithful to take his own advice. In doing so, has had quite an impact on the community in which he was born and raised.