Abbott Kagan, D.D.S.

Abbott Kagan also known as Doc Kagan was my only Uncle. Born in 1916 in New York City, like his brother Martin aka Red and his sister Vivian aka Viv, Abbott was an avid reader but also was very athletic as a child and young adult. Abbott also loved flying airplanes

Abbott had grown up on his family's farm in Greenville, NY in a mountain community located above the Orange county town of Port Jervis, NY. It was there he learned to hunt and fish, care for farm animals, and trap animals for their fur.He played Football at his high school in Port Jervis, NY and later at Oklahoma A & M , now Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK. Abbott, like his brother Red, was asked to join Pershing Rifles, a merit based ROTC program. Abbott majored in Entomology at Oklahoma A & M and received his Bachelors and Masters degrees from there. As field assistant entomologists with the USDA, Abbott and Red worked in the Summertime. When Abbott was sent to Lee County, FL by the USDA he met and fell in love with a beautiful girl named Lillian Curry Tooke. Meanwhile his brother Red had fallen in love with Frances Shelton, a coed at Baylor University in Waco, TX. When they got married on Abbott's birthday,( Columbus Day was an official government holiday in 1940) Red and Frances asked Abbott to be best man.

After his marriage to Lil, Abbott had subsequent Air Force assignments during WW2. He was a flight instructor and was active at the Pentagon serving as a consultant on the start-up of the Federal Aviation Agency. Lill urged Abbott to leave their military life and get his doctorate in a medical field.Abbott then used the GI Bill to go to Dental School at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. Their first son Abbott the 2nd was born to them while living in Chicago. After receiving his DDS degree, Abbott, Lilian and Abbott the 2nd aka Bo, settled in Lil's hometown of Fort Myers, FL. My Uncle Abbott hired a construction firm to build his office near the River in downtown Fort Myers..He opened his dental practice there and practiced for almost 50 years. For many of those years he was the only dentist in Fort Myers. In 1952 their second child John Curry Kagan was born.

When my sister Kathleen aka Kai was born in October 1942, Martin and Frances were living at the Kagan farm. Abbott was still an Air Force Reservist when his father Manuel Kagan passed away in January 1946. He flew his brother Martin to New York to attend their fathers' funeral. My Dad Martin got moved around a lot by the USDA and also when he was on active duty during the Korean War with the US Army in Fort Drum, NY, Chicago, Utah and West Germany Our family moved 14 times during my father's career. He lost touch with his only brother Abbott. They wrote letters and sent each other Xmas presents. In those days, long distance calls were prohibitively expensive. They didn't call each other. During the 1960's; they did communicate through Citizens Band "Ham" Radio as that had become Abbott;s chief hobby. I was born in March 1949 and our brother Tom Kagan in February 1953. I had no recollection of meeting my Uncle Abbott and his wife, my Aunt Lillian, until the Summer of 1972. I was very glad to have the opportunity of getting to know them. Tom met his Uncle Abbott, Aunt Lil and cousins John, Bo and his wife in the Summer of 1975. He was overjoyed to meet them all. Mom Frances had flown to Gainesville, Florida with Tom to get treatment for Tom's left eye. By coincidence, Bo and John were doing their internship ( John) and finishing residency ( Bo) at Shands Teaching Hospital where my brother had been assigned. When our Grandmother Rose Kagan died in March 1979, I could not attend her funeral and neither could my parents. Kai flew to New York from her home in Bethesda, MD. She drove to Greenville to represent us at Rose's funeral and visit with Aunt Viv. Kai then saw our Uncle Abbott for the first time since her childhood. Abbott and Lil flew to Albuquerque and reconnected with Martin and Frances in 1980. My other memories of Abbott and his family continue later.