JBLM’s Dental Exercise memorializes clinic | Write-up
The Lefler household outside the house the Lefler Dental Clinic at the memorialization ceremony honoring the late, retired Maj. Gen. Billie B. Lefler, June 1, Joint Foundation Lewis-McChord, Wash. Still left to appropriate are: Maj. Jackson Salter, grandson Charlie Kimbrell, grandson-in-law Katherine Lefler and Dr. Mark Lefler, daughter-in-regulation and son Tracey Salter, daughter Jack Kimbrell, great grandson Jack Salter, son-in-legislation retired Col. Tom Lefler and Cindy Lefler, son and daughter-in-regulation.
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Slicing the cake to rejoice the memorialization of the Lefler Dental Clinic on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Clean., after the late, retired Maj. Gen. Billie B. Lefler are, still left to correct: Dr. (Col.) Kendall Mower, former commander of the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Dental Health Activity, retired Col. Tom Lefler, Tracey Salter, and Dr. Mark Lefler, the honoree’s kids.
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JOINT Base LEWIS-McCHORD, Clean. – The Joint Base Lewis-McChord Dental Health Exercise right here held a memorialization ceremony June 1 to rename and dedicate one particular of its clinics following a previous Dental Corps main.
JBLM’s Dental Clinic #2 is now referred to as the Maj. Gen. Billie B. Lefler Dental Clinic, named soon after a devoted company who served a lot more than 34 a long time on lively responsibility as a normal dentist and prosthodontist, including additional than a few years as the 20th Main of the U.S. Army Dental Corps.
Lefler passed absent in 2017.
The invocation and benediction for the ceremony was offered by Chaplain (Maj.) Stephan Buchanan, a chaplain at Madigan Army Medical Center. Spc. Muhota Mbuthia, a dental professional assigned to the Presidio of Monterey (Calif.) Dental Clinic, sang the countrywide anthem.
Lefler was picked for the honor due to his distinguished navy provider as each a dentist and an educator.
Lefler graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Dentistry in 1956 and was commissioned in the Military that similar yr. He finished the mounted prosthodontics residency application at Fort Bragg, N.C., in 1968. Lefler was a receiver of the Military Surgeon General’s “A” Prefix, the maximum award that can be built in recognition of specialist attainment within just the U.S. Military Medical Division.
Lefler Dental Clinic is a condition-of-the-art, 22-chair clinic with capabilities to perform the full scope of dental care, like exams, fillings, cleanings, orthodontics, periodontics, prosthodontics, pathology and oral surgery. The clinic also hosts the yearlong Sophisticated Education and learning in General Dentistry residency system.
Very last spring, Dr. (Col.) Kendall Mower, at that time the JBLM DENTAC commander, sought out to title JBLM’s Dental Clinic #2 soon after Lefler.
Mower explained he knew this would be an considerable method for the clinic, primarily considering the fact that Lefler by no means served at Fort Lewis. The perseverance proposal was routed through U.S. Military Medical Command and Lt. Gen. R. Scott Dingle, the 45th Surgeon Basic of the Military, accredited the identify modify to the Maj. Gen. Billie B. Lefler Dental Clinic.
The justification for the name transform mirrored the perseverance Lefler experienced to the Army Dental Corps, coupled with the record of leadership he displayed at every amount of the Dental Corps and AMEDD.
“To me, his legacy is about the life he lived both equally in and out of the navy,” Mower said, through his remarks. “It is the selfless provider he gave in every little thing he did. It was about the way he was dedicated to the corps, his country, his community, his God and his family.”
The Lefler Dental Clinic is component of the U.S. Military Dental Health Exercise, Joint Foundation Lewis-McChord. The clinic delivers oral health care for active-obligation armed forces, along with Nationwide Guard or Reserve provider customers on energetic duty.