Conna Dewart
Special to Guthrie Daily Leader
Last Wednesday, Dr. Anna Coffin spent her final day at Guthrie Pet Hospital, the institution she built in an historic building and a practice that grew by treating patients, their owners and her employees like family.
Humans and animals alike have relied upon the veterinarian’s excellent care and professionalism for 25 years.
Dr. Coffin first knew she wanted to be a vet while she was still just a child. When her dog was killed by a car, she was the one who found him on the side of the road.
“I didn’t want other people to have to go through something like that if I could help. That was kind of my moment,” she remembered.
She got her undergraduate degree at Oklahoma State University and completed veterinary school there in 1994. Then, she and her husband, Dr. Paul DeMars, also a veterinarian, took jobs in veterinary clinics in New Hampshire. When her brother and father called her to let her know the vet clinic in Guthrie was for sale, they returned home, bought the building on July 14, 1997, and opened their own practice.
Both Dr. Coffin and her husband worked in the clinic together. They had only one employee, her sister, Donna Coffin. Much cleanup and repair of the building was needed while they worked to grow their practice. The couple lived above the clinic and ate most of their meals at the nearby restaurant that Dr. Coffin’s family owned, called Granny Had One.
After two years, her husband took a teaching position at the university, and Dr. Coffin continued to build her practice at the clinic, growing it to 10 employees and 2,000 furry and feathered patients.
The clinic was always a welcoming place where patients were greeted with a warm “hello” and a snuggle from the clinic cat. Late night and after hours emergency vet calls were a regular occurrence. At times, the clinic also offered pick-up and drop-off grooming service to elderly or sick pet owners.
For years, Dr. Coffin also worked with Mrs. Canning on a project for the local Junior High, allowing students to spend a day helping at the clinic to learn more about veterinary medicine and animal care. Students continued to be part of the clinic even after the program ended.
“I still had several students that would volunteer,” Dr. Coffin said. “What they do is they come in, they volunteer, and then once they got old enough, I’m like, ‘Okay, you’re a good worker. I’m gonna hire you.’ “I like having a personal connection with people,” she said. “It’s just really important to me. You know, I think that that was just the way that I was raised. We had all kinds of people who needed us all the time over at our house, and I think I kind of learned that from my mom and dad.”
During her battle with serious illness a couple of years ago, Dr. Coffin decided she had to sell Guthrie Pet Hospital.
“I got really sick,” she said. “I thought I was going to die.”
She knew she had to cut back her hours and rest to save her life, but she agreed to stay on for a year to help with the transition.
Dr. Coffin now begins her next phase, working part-time for a veterinary clinic in nearby Edmond, but she will continue to call Guthrie her home.
“This is really hard for me,” she confessed. “I am gonna miss everybody so much, seeing everybody’s face that comes in that door. I know I’ll see people around town, but I’ve seen a lot of patients all the way from puppy- and kitten-hood to the end of their life, and I love the connection that I have with the people.
“I really didn’t get to say a proper goodbye, and I don’t want anyone to feel like I’ve abandoned them. I’m still here and I hope that I see them. It’s really been such a joy and my pleasure to take care of their pets.”