Golden Times: A veterinarian looks back

VerPloeg lives on his own, cooking and cleaning for himself. “My daughter says I live in a snake pit,” he jokes. Far from it. His surroundings are orderly and clean.

“When I get out of bed my first thought is, ‘What can I do to help others today?’”

The sole survivor of the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine Class of 1953 is a spry 95-year-old Storm Laker.

VerPloeg upon graduation in 1953.

Warren VerPloeg’s life — so far — has been marked by hard work, generosity and the desire to keep learning.

He lives by himself and keeps his own house. His lineup of flowering geraniums at his south window oxygenate his home, he says. He cooks for himself and enjoys the Dinner Date meals each weekday at the senior center.

Look up there on a shelf. It’s a pair of wooden Dutch clogs, real ones, that hark back to VerPloeg’s thoroughly Dutch heritage. His great-grandfather Engel VerPloeg was one of 800 who came from Holland in…