Interview with Clark Cleveland, July 16, 2019

Partial Transcript: Hi! This is Julia Taylor. I'm here today with Dr. Clark Cleveland. Today is July 16th, 2019 and we’re at the Scott County Public Library.

Segment Synopsis: This is an introduction to the interview with Dr. Clark Cleveland about his life and the Stamping Ground tornado of 1974.

Partial Transcript: And so my first question for you--and we just want the year, not the actual full date, um, what year were you born?

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland discusses his family's ties to Harrison County, Kentucky. He also talks about being a student at Auburn University, including some tensions during the desegregation of the school as well some general information about the availability of veterinary schools.

Keywords: Animal doctors; Desegregation; Hog buyers; Veterinary schools

Subjects: African Americans--Segregation; African Americans--Social conditions; Auburn University. College of Veterinary Medicine; College integration; Harrison County (Ky.); Integration; Veterinarians--United States; Veterinary colleges; Veterinary students

Partial Transcript: So, you came back to Kentucky and did you do anything in between? Did you come right back to Kentucky to practice?

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland discusses the veterinary center in Scott County. He also discusses his fears about the Vietnam War draft. He talks about his relationship with his then high school sweetheart, later wife.

Keywords: Dave Parish; Dave Parrish; High school sweethearts; Military drafts; Ron Martins; Veterinary centers

Subjects: Draft--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975

Partial Transcript: So, I, I have read in the newspaper like little clips of you coming in to save the day--(laughs)--

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland describes first seeing the tornado's damage and Sarah Tackett with a broken leg.

Keywords: Broken legs; Communication; Paul Tackett; Raymond Tackett; Sarah Tackett; Stamping Ground (Ky.); Stamping Ground Elementary School; Stamping Ground tornado

Subjects: Scott County (Ky.); Tornado damage; Tornadoes

Partial Transcript: I, I just never realized something like that could happen.

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland describes saving horses right after the Stamping Ground tornado.

Keywords: Paul Tackett; Stamping Ground (Ky.); Stamping Ground tornado

Subjects: Horses; Scott County (Ky.); Tornado damage; Tornadoes

Partial Transcript: I just never dreamed that something like that could happen.

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland describes issues with describing the tornado damage for insurance purposes. He talks about the veterinary use of magnets in cows.

Keywords: Animal behavior; Hardware disease; Stamping Ground (Ky.); Stamping Ground tornado

Subjects: Cattle; Scott County (Ky.); Tornado damage; Tornado insurance; Tornadoes; Veterinary medicine

Partial Transcript: So besides helping, you know, gather the, the mares and, um--were there any other kind--and helping with the cows that are needing magnets put in...

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland describes animal behavior directly after the tornado and its importance in veterinary diagnosis.

Keywords: Horse doctors; Horses; Stamping Ground (Ky.); Stamping Ground tornado

Subjects: Animal behavior; Scott County (Ky.); Tornado damage; Tornadoes; Veterinarians--United States; Veterinary medicine

Partial Transcript: Um, I meant to ask, so--and we talked about it but, um, you know this tornado didn't just hit Stamping Ground, it really hit a lot of Kentucky.

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland describes tornado damage in Harrison County, Kentucky.

Keywords: Stamping Ground (Ky.); Stamping Ground tornado

Subjects: Harrison County (Ky.); Tornado damage; Tornadoes

Partial Transcript: Do you think there was a lot of, um, ani--uh, I always think of animals both as an emotional but also real financial investment.

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland describes financial loss due to losing animals in the tornado, as well as the potential risk of investing in animals in general.

Keywords: Animal loss; Financial loss; Horse sales; Stamping Ground (Ky.); Stamping Ground tornado

Subjects: Animal behavior; Economic conditions; Horses; Scott County (Ky.); Tornado damage; Tornadoes

Partial Transcript: Now, and, uh I know that this is like a kind of odd topic but I was looking through the newspapers around that time there were a lot of advertisements for taking animals that had died and turning it into dog food.

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland explains Lee Dogfood and doing autopsy work with them.

Keywords: Autopsies; Dog food; Lee Dogfood

Subjects: Animal behavior; Dead animal disposal; Veterinarians--United States; Veterinary medicine

Partial Transcript: I know, uh, this wasn't then but, um, there was a, a mare named A'maria out on a farm and it was the best mare the people had.

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland tells many stories about animals struck by lightning and encountering lightning.

Keywords: Animal loss; Lightning damage

Subjects: Lightning

Partial Transcript: Well I did mean to ask, speaking of natural disasters, you were written up in paper for saving some horses from a frozen lake, but you said that wasn't that uncommon, that that's happened before?

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland describes saving animals from frozen water and getting stuck in mud.

Keywords: Frozen lakes

Subjects: Animal behavior; Veterinarians--United States; Veterinary emergencies; Veterinary medicine

Partial Transcript: What's, um, some of the strangest veterinary calls that you've had?

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland describes his daily breakfast routine.

Keywords: Breakfast; Dairy Queen

Partial Transcript: I had a two Standardbred yearlings one time that had an awful diarrhea.

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland tells stories of working with horses with diarrhea and his first foaling cases, along with a description working with Colonel Sayre and Dr. Kauffman.

Keywords: Foaling; Horse breeding; Horse illness

Subjects: Animal behavior; Diarrhea in animals; Horses; Veterinarians--United States; Veterinary medicine; Veterinary obstetrics

Partial Transcript: So I was gonna ask, uh, just a couple of, you know, fleshing out questions.

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland describes improvement in veterinary drugs, as well as working with coworkers, farm managers, and owners.

Keywords: Antibiotics; David Taylor

Subjects: Animal behavior; Veterinarians--United States; Veterinary drugs; Veterinary medicine

Partial Transcript: We had, uh, one mare sent up here from Arkansas and her name was Lilyglue.

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland describes working with LilyGlue, as well as brief story about another mare.

Keywords: Lilyglue; Mares

Subjects: Horses

Partial Transcript: Um, so, another of the round up questions. Was there anything about the tornado that we should have talked about that we didn't touch?

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland discusses his health issues during the subsequent year after the tornado.

Keywords: Health problems; Illnesses; Stamping Ground (Ky.); Stamping Ground tornado

Subjects: Diseases; Scott County (Ky.); Tornado damage; Tornadoes

Partial Transcript: You go back and think about things that happened and, uh, uh, I know, uh, Dr. Sutton and I, uh, met at a farm one night and a mare was foaling.

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland discusses difficult foaling cases.

Keywords: Foaling

Subjects: Animal behavior; Horses; Veterinarians--United States; Veterinary medicine; Veterinary obstetrics

Partial Transcript: Um, so is there anything else that has happened to you that we should talk about?

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland describes an injury he received due to palpating mares. He talks about technological innovations within the profession.

Keywords: Palpating mares

Subjects: Animal health technology; Veterinarians--United States; Veterinary medicine; Veterinary obstetrics; Veterinary ultrasonography

Partial Transcript: These kids getting out of school are a whole lot smarter than I ever thought to be.

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland describes his educational experience in veterinary school.

Keywords: Veterinary schools

Subjects: Auburn University. College of Veterinary Medicine; Veterinarians; Veterinarians--United States; Veterinary colleges; Veterinary students

Partial Transcript: So, um, kind of as a closing thought, do you have any advice for people going into veterinary work?

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland gives advice to people considering entering the veterinary field. He describes his experiences with a professor who specialized in chicken diseases.

Keywords: Professional advice; Veterinary professors

Subjects: Chickens--Diseases; Veterinarians--United States; Veterinary colleges; Veterinary students

Partial Transcript: Uh, and uh, uh, our sophomore year, uh, all the teachers got together.

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland describes a fellow classmate, Frank Branch, as well as logistical issues for a class reunion.

Keywords: Alumni meetings

Subjects: Auburn University. College of Veterinary Medicine; Class reunions; Veterinarians--United States; Veterinary colleges; Veterinary students

Partial Transcript: I think it's about time to wrap up but, but was there anything that else we should talk about, or anything like that?

Segment Synopsis: Cleveland summarizes the damage he saw to buildings due to the tornado and what it taught him about perseverance. He talks about a barn building project that started poorly.

Keywords: Barn building; Stamping Ground (Ky.); Stamping Ground tornado

Subjects: Scott County (Ky.); Tornado damage; Tornadoes