Dr. Neds remembers pulling teeth for 50 cents

      (Evening Herald, Frackville Edition, May 3, 1975)  Dr. Joseph J. Neds was born in Gilberton and at an early age moved to Philadelphia. He attended grammar and high school there and was voted "All Scholastic, Best Center Half Back" in his senior year on the soccer team.
      He came to Frackville in 1926 and opened his first office on the second floor of the Zetuski Building on North Lehigh avenue. It was amusing and interesting to hear him tell the prices for extractions during his early career. Extractions for children cost twenty-five cents and adults cost fifty cents. Dentures were made out of a hard rubber called vulcanite and the process for making dentures was called vulcanizing. The teeth were of porcelain and cost fifty dollars a set.
      The Zetuski Building, said Dr. Neds, was quite an elegant building for its time, having its own self-operating elevator. The Elks organization was also located on the second floor, the P.P.&L. had their offices on the first floor, and a ballroom was located in the basement rooms. He was at this location until 1937 and then moved to the G.A. Haupt, Jr. Building on West Frack street, until he retired in 1971.
      Dr. and Mrs. Neds were married in 1935 and lived at 404 Washington street. She recalled that the street was not paved until the following year. Mrs. Neds was born and raised in Mahanoy City and graduated high school in 1925. She entered training at Jefferson Hospital of Philadelphia and gained a position at the Locust Mt. Hospital for the grand sum of seventy-five dollars a month. She was one of the two anesthetists employed by the hospital at that time. During World War II she was in charge of the Red Cross Bandaging Classes in town. These were women from different church organizations who volunteered to make bandages which were sent to the field hospitals in Europe. Classes were held on the second floor of the Bohard Building. She is now volunteering her services with the Red Cross Blood Bank of Pottsville.
      Dr. Neds joined the Elks in 1927 and was Exalted Ruler in 1935-36. He is a life member and is the oldest living Past Exalted Ruler. They are members of the Fountain Springs Country Club for the past twenty-nine years and have travelled extensively throughout the United States and Europe. They have lived in their lovely home at 15 South Third street since 1941.

Go to the John K. Berk biography which was originally printed with this tale (now located in the Old Timers section).