By JUSTIN ENGLEMAN
In September 1925, George Frederick Kutina, DDS, hung out his shingle in the upper story of a downtown office to begin a family legacy of dental care that continues 100 years later. The Ellis County native graduated from Western Dental College, in Kansas City, the same year he moved to Great Bend, where he began his dental practice above the Great Bend Tribune office on Forest Ave. He soon began courting a girl, Florence Elizabeth Weber from Ellinwood, and the couple would marry Oct. 12, 1926, in her hometown. Soon after, they would begin a family that would include three children, Carol Ann, Mary Imelda, and Loren Joseph, with another daughter, Christina Rose, who died shortly following her birth. By the mid-1930’s, Dr. George had moved his practice to 1317-1/2 Main Street, in a second story office above Gates Drug Store.
Loren, the youngest of Dr. George and Florence’s children, graduated from Great Bend High School in 1953, and then attend Fort Hays State College, earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1957 and then the University of Missouri, Kansas City, where he would graduate in 1961 with a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree. He returned to Great Bend that fall and joined his father in dental practice.
Loren married the former Arlene J. Johanning of Ellinwood on June 1, 1957. They began their family, including daughter, Julie; son, Larry G.; and daughter, Jan.
After Dr. Loren graduated from dental school, the two Drs. Kutina incorporated their business and constructed a new, modern $50,000 office building at 21st and Washington Streets. After 50 years in practice, Dr. George retired in 1976, and Dr. Loren would continue a solo dental practice until his son joined the practice in the Washington Street office in 1989. Larry graduated from Great Bend High School in 1980, and from the University of Missouri, Kansas City in 1988.
In addition to Dr. Larry, the third generation of Kutinas working in the dental field also included two dental hygienists, both of whom were Dr. Loren’s daughters. His eldest daughter, Julie, graduated from UMKC in 1981 and his youngest daughter, Jan, graduated from UMKC in 1986. They were not the only other third generation Kutina family members to practice dentistry; Dr. George’s daughter, Mary, had a son Alan, who graduated from UMKC the same year as Dr. Larry. Alan Marcotte, DDS, practiced dentistry in Winfield, Kan., and recently retired from practice.
Dr. Loren retired from the practice in 2002, and Dr. Larry, along with Dr. Ross Hildebrand, constructed state-of-the-art dental office facilities at 3820 Sixth Street, in Great Bend that same year.
While attending dental school, Dr. Larry Kutina married the former Anne Replogle in 1986. Their two children, Andrew Replogle Kutina and Elizabeth Anne Kutina, both carry the family tradition of dental practice into the fourth generation. Dr. Andrew graduated from UMKC in 2018 and is practicing dentistry in Manhattan, while Dr. Elizabeth graduated from UMKC in 2023, and is practicing in Wichita. While the youngest generation are not continuing the dental practice in Great Bend, they will carry the torch of the family tradition far into the second century of true family dentistry.
