For more than 40 years, Elizabethtown dentist Dr. Clair Dale Treese has built his life around a simple question: "What can I do to help?"

Since opening his home-based practice on Hanover Street in 1981, Dale has lived out that mantra, caring for patients, serving his community and lending a hand wherever it's needed.

On Aug. 28, he retired from dentistry, closing the practice he built in the two-car garage he converted into a dental office. And while he'll no longer be seeing patients, he will continue to serve the community "as long as it makes sense," he said.

Dale was born in Altoona and grew up in Hollidaysburg in Blair County. He graduated from Hollidaysburg High School, earned his undergraduate degree from Juniata College and graduated from Temple University School of Dentistry in 1979.

"I knew I was going to go into the medical field somehow pretty early on," he recalled, noting that he came from a family of railroad workers. "I was not going to work on the railroad. I worked summers on the railroad in school, and I knew I did not want to do that for a living."

He liked the idea of being able to help people as a dentist, and he especially focused on allaying patient fears.

His first stint out of dental school brought him to New Holland, where he filled in for a few months at a practice that served mostly Amish clientele. It was a unique experience to provide dental care to a population he hadn't encountered before.

Dale worked for a practice in Hanover for a bit, but he knew he wanted to open his own office, so when an opportunity came up in Elizabethtown, he took it.

From the beginning, both Dale and his wife, Jean, set a goal to get involved in their community. Jean was a teacher at Bainbridge Elementary School and also saw the value in service to various organizations, Dale said. He looked around to see where he could help as well and soon joined the Elizabethtown Planning Commission, an organization he learned about while obtaining permits to construct his dental office.

"I was intrigued about how the process worked and what they did," he said. "I thought it was important to help Elizabethtown grow." He served on the planning commission for 14 years, 11 of them as chairman.

He also volunteered as a baseball coach for a local rec league, sharing his love of the sport with youths.

"My approach was different," he said. "I didn't care about winning or losing. I wanted them to have fun and learn the basics of baseball."

As the father of two daughters in public school, Dale also had an interest in education and thought he might have something to contribute to the school board. His work on the Elizabethtown Area School Board included serving as vice president.

Through the years, he joined the Kiwanis Club and dedicated service to GEARS, where he learned help was needed to support Camp Ladybug, a free summer camp for people with mental or physical challenges.

"This was a program that really appealed to me, and I wanted to help," he said. He organized the Pinnacle Cup, a match play golf tournament that ran for more than 20 years.

"We were able to raise an awful lot of money to sustain Camp Ladybug," he shared.

Over the years, Dale received numerous invitations to professional organizations, and while he did travel extensively throughout the country on the lecture circuit, he often turned down professional appointments in favor of community service.

"I would tell them, 'I'm too busy here in my community. I want to help right here where I live,'" he said.

Now that he's retired, Dale said he's looking forward to traveling more with Jean. The couple marks 49 years of marriage this month. They want to visit their adult daughters and spend time with their two young grandsons.

"I don't remember my grandfathers. I was maybe 2 or 3 when they passed away," Dale said. "I'd really like my grandsons to remember their grandfather. Maybe that's selfish, but I want them to remember us playing together and being able to do things together."

Dale said retiring now, at age 72, "just feels right."

He's in good health, despite having survived three heart attacks, and he wants to enjoy retirement while he's still physically and mentally strong.

He will miss his patients, however.

"We consider our patients family," he said.

Recently, he encountered a patient who he had started treating as a very young child, who now brought his own children to the practice.

"He told me, 'You're the only dentist we've ever seen. We're going to miss you.' That made me feel good, but it also means I'm old," Dale recalled with a laugh.

Along with traveling, Dale is looking forward to having more time to play golf, and he's currently developing a match play disc golf tournament. He's also chair of the Elizabethtown Area Water Authority.

"My wife is wondering when I can give something up," he said with a chuckle. "I can't walk away from volunteering quite yet. There's still a little more work to do."