MORE THAN JUST A DENTIST: San Marcos dentist is a much-beloved Renaissance man

Dr. Gene Milligan is a BISM: Born in San Marcos in 1952, he graduated from San Marcos High School, attended pre-med for dentistry at what was then Southwest Texas State, and after graduating from dental school in San Antonio, he came right back home.

Milligan opened his dental practice at the age of 24, and he’s kept at it for 46 years.

“Southwest Texas and Texas State have always had a good pre-med, pre-dental department,” Milligan said. “Dentistry has been a real good fit for me. I enjoy making things and helping people. And the joke is, I’ll keep practicing until I get it right.”

Humor included, this philosophy seems to be the guiding principle of Dr. Milligan’s life. Not only is Milligan an accomplished and respected dentist, he is also a musician, a gardener and a builder.

“We’re hand people,” Milligan said. “We make things with our hands. A whole bunch of dentists play musical instruments, or they build things, or they have a little shop in the back, or do gardening, or rebuild carburetors.”

Dr. Milligan does all of this and more.

He and his wife, fellow musician and Renaissance woman Virginia Davis, play in a band called O’Malarkey. “We’re an Irish band,” Milligan said. “My sweetie plays fiddle, and I play whatever’s lying around.”

To be sure, this is a modest response, because “whatever’s lying around” includes guitar, mandolin, trumpet and harmonica. O’Malarkey plays local renaissance festivals and has a standing gig at Sean Patrick’s, San Marcos’ own Irish pub. Additionally, they have an open music session every first and third Wednesday of the month at Wake the Dead, where they welcome local musicians to find out what Irish music is all about.

“It’s kind of a niche musical form,” Milligan said. “Irish have a real knack for melody. Some of these songs are 200 to 250 years old. We enjoy playing.”

When Dr. Milligan isn’t practicing dentistry or playing music, he and Davis spend time enjoying life on their farm in Martindale, where they tend two vegetable gardens, a fruit orchard, and where they raise long-eared Nubian goats. Their farmhouse, which they designed and had built to be off grid, utilizes rainwater collection as well as solar and wind power for efficient heating and cooling.

“I was fortunate to have some really good friends who were craftsmen, not just carpenters, and we built a really tight house,” Milligan said. “We never have problems with bugs crawling in. We have a wood stove. When we had that big snow storm two years ago, we had lights and fans. We made a big pot of chili beans. We were hunky dory.”

In many of the statements Milligan makes about his life, he leads with that same gratitude. “I was fortunate,” he said, or, when referring to his 23 years with Davis, “I am very lucky to have her in my life…”

One can tell Dr. Milligan knows how sweet his life truly is. “I’m so blessed,” he said of his staff members, Dee Dee Dixon and Linda Rodriguez, both of whom have been working with him for going on three decades. “The staff here is the best staff I’ve ever had. These ladies are crackerjack.”

He also notes with gratitude how his formative years in San Marcos have shaped him and contributed to the person he is today. “It was a wonderful place to grow up,” Milligan said. “We had the river all to ourselves. San Marcos had three stop lights. Wimberley didn’t have any. There were people in the 50s still coming in with their horse and buggy on Saturday to do their shopping. It was a different time.”

Milligan recalled attending the very first Just For Fun Parade, where he dressed like a 1950s dentist complete with a white smock and drill. “When you live here all your life, you do stuff like that.”

For now, Milligan is content to continue serving his patients for as long as he’s able. “We have a pretty laid-back approach,” he said. “It’s really rewarding to be able to help people. We don’t try to do a 30 minute procedure in 20 minutes. I know a lot of offices do that. You just have to say, ‘I need this much time to do a quality job.’”

Milligan’s patients appreciate his dedication to quality, which is why he has so many of them continue to return.

“At this point in the practice, patients are pretty much extended family,” he said. “They bring us cookies at Christmas. We get invited to quinceaneras and weddings. They all know I’m raising goats…I’m a happy camper. You don’t get that anywhere else.”

Editor’s note: Today’s feature on Dr. Gene Milligan was inspired after his dental office expressed concerns that he was being confused for Ronald Milligan, whose obituary ran in the Daily Record on Jan. 1. We offer condolences to the family of Ronald Milligan.