Photo by Rick Harris

Once there were eight, now there is one; Lingerfelt's the only downtown pharmacy
  
By Rozella Hardin
STAR STAFF
rhardin@starhq.com

   The first day Harold Lingerfelt opened for business at Lingerfelt Pharmacy, he filled 11 prescriptions. The labels were typed on an old typewriter.
   Since then, progress of enormous proportions have taken place. "It's a whole different world than when I began," said Lingerfelt, who is now retired. His son, Mike, also a pharmacist, bought the store in 1989. However, Harold occasionally fills in at the pharmacy counter and can often be found somewhere in the drugstore chatting with old customers and friends, who pass through the downtown business.
   Lingerfelt's interest in pharmacy and medicine goes back to when he was just a boy. "We lived behind Max Jett, who was the pharmacist at Burgie Drug. He tried to talk my brother, Ralph, into going to pharmacy school. He wasn't interested, but I was. I always liked science and social work. I think the Lord led me that way, as I had gone to Ridgecrest for a few days before I went away to school. And, I felt at that time, and I still do that was what the Lord wanted me to do," Lingerfelt shared recently as he sat at one of the small tables in the reception area of his store. On the table were scrapbooks documenting the store's history and Lingerfelt's service to the community.
   While finishing up pharmacy school at the University of Tennessee-Memphis, he was invited by Reeves Kincaid to come to Johnson City to fill in for him while he recuperated from a heart attack. After a time he moved to Burgie Drug to work with his old friend and mentor, Max Jett, for 11 years.
   Across the street was the Taylor Drug Store owned by Sid Powers, who had begun his business in 1926. Lingerfelt in 1963 was able to purchase the store from Powers, which at that time was located next door to the Carter County Bank. The bank later bought the Arcade building and remodeled it, and they re-located in it. "We're still next door to the bank, and it's been a plus for both of us," said Lingerfelt.
   Mike sort of grew up in the drug store, as he recalls his father taking him to old Burgie Drug Store on Sunday afternoons. "I would find me a pop crate and sit on it and read comic books while he worked. That's all I've known, and it was something I always wanted to do," he said. Mike graduated in 1975 from Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., and came to work full time at Lingerfelt Pharmacy in 1980.
   In fact, there are two more pharmacists in the family -- son Mark, who is a pharmacist at Kroger in Memphis, and daughter Marjorie, who is manager of the Wal-Mart Pharmacy in Johnson City. Mark's wife works in the pharmacy at Methodist Hospital in Memphis. "It makes me proud that I have three children who decided to be pharmacists," Harold said.
   He and his wife, Peggy, have a second daughter, Maylee.
   When Harold first started as a pharmacist, the method in which medicine was dispensed was quite different. Ointments were mixed and capsules and folding papers were prepared on a daily basis. "We studied roots, leaves and bark because they were the source of a lot of different drugs. We had to learn to roll pills, measure and mix powders and fold them in papers. Mike got in on the tail end of that. Very little of that is done now," Harold explained.
   He has on display at the store various pieces of pharmacy equipment and old medicine bottles. Among them is a suppository mold. "There's two sizes -- one for adults, and a second for babies or children," Harold said.
   Mike enjoys showing the old medicine bottles -- among them a Hadicol bottle. "Hadicol was a dietary supplement, and was 12 percent alcohol," he said with a smile. Then, there was Pe-Ru-No Tonic, an appetite stimulant, and Wizard Oil Ointment.
   "Basically, the medicines of today are chemically formulated, and they are the marvels of today," Harold said. "Penicillin, one of the greatest breakthroughs in medicine, occurred in the '30s, and the sulfa drugs were introduced in the '40s. We've made progress of enormous proportions, especially in anti-cancer and anti-viral drugs. The lifesaving miracle of drugs help people have normal productive lives today that just a few years ago would have been unthinkable. There are new drugs for arthritis and drugs to lower cholesterol, just to name a few that have bettered the quality of life for people," Harold explained.
   Mike, who enjoys his customers and knows most of them on a first-name basis, says, "Our customers trust us. To many of them, we're more accessible than their doctor. They will ask us about their medicine. Just the other day, I had a lady call and ask me if I would mix her up some good cough syrup. Of course, we don't do that anymore. We can recommend over-the-counter drugs," he said.
   "I enjoy the people who come in, whether they buy or just loathe. Some come in just to talk about basketball or golf, or just to sit down and read the paper. We try to have the atmosphere of an old-time drug store...a place where friends meet," Mike shared.
   Being an independent druggist, Mike says, allows their business to be more personal. "You don't have to wait in lines here, and you don't have to wait until the next day to get your medicine," he said. "And, we still deliver," he added.
   "I tell my employees that the people who are standing at that counter are the most important people in this store. If they come in here to have a prescription to fill, they don't feel like standing and waiting. Ninety percent of them have come from the doctor, so they are sick to begin with," he said.
   "We try to emphasize service. We want to give our customers the attention they need, and help them get what they're looking for," Mike said.
   Harold noted that a few years ago, independent druggists had a tough time when insurance plans came into play. "But, it has become a more level playing field," he said.
   He noted that Elizabethton has half the independent pharmacies it once had. "There used to be eight downtown pharmacies. We're the only left downtown," Harold said.
   The Lingerfelts have served four or five generations of customers. "That makes us very proud, and yet humble, too," said Harold.
   In addition to the many advances made in medicine, both Harold and Mike noted that more durable medical equipment is another progress that has been made. "We've gone from the old wooden wheelchairs of yesteryear to the motorized modes of today," Harold said.
   The dramatic changes also include increases in the cost of medicine. Customers have changed, too. "They are more knowledgeable about the medicine they take and more curious about the side-effects," Mike noted.
   Mike pointed out that the first computer owned by the business cost about $50,000. "Now, you can buy a computer for $8,000," he said. "The computer has not only modernized the business, but made it easier. We do medicine labels on our computers, as well as printouts for customers. All our records are kept on computer," he said.
   Harold noted that Lingerfelt Pharmacy had the first revolving medicine counter in town. "Joe Romaine at Custom Machine Works made it for us," he said. "Now, all the stores have them," he added.
   A history buff, Harold is a big Covered Bridge fan. Because of that, Mike has a lot of Covered Bridge items for sale in the store, such as shirts, mugs, ornaments, and the like. The store also has an assortment of cards and candy for sale.
   While Mike is a golfer and tends the store, Harold has spent his lot of his time as a public servant. He is a former mayor, city councilmen, and served at one time on the Housing Authority Board. He is an active member at Immanuel Baptist Church, serving as a deacon and Sunday School teacher and is a Gideon.
   You may not see Harold every time you go to Lingerfelt's, but you will see Mike. The store has five employees -- Mike's wife, Dianna, who is a certified pharmacy tech as well as Marsha Harrison, a certified tech; Audrey Bennett and Sylvia Ward, who are taking the course to be certified, and Lois Carver, a pharmacy tech who works one day a week.
   You also might see some of Mike's buddies, such as Bill Carter and Dave Birkner, who are dailies at the store.