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Homer, LA (KTBS) — You never know whose life you’ll touch.
In 1961, the late Dr. Louis Pendleton hung his shingle and began practicing dentistry in Shreveport. His nephew, Dr. Rodney Pendleton followed in his uncle’s footsteps. The path laid 57 years ago, in the height of the civil rights battle, is still being traveled, reaching a young man in Homer.
“I came in with a notebook. He told me, ‘Put the notebook up,’” said Dr. Jariel Norton, laughing about the first day he shadowed in Rodney Pendleton’s office. “He made me take the notebook back to my car.”
He was 18 years old. Ambitious, hard-working and on a mission as a promising new graduate of Homer High School.
“Valedictorian in 2005, then the Claiborne Parish student of the year. I was also all-state in basketball, all-area in basketball,” Norton said.
From his hometown of less than 3,000, Norton spent the summer learning from Rodney Pendleton before going to LSU-Shreveport on a basketball scholarship.
“And then he came when he was in college, and then he came when he was in dental school,” Rodney Pendleton said.
“He actually paid me to just come watch. He knew I didn’t have any money as a young man. He knew I was broke coming out of high school,” Norton said.
Rodney Pendleton says he did for Norton what his uncle, the late Louis Pendleton, did for him.
“Just like Jariel I’d come see him work,” Rodney Pendleton said.
“Just seeing him work every day and explaining things to me like I did Jariel. He’d take a model, he’d show me the model and say this is the situation this patient has,” Rodney Pendleton said.
Norton made good on the Pendletons’ investment, becoming the first African American male to earn an Advanced Education in General Dentistry Degree at Baylor College of Dentistry. He’s also the youngest to ever earn a Fellowship, putting in 500 extra hours to perfect his skill as a dentist.
“You can only get it in four years, and I got it the earliest you can get it,” Norton said.
Only about 7 percent of dentists nationwide ever earned a Fellowship.
The road to get to this point wasn’t easy. Just before Norton entered dental school his family suffered a tragedy. A 73-year-old family member was shot and killed by a white police officer, leading to months of unrest and national attention on the small Claiborne Parish community.
“Bernard Monroe Sr., he was shot in Homer by the police. hat was my uncle. Right next door to me basically, I grew up with him,” Norton said.
Still, when he considered where to hang his shingle there was only one place — Homer. He wants to give back in the same city that took so much from him.
“What I’ve gone through in life, I’ve already won. Where I come from. I come from a really strong family. My grandmother and grandfather I wish they could be standing here with me right now,” Norton said.
And just like the dentist who laid a path for him, he’s paving the way for others — as a mentor and as a role model for children growing up in the town that holds his heart.
“People come in in pain and you get a chance to make them leave out of pain, it just makes me feel like a hero. It keeps me going and keeps me learning,” Norton said.
Norton’s office is open Monday, Friday and Saturday. He’s working with the Chamber of Commerce for an official grand opening sometime in March.
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