LLU School of Dentistry Journal

C. Gene Munce, SD '69

Clifford Gene Munce, SD’69, of Sandpoint, Idaho, died peacefully on July 15, 2001 in Boise, Idaho.

Dr. Munce was born in Los Angeles and attended high school at La Sierra Academy in Riverside. After two years of service as a U.S. Army medic during WWII, he returned home to marry his high school sweetheart, Mary Elizabeth Smith, June 30, 1947, in Loma Linda. In 1950, Gene earned his medical laboratory technology degree from LLU. Many years and five children later, he returned to the University, where he earned his DDS degree in 1969 as one of the “old men” of his class. That summer the family moved to Sandpoint, Idaho, where Gene practiced dentistry for 25 years, often boasting that he could cross country ski to the office in the winter and water ski on his lunch breaks in the summer. Another fond memory is of a houseboat built on giant cedar float logs by Gene and sons John (SD’78, PG’88) and Jerry, and christened “The Tooth Ferry.”

As a young boy Gene dreamed of becoming a missionary doctor. In 1982, he realized that dream when he provided dental services in a refugee camp in Thailand. Then, from 1988 to 1992, he served as director of the Seventh-day Adventist Health Services Centre in Nairobi, Kenya.

While in Africa as well as after his return, Dr. Munce wrote a semi-regular column on dentistry for North Idaho Sunday, a newspaper with broad readership throughout the state, frequently drawing on his experiences in Nairobi to illustrate a clinical point.
Gene loved all kinds of music, from Bach to bluegrass, but he had a special love for classical music and the old Church hymns. As a faithful Seventh-day Adventist Church member and leader, he was often called upon to use his exceptional talent in church music, from song leading and choir directing to performing solos and duets with his wife, Mary or son, John.

Dr. Munce is survived by his wife of 54 years, Mary Elizabeth Munce, Boise, Idaho; five children and their spouses: Lana (Mrs. Ronald) Jutzy, Boise, Idaho; John (Marianne Heydt) Munce, Santa Barbara; Jennifer (Mrs. Keith) Willard, St. Paul, Minnesota; Heidi (Mrs. Randy) Prewitt, Battle Creek, Michigan and Jerome (Virginia) Munce, San Clemente, California; and 11 grandchildren.

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