PEORIA MAGAZINE November 2023

MOM AND POP

HOW WOULD THE MONROES DO THIS? Following in the footsteps of old Doc Waldhoff, the Monroe family has been running its own health care business for 50 years

BY LINDA SMITH BROWN PHOTO BY RON JOHNSON

W hen your first job as a youngster is crawling inside a boiler to scrape away the lime build-up, a lifetime career in a clean, sterile environment could be quite attractive. Growing up in Burlington, Iowa, Ed Monroe’s father worked as a boiler maker, welder and part-time plumber. Sometimes, his sons helped when the job required a little guy. “We didn’t have a lot of money, so we worked,” said Monroe, whose older brother worked first at a local pharmacy. When the latter went away to pharmacy school, little brother Ed took over the job working for 81-year-old “Doc” Waldhoff, also known as Gramps, as a clerk, soda fountain jerk and salesman of cosmetics and fragrances. “You jumped when he said, ‘Jump!” said Monroe. Despite that gruff sounding demeanor, “he was my role model. I loved him.” ‘HOW WOULD GRAMPS DO THIS?’ “Everybody came to Doc Waldhoff for advice. The doctors, the nurses, the patients,” Monroe said. “And his hands were always clean. My dad’s hands were always dirty.”

That got him to thinking about a career as a pharmacist. “To this day, when I face a decision, I say, ‘How would Gramps do this?’” Monroe soon followed his brother to Drake University, where he graduated from the pharmacy program in 1963. He worked as a pharmacist for May’s Drug Store in Iowa, a small retail chain that transferred him to Illinois. Eventually he landed in Bloomington, where he first set eyes on the lovely Donna, working in the candy department. Ed and Donna have been married for 59 years. When former Peoria developer Ray Becker opened multiple nursing homes near Sterling Avenue and Reservoir Boulevard, Monroe went into business for himself, opening Monroe Pharmacy, Inc. on Rochelle Lane in 1973. The store served the occupants of the 600 nursing home beds in Becker’s facilities. Unbeknownst to Monroe, he also was starting a family business that has lasted 50 years … and counting. When Becker sold the nursing homes to a Chicago corporation, Monroe planned his next move. A pharmacist friend in Beardstown was running a durable medical equipment business, doing a couple of million dollars in sales a year.

“He said, ‘I’m going to teach you this business.’” Monroe moved his pharmacy op eration to Frostwood Parkway before Sam’s Club opened in the neighbor hood, but soon realized he’d arrived too soon. “The pharmacy was very, very quiet,” said Monroe. “But the durable medical equipment in the basement was taking off.” At that time, Monroe was selling a lot of medical equipment through the hospitals “so that patients could get discharged.” He soon found himself moving again, in 1990 to 1837 N. Knoxville Ave. He also changed the company name to Family Medical Equipment and Supply Co. “On Knoxville, we were on the route to all three hospitals,” said Monroe. Ini tially the Knoxville store had a pharma cy but changing state laws required his small operation to carry the same in ventory as a Walgreen’s. Monroe closed the pharmacy and focused exclusively on home medical equipment. “As a pharmacist I wanted to be like Doc Waldhoff. I wanted to take care of ‘I WANTED TO TALK TO THE PATIENTS’

32 NOVEMBER 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE