home

V

eterinarian Dorothy Dimond closed the doors of Oriental Pet Clinic this December. The yellow two-story house on Broad Street served as both her home and her clinic since 1994. She helped the pets of Pamlico County – and their humans – for 27 years.

The home and office of Dr. Dimond.

Originally from Alabama, Dimond was part of the second graduating class out of Virginia Tech’s new veterinary school. Her clinic operated more like the 1930’s veterinarian office out of James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small. “By being untraditional [as a clinic], it meant we had more of those middle of the night kinds of things – things where people would just show up.”

For the first two years Dimond and her husband Clark operated Oriental Pet Clinic, they received their clients in the dining room. It made for some memorable holidays.

“We were making a Christmas pie with a whole bunch of friends,” Dimond said, “it was like our gift to the other families – we had all these kids in the house making these pies together. And then in comes somebody carrying their dog bleeding all over the place – just kind of knocks on the door and walks in. And it was back when it was into the dining room, right where the kids were stirring up stuff to make pies.”

Mayor Sally Belangia and Dr. Dorothy Dimond.

Dimond says Clark took over managing the pie making process while she readied for surgery. “It was a memorable holiday.”

Her three children are now grown and have settled in Virginia, where she and Clark will eventually spend some of their time. They would like to have a home in eastern North Carolina as well, Dimond said, but they haven’t settled on wether or not they’ll stay in Oriental. “It’s amazing,” she said, “the town sort of just helped raise the kids.

“I remember one time when one of the kids crashed their bike into a ditch. And they show up in somebody’s car and I don’t even know who the people are. They pick up a muddy bike and a muddy kid and bring them home. It was a great place to raise a family.”

Mayor Sally Belangia gifted Dr. Dimond with a resolution from the town, thanking her for her service.

The town resolution thanking Dimond for her service.

Posted Friday December 10, 2021 by Allison DeWeese