Provided by Rebecca Vollrath Dr. Rebecca Vollrath sits with her dog, Murphy, and horse, Gorman.

HOUGHTON — Dr. Thomas Cole is retiring from the Copper Country Veterinary Clinic (CCVC) and selling the business to Dr. Rebecca Vollrath. Cole has been a veterinarian for 44 years, working in Colorado with his father before moving to Houghton in 1985. He worked out of the Portage Lake Animal Hospital before buying CCVC in 1992.

In a statement released to the Gazette, he said he has mixed feelings about retiring, but feels it is time to spend more time with his grandchildren and work on his golf game. He would like to thank all of his clients for letting him serve them.

His retirement is official at the end of Dec. 31, and Vollrath will assume leadership of CCVC. The 27-year-old Houghton native said that while it is happening a little sooner than she expected, the plan was always to eventually purchase the business.

“I’ve been trained on every single job here, pretty much,” Vollrath said.

She started working in the kennels while an undergrad student at Michigan Technological University. She transferred to Michigan State University for veterinary school, but came back to work at CCVC in the summers and on breaks. After graduating from veterinary school in 2016, she moved back to Houghton permanently and became a full-time associate veterinarian at CCVC.

Vollrath said she has pretty much always wanted to be a veterinarian, but she loves the job for more than just the animals.

“We’re basically all the human medical specialties in one,” she said.

Veterinarians interpret their own radiology, perform ultrasounds, practice internal medicine, cesarean sections and perform surgeries, which are Vollrath’s favorite.

“We get to do all of it,” she said.

Vollrath does have plans to change a few things at the clinic, but she says it will not be anything dramatically different for clients. The office will be going paperless to increase efficiency, and they are planning to extend hours on Mondays and Wednesdays to accommodate people who work during their other hours.

She is also going to start doing more advanced diagnostics, including dental radiology to help pinpoint periodontal disease, cavities and oral masses in patients.

“We really love doing the more advanced medical things,” Vollrath said.

She is hoping the changes will keep them from having to send as many patients to specialists in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Vollrath is engaged to be married to Shane Severn in October of 2019, which she said was carefully chosen to be between hunting season and the summer horse shows. She has been an equestrian since she was 13 years old.