'He did it out of his heart': Well-known Peoria dentist remembered for helping others

PEORIA - Roscoe McCall learned at a young age that education was the way to a better life.

There weren’t many opportunities for an educated Black man in rural Florida in the 1950s. McCall wasn't expected to finish high school, but he was an exceptionally bright child who had different ideas.

“My grandfather wanted him to drop out of high school, so they made a deal. If my dad didn’t get straight A’s, then he would do my grandfather’s suggestion — my grandfather promised him a car and access to women. Needless to say, my father got straight A’s and stayed in school,” said Roscoe McCall’s youngest son, Chris McCall. "He was serious about education. He was the first person in his family to get through high school.”

By the time Roscoe McCall reached high school, he was already dedicated to his studies because an administrator had taken him under his wing during grade school.

“He pushed my dad to take education seriously,” said Chris McCall. "He felt my dad had the academic acumen to get through it."

Roscoe McCall never forgot the man who set him on the path he followed.

“To pay homage to that gentleman, assistant principal Stephens, my brother Steven was named after him,” said Chris McCall.

A sit-in leads to lasting love

After finishing high school in 1961 at the top of his class — and a football star — Roscoe McCall got the opportunity to work in Peoria for a wealthy family who needed a house sitter while wintering in Florida. Roscoe McCall’s uncle knew the family and recommended the young man.

Roscoe McCall soon discovered that the north was a lot different from the south for people of color. After living in Peoria for only a few weeks he picked up a copy of the Journal Star and saw the photograph of a young Black woman participating in a protest at the CILCO offices in downtown Peoria. He was immediately smitten and vowed to marry her.

“If you did that (participated in a protest) where he came from, you’d be murdered,” said Chris McCall. “Living up here, finding such a young person who was willing to buck the system, he literally, for all intents and purposes, fell in love with her and her mindset.”

Roscoe McCall set out on a mission to find this young woman. Since his mom had once told him that the place to find a nice woman was in church, he started attending Black churches around Peoria. He found her at the second church he visited.

“He was actually friends with her brother. They played basketball together,” said Chris McCall. “A young lady tapped him on the shoulder and asked him for change for 50 cents. And he turned around and noticed it was her. He gave her change, and then he went back home to verify that it was her, because he still had that newspaper.”

More: Civil rights sit-in led to lifelong love affair for Peoria couple

Roscoe McCall was 21 at that time and Geraldine Williams was just 17. Roscoe may have been adamant in his devotion, but it took Geraldine a little longer.

“I actually ran from him for a while,” said Geraldine McCall. “I wasn’t ready to get serious about anyone, and then finally, my senior year, we realized that it was love on my side also.”

Geraldine was 18 and a half when the pair got married. The union lasted 59 years, until Roscoe McCall’s death Dec. 15 at the age of 81.

Finding success through education

Geraldine McCall introduced her husband to the world of political demonstration, and the pair participated in protests around Peoria for several years before the babies started coming, Geraldine McCall said. Tonya was born in 1967, Steven in 1970, and Chris in 1977.

Prior to coming to Peoria, Roscoe McCall studied biology at Gibbs Junior College in St. Petersburg, Fla., and he finished that degree at Bradley University in 1965. But it was difficult for a Black man to get a job in biology at that time, so he worked for a while in the factory at Caterpillar, said Chris McCall.

After a couple years the young family moved back to Florida so Roscoe McCall could study pharmacy at Florida A&M University. After graduating in 1971, Roscoe McCall worked as a pharmacist in Nashville for a couple years, but didn’t like it. So he went to Meharry Medical College in Nashville to study dentistry and graduated in 1976.

“Peoria is where he wanted to go because we heard that so many jobs had opened up at that time, and he felt that a dental practice could thrive and we could make a decent living there,” said Geraldine McCall.

Roscoe McCall worked briefly for the Peoria City/County Health Department before opening his private practice in 1977. Business was good from the start, said Geraldine McCall.

“In some ways it was easy because Blacks were eager to see someone who looked like them. But just like any other business, you had to build that trust. We ended up having patients of all races," said Geraldine McCall.

The business was first located 1215 N. North St. until they built a new building at 1225 N. North St. in 1989. It was a true family business – Geraldine McCall manned the front desk and the children helped out. After 30 years, Roscoe McCall retired from private practice in 2007.

He gave from the heart

With an interest in preserving the family's legacy, Chris McCall took over the building his parents built to house his law practice, McCall Law Offices, after his father retired from private practice. There will soon be a painting of Roscoe McCall hanging in the lobby, commissioned as a memorial to the family's patriarch.

“We decided to do that after his death, which was unanticipated," said Chris McCall. "He had stage three lung cancer. Chemotherapy attacks your white blood cells, and he got an infection and he couldn’t recover.”

Chris McCall said his father took his responsibilities very seriously, including the raising of his children.

“He was extremely tough on us because he made it clear that the world was tough. ... He was very much an old-school man. He never let his guard down," said Chris McCall. “When I began practicing law as an attorney, and my business was successful, he said ‘hey, you got a successful business, a great family, and you haven’t been arrested — I’m going to become your friend.’ And instantly he changed the way he talked to me, how he dealt with me. He was less critical because he saw that I can do it.”

Roscoe McCall showed a softer side to other people’s children, however. He was known for befriending his young patients, teaching them about dental care and sometimes taking them to lunch after their appointments. For many years he paid for and coached a baseball league at Proctor Center.

“He took us around the city traveling to more affluent areas so the kids on the south end could see how other people lived and get them off the street. My dad and the other coaches were charged with giving the kids rides to games and practices. My dad paid all the registration fees and equipment fees and bought all the uniforms,” said Chris McCall.

Roscoe McCall also served the community through his work with the Tri-County Urban League, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and the NAACP.

Roscoe McCall taught his kids that it was important to help people, not for the accolades, but because it's the right thing to do. That was a mantra he lived by.

“He helped a lot of people quietly, so, when people give testimony about how my dad helped them, I learn things,” said Chris McCall, who, to this day, is often approached by people wanting to relate a story about how Roscoe McCall once did something to help them.

“He didn’t want to be seen helping people. He did it out of his heart.”

More: Terry Beachler, known for running a prominent family business in Peoria, has died

Leslie Renken can be reached at (309) 370-5087 or lrenken@pjstar.com. Follow her on Facebook.com/leslie.renken.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria dentist Roscoe McCall remembered for quietly helping others