Fourth generation of family dentists carries on Windauer legacy in Polson
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Fourth generation of family dentists carries on Windauer legacy in PolsonA family legacy of dentistry now extends to a fourth generation as Jacob and Emma Windauer join the Windauer Family Dentistry practice in Polson. The family history includes not only dentistry but a longstanding tradition of service to others. From military service to providing free dental care in underserved communities to volunteering within their own hometowns, the Windauers prioritize public service. The family’s unique story of tradition, dentistry and service is shared with readers below.
Robert J. Windauer, the first generation of Windauer dentists, was born to legal immigrant parents in Chicago, Illinois, on May 14, 1915, in the middle of the First World War. He grew up in Chicago during the Great Depression and Prohibition years, eventually graduating from the University of Illinois College of Dentistry with a DDS degree in May of 1942. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States entered the war on Dec. 1942. Dr. Windauer enlisted in the United States Navy on April 22, 1942, just before his dental graduation.
Following military training, he served on the destroyer escort USS President Adams, as a dentist, an assistant in Marine transport to and from battle action, and a medical assistant for wounded Marines. He received a commendation for bravery for risking life while transporting wounded warriors during the battles of Iwo Jima and Lingayen Gulf. In civilian life, Robert J. was a devoted husband, and a dedicated father to six children, while also helping the needy and serving as a scoutmaster. He loved the Mexican people, providing housing for Mexican immigrants and needy Americans. During mission trips to remote Mexican villages, he provided free dental services and medical care. After practicing dentistry in and near Chicago until 1974, he retired to Columbia Falls in Montana. Dr. Windauer passed away in 2007, two years after losing his wife of 63 years in 2005. “He was a talented dentist and a man to be remembered for his goodness,” his grandson Michael Windauer said. The family’s second dentist, Robert P. Windauer, was born on Chicago’s south side on May 3, 1942. Robert P. didn’t get to know his father until 1946 when he was honorably discharged from active duty. He has sketchy memories of helping his father, grandfather, and uncle build his father’s dental office on a vacant lot next to his grandparent’s home on the south side of Chicago.
Robert P. Windauer grew up on six acres, ten miles south of Chicago’s city limits. He loved the outdoors, became an Eagle Scout, worked regularly on the small family farm, hunted, fished, and often camped with his dad and five younger siblings. Schooling, and summer jobs frequently took him in to the city where he did yardwork for his grandparents and great-grandparents and made regular visits to his father’s dental office, where his interest in dentistry began. During his last year of college, he was accepted to the University of Illinois College of Dentistry. In the summer of his junior year, he married Judy, the love of his life, who had just graduated as a Registered Nurse.
After graduation from dental school in May of 1967, Robert P. enlisted in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War and served for two years as a military dentist at Ellsworth A.F. Base in Rapid City, South Dakota. There he performed general dentistry as well as interning in oral surgery, periodontics, and prosthetic dentistry. After his discharge from the service in 1969, he practiced dentistry part-time with his father and taught operative dentistry full-time for one year at the University of Illinois Dental College. He continued part-time work with his father and began his full-time, two-year orthodontic residency, at the University of Illinois in Chicago.
While in South Dakota, Robert P. and Judy fell in love with the clean air, drinkable water of the west, and the friendly people of Montana. In May of 1972, they moved to Columbia Falls and set up an orthodontic practice in Kalispell that he worked for 31 years until he retired. His greatest love is his family. In addition to their own children, Robert P. and Judy parented several exchange students and other needy youths. They adopted son Tien, a refugee from Vietnam who has been a proud Montanan for 40 years.
The dentist locals know, Michael Robert Windauer, marks the family’s third generation in dentistry. was born in Chicago and moved to Columbia Falls at the age of three. He says his father instilled a strong value for tradition in “all aspects of my life.” They used traditional bows when hunting, celebrated holidays together at the family cabin in Ashley Lake, and remain passionate about their family legacy of dentistry. He attended Montana State University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in nursing and continued his education at dental school at Oregon Health Science University where he graduated in 1995. That same year, Michael moved with his pregnant wife and daughter to Polson. They purchased their current office building on Main Street and started Windauer Family Dentistry.
Michael has a passion for working with kids and has made dozens of dental mission trips to Mexico, Guatemala, Moldova, and Phoenix where he provides dental work for underserved children and their families.
As his own family grew and their dental practice flourished, Michael and his wife Jodi made it their mission to grow the Christian School (Mission Valley Christian Academy), establishing it in Polson in 2000. Michael served on the MVCA board for 20 years. During that time, each of the Windauer’s children attended and graduated from MVCA.
Just like his own father passed traditions on to him, Michael passed similar but different traditions on to his children. “I’m so proud that my twin sons carry on the Windauer family legacy of dentistry,” he said. “My son Nicholas practices dentistry in Phoenix, and my son Jacob and his wife Emma have moved back home to join Windauer Dentistry here in Polson. Nothing makes me prouder than to see the passion of my grandfather, father, and myself in my children, loving and serving our community in all aspects of the word for another generation.”
Jacob and Emma, both born and raised in Montana, are the fourth generation of Windauer dentists.
The couple met in high school when they happened to go on the same mission trip to El Salvador. They then both attended Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona where they soon married and received bachelor’s degrees in biology. Together they studied dentistry at LECOM School of Dentistry in Sarasota, Florida, for four years, graduating in May of 2024. Emma and Jacob were the first married students in LECOM’s history to graduate together. The couple welcomed their first son, Calihan Windauer, now almost three, during their second year of dental school.
“Emma and I have both pursued excellence in our studies, but more importantly, placed our priorities in our family, our faith, and our relationships with others throughout our long journey,” Jacob said. “We are returning to our own community where we have always wanted to practice and serve. Many people from this community helped us achieve our dreams, and now we are excited to finally give back.”
