Celebrating Dental Hygiene
on the Poca River

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The Poca Post is pleased to announce a new issue commemorating Prof. Alexis Flossing.

Prof. Flossing was active as an academic in the School of Dentistry at West Virginia Institute of Technology from 1933 through 1949. In 1949 Prof. Flossing was informed that he was heir to a very large fortune.  His uncle, Flaubert Flossing of North Carolina, had died and left considerable holdings to his nephew.  This made Prof. Flossing financially independent, and he left his faculty position to return to his hometown of Eleanor-on-the-Poca.  

Prof. Flossing then devoted himself to traveling to the public schools up and down the Poca River.  He visited classes preaching the virtues of dental hygiene.  He became affectionately known as Prof. Alexis by all of the students in the Poca River Valley.  There was no end to his energy:  from fall through spring Prof. Alexis could be seen in his old automobile, with a large toothbrushes painted on the sides, going from one end of the Poca River to the other, giving his message to any school class that would have him.  No doubt many children grew up with healthy teeth as a result of the lessons taught by Prof. Alexis.  In recent years social anthropologists have noted a substantial increase in the rate of marriage between young people along the Poca River between the years 1949 and 1960 (the year that Prof. Alexis retired).  No doubt, this was the result of the improved quality of the dental hygiene among the young people who had heeded Prof. Alexis’ lessons. 

Prof. Alexis passed away at his home in Eleanor-on-the-Poca in 1962.  His hometown erected a large toothbrush in honor of Prof. Alexis Flossing.  It stands today on the east bank of the Poca River where it can be viewed by visitors. 

The stamp was issued in a plate of 20 stamps in the denomination of 1.95 poca units.


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