Meet Dr. Wentzell & Dr. Goetting
Aaron Wentzell was born and raised in Racine, Wisconsin. He spent his summers at the YMCA Camp Anokijig where he passed most of his time with the horses in the camp’s Ranch program. Aaron’s camp experiences are what inspired him to want to become a veterinarian, and he worked towards that goal throughout high school and college. He went to Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida where he received a bachelor’s degree in Biology. From there he went to North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he met Mary Beth, his classmate.
Mary Beth was born in Itasca, Illinois, and was raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She went to the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, where she received a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. She then moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, where she worked as a receptionist and veterinarian’s assistant at a local animal hospital while finishing up her prerequisite courses for veterinary school. From there, she moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where she attended North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
Aaron and Mary Beth were married in 2003, and moved to California shortly afterwards. They first landed in Calistoga and Aaron worked at a mixed animal practice over Mount St. Helena in Middletown, while Mary Beth made the drive through the Alexander Valley to her job at a small animal practice in Cloverdale. Aaron enjoyed his work with both large and small animals, but he decided to focus on small animal medicine and transferred jobs to a practice in Mill Valley. The couple moved to Marin County in the spring of 2005 and had their first child, Jonathan, in early 2006.
While Mary Beth and Aaron really enjoyed their experiences at the various practices where they have worked, they always had the goal of owning their own veterinary clinic. After investigating several different hospitals for sale, some on the East Coast, they set their sights on Fairfax Veterinary Clinic, where Mary Beth had done some relief work before she had Jonathan. After many months of planning, the couple took over as the new owners and veterinarians at the Fairfax Veterinary Clinic in February 2007.
As the practice has grown, so has their household. In October 2008, the Wentzells welcomed their daughter Kathryn (“Kate”) to their family and in April 2011 they had another boy, Benjamin. In addition to the three kids, they have 1 cat, Diva, and one dog, a sweet-hearted if not a little neurotic “rescue mutt” named Maple.
Aaron and Mary Beth are truly enjoying their place in the community of Fairfax. It is rare that a family can live, work, play, and raise a family in the same town, and they feel as if this is a dream come true for them. It is not unusual to come in and find the kids playing in the office and waiting room-it is definitely a “family practice”.
Owning (and renovating) a business and being veterinarians takes up a lot of time, but The Wentzell Family manages to have a lot of fun in their free time. As a family, they enjoy camping, hiking, sailing, running, music, cooking (and eating!) and reading. Aaron and Mary Beth are also board members of Lily’s Legacy, a sanctuary for senior large breed dogs, and active members of the AVMA, CVMA and MCVMA.
