Story of CVH

My father, David Colmey, grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and attended Colorado State University on the GI Bill after World War II.  After graduation in 1950, he and my mother Kathryn decided to move to Montana, along with two other classmates, to start their own veterinary practices.  My father ended up in Livingston, while his classmates ended up in Lewistown and Glendive.  All three built their own practice and never left.  My father built a practice that served large and small animals, and he covered an area of several counties at times.  Small animal medicine was a new and little understood area of veterinary medicine at the time, as most vets worked on livestock and horses.  He built up the practice over the years, with my mother's help, into a well-respected mixed practice.

In 1987, I graduated from the same Colorado State University and moved back to my hometown to join my father in practice.  My father's health was beginning to fail at that time, and he could no longer maintain the workload. He helped me learn and grow in the practice he started, and I was able to help him until his death in 1994.  Since then, I have been fortunate enough to see the practice succeed and grow, and was able to hire additional help as I could.  I was able to do a major expansion in 2004 to add needed space to the original hospital and make room for additional doctors. Colmey Veterinary has been here and survived for the last 73 years, and I look forward to seeing it continue into the future.

Ellen Holbrook

Dr. Ellen Holbrook joined the Colmey Veterinary Hospital family in 2020 after graduating from the Colorado State University School of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Duane Colmey served as a fantastic mentor for her, both in medicine and in business, teaching her something new every day and instilling in her the love he holds for the Livingston and Park County communities as well as what CVH stands for. Dr. Ellen had always been interested in owning her own veterinary practice so when Dr. Colmey decided to retire and was looking for a successor, it seemed only natural that Dr. Ellen take the reins and continue the Colmey family legacy for years to come. She has developed countless rewarding relationships with clients and neighbors, and Livingston has certainly taken hold of a special place in her heart!