Like most young men, I always wanted to be like my dad. He would get up before first light, work his shift in a machine shop, and on the way home he would stop at several local optometrists’ offices to pick up eyeglass frames and lenses that he would later fabricate in a small lab in our daylight basement. I remember going down after dinner and spending the evening watching him cut lens and carefully fit them into each frame. I would go to sleep listening to the hum of the optical equipment, knowing dad would be there often till past midnight trying to make a better life for our family. I guess looking back, optometry was part of my legacy from the beginning.

In time my dad opened his own optical shop and was able to stop working as a machinist. I would often go with him to work and help with jobs such as “Son, why don’t you clean all the frames on display.” Eight hundred or so frames later he would give me the “well done” words of encouragement. I didn’t mind the work; it was fun to spend time with my dad.

The importance of faith, family and academics was instilled in my siblings and I from a young age. My parents wanted us to have a better life than they had, with fewer years of “eighty hour work weeks”. I was a good student but when I was ready for college I had a hard time deciding between pursuing a health care degree or my passion for the outdoors. Years of growing up exploring the Appalachian ridges behind my house had left their mark.

I attended Grove City College in Grove City, PA for a degree in biology, hoping that time and wisdom would help me decide if my second career choice of being a forest ranger was a wiser decision. As fate would have it, I attended a medical professions fair in my third year, and wouldn’t you know it, the first table was for the Pennsylvania College of Optometry! I enrolled the next year and soon thereafter met another student who became my best friend, and now lovely wife, Colleen. I guess some things are meant to be… she used to get glasses from my father’s optical shop when she was a little girl. We both had to go to optometry school four hundred miles away from home to meet the person of our dreams, who had grown up ten miles away. I often wonder if she came in for an eye exam on a day I was helping my dad.

Colleen was attending optometry school on an army scholarship, so we were blessed with the opportunity to move to Fairbanks in June 2000, one month after our wedding. Life was simple then, all of my belongings fit in the back of a worn out SUV. We were young and in love and excited to see what was on the horizon. Twenty two bear sightings later we arrived in Fairbanks and have been in awe of Alaska’s rugged beauty ever since.

We have been blessed with four beautiful children, great friends, wonderful patients and staff at Clear Vision, as well as a close church family. We have had our share of difficulties, such as a significant neck injury I experienced in 2004, but I feel that it was all part of God’s plan for us as it has made me less consumed with my own life and more concerned for the relationships I have with my family, friends, and my patients.

I am thankful you have chosen to consider Clear Vision Optometry to meet all of your eye care needs. We look forward to serving you and welcoming you into our eye care family.