We recently caught up with former classmates, Susan, “Sue” Beaton (OD 91’), Patricia, “Trish” Campbell (OD 91’) and Andrea Mierzynski (OD 91’) and asked them to reflect on their experience as Optometry students, and why they choose to work with us as class rep volunteers for the Seeing Beyond 2020 campaign.
Josh Smith (OD ’13) went from being worried he'd be the oldest student at the School of Optometry & Vision Science to being class president and winning the Coreal Cup. Catch up with what's he's been doing in the decade since as an Eastern Ontario-based clinician, leader, volunteer and donor.
Dr. Robert Lidkea has been first in a lot of areas, starting when he forced a tuxedo-clad doctor to leave a New Year’s party to deliver him in North Bay. He was the hospital’s first baby of 1931. Recently, however, he gave up on being last – the oldest practicing optometrist in Ontario. He turned 93 the day he retired from his practice in Fort Frances, Ontario.
For more than 40 years, Stephen Tait (OD’79) wore two optometric hats: owner-optometrist at Ingersoll Optometry and part-time clinical supervisor at the School. He recently hung up both hats – but we couldn’t let him go without giving him a chance to explain why he kept being both a small-town optometrist and a beloved mentor to students for so long.