I was born in 1918 at the end of the First World War in a small town in mid-western Illinois. My dad was a farmer who farmed almost 100 acres and milked 20 cows. Mom was kept busy raising 7 kids, of which I was the very middle one. Every Sunday mom and dad dragged all 7 of us off to town, and while the adults were in church we had to attend bible studies in the Parish Hall. The preacher at the time was the Reverend Herman Booker, and he and his wife had 2 girls, Audrey who was the same age as me, and Elizabeth, who was 2 years younger. The girls were all right as far as their looks went, but I was really intrigued by their mother Mildred. Mildred Booker taught us at the bible school and I was fascinated by the glasses that she wore. The two little round lenses that were held in front of her eyes by a gold colored wire frame had to be the thickest pair of glasses I had ever seen. Every Sunday I stared at Mildred Booker and her extremely minified eyes as much as I possibly could - without getting caught that is. Herman Booker was a tall, fairly thin man who, like his wife, wore glasses, but with would be called more normal looking lenses. Herman was well respected as a preacher and Mildred was very popular with all the ladies in the community, as she was an extremely good organizer. She also was not afraid to get her hands dirty and was right there front and center helping at any sort of community event. The Bookers were very important people in our little community, and as a result I was a little hesitant to become too close to their daughter Audrey as a friend. But she was in my grade at school so I saw her every day and she was a really nice person so it was very easy to be friends with her. Elizabeth, although she was almost 2 years younger than her sister, was also in my room every second year. Our school had 4 rooms and there were 2 grades in each room, so Elisabeth was in grade 1 when Audrey and I were in grade 2. When Audrey and I were in grade 8, Elizabeth was in grade 7 and by that time both Audrey and Elizabeth had gotten glasses. Elizabeth wore glasses that were much thicker looking than the ones Audrey wore and I found that I was very attracted to Elizabeth. She also seemed to like me, because Elizabeth and I often danced together at every church social we went to. Elizabeth let me try on her glasses once, and even though they seemed really strong I could almost force my eyes to see though the lenses. I was really fascinated by this experience. The people of the town were quite disappointed when the Bishop transferred Reverend Booker to another church that was almost a 2 day drive away. I also was very upset because by now Elizabeth Booker was almost 14 and she had just gotten new glasses that looked to be a lot stronger than her other pair. By this time I was almost 16 myself and I had reached a point where I really liked Elizabeth a lot. We promised to write each other, and we did – for a while. But gradually our correspondence tapered off to nothing. While I had not forgotten about Elizabeth Booker, I realized that she was gone from my life. The summer that Elizabeth and Audrey moved was the summer I went to work for my Uncle Walter at the mortuary. I had to go with him to pick up the deceased and bring them back to his funeral parlor. At first it was a horrible job but after a while I got used to working with dead people. I didn’t like it, but I wanted the money I earned so I could go on in school after I finished high school. Uncle Walter tried to talk me into going to embalming school, but I was having no part of that. The part of my job that I did enjoy was sorting out the belongings of the deceased. People didn’t realize that their loved ones could not be buried with any belongings that would not break down, so false teeth, glasses, rings and other jewelry had to be removed from the body before the casket was closed. To his credit, Uncle Walter would always ask if the family wanted any of the deceased’s personal belongings, but often they would just tell him to hang on to it for them, and the stuff was often forgotten about and left for Uncle Walter to sort out. That became my job, and I had to remove the lenses and the nose pads from glasses that were made of gold, as well as take any jewelry and determine the gold content so that once a year the stuff could be sent out to be melted down. Soon after I had started doing this I found a pair of glasses that had the same type of lenses that were in the glasses that Elizabeth and her mother Mildred wore in their glasses. When I held the lenses up to look through them they made everything a lot smaller. But the funny part of it was that when I put these glasses on, after a few minutes things came into focus and I could see everything really clearly. I didn’t have a lot of chances to wear these glasses over the summer until the day came where Uncle Walter caught me wearing them while I sorted through the most recent crop of jewelry and such. I thought he would freak out, but he just asked me why I was wearing a pair of glasses and I told him I could see much better with the glasses on. After that he let me wear them all day long at work. My mother and Uncle Walter are brother and sister, and I guess Uncle Walter told mom I needed glasses, because soon after I started wearing the glasses at work my parents asked me about them, and I told them I really needed them. I proved it to them by trying to read a calendar on the wall without them and now I could not even see the calendar, but with them on I could read the dates on the calendar. After that they let me wear them all the time because the traveling eye doctor guy had just been through town and would not be back for another year so I could have my eyes tested. My brothers and sisters thought my glasses were really strong and that I must have very bad eyes. I knew the lenses looked pretty thick when I looked at myself in a mirror but I couldn’t see how they could be that strong. I had put them on and had been able to see better after only wearing them for just a little while. But I had to admit that the lenses looked to be every bit as powerful as the lenses that were in Elizabeth Booker’s first pair of glasses and they were supposedly very strong glasses. I really didn’t mind though, because I found that I really liked wearing glasses. I found that I liked wearing glasses so much that I decided I wanted to need even stronger lenses when I did get my chance to see the travelling eye doctor. I guess the term travelling eye doctor was not really true. Yes, the man travelled from town to town testing people’s eyes and providing them with glasses. But he really wasn’t a doctor. At this time anyone could take a one year course to train them to test eyes and prescribe glasses. An eye doctor had to become a doctor, and then he had to specialize in all sorts of vision problems. The travelling eye doctor was more like a modern day optometrist, but without the fancy equipment. As the time he was supposed to return to our town grew closer I found I was hoping that he would show up soon, because by now I really could not see very well anymore. And if I took my glasses off the blur was horrible. I could not imagine ever trying to go around without my glasses. Finally the traveler came to town. He had just gotten a brand new Ford, the likes of which I had never seen before. It was called a Van truck and he had bins on each side of the truck that contained glasses frames and lenses of all different powers. In the center he had his equipment, and he took this stuff into the town hall, where he set up a machine on a stand. He had a table beside his machine and on this table he had a box that was full of all different powers of lenses that were in small round wire frames. I was one of the first people there that morning and he sat me down in the chair. He looked at my glasses and asked me how strong the lenses were, but I told him I didn’t know. He took a couple of lenses from the box and put them in his machine, which he then swung over in front of my face and rested it on my nose. He asked me if I could read the eye chart, and while I tried to see the line he wanted me to see he looked into my eye with another machine. He put a stronger lens in and I could see much better. Then he put a much stronger lens in and now I could read the line he wanted me to read. Then he did the same thing with my other eye and finally he had me read the chart with both eyes open. Now I could see everything ever so clearly again. There was no one else waiting to be tested yet, so he and I had a conversation. He showed me that the lenses in his lens box each had a tab that had numbers stamped on them. These lenses went all the way from – and + 0.25D all the way up to – and + 20D. Then he showed me another set of lenses that went from 0.25 up to 6.00 in both plus and minus and they had little lines on the lenses. He explained that these lenses were used to correct astigmatism, of which I had none. He also explained that the instrument he was looking into my eyes through as he changed the lenses was called a retinascope and that when the light through the lens hit the retina perfectly he knew the lens was the correct one for my eyes. I asked him what my prescription was now and he told me I needed -8.50D for each eye. Then he told me that for a 16 year old that was a fairly strong prescription. Apparently I was fortunate that I did not need correction for any astigmatism because he had a pair of -8.50D lenses in his truck and he could make me a new pair of glasses that day if he wasn’t too busy. I told him I had to go to work at the mortuary, so I headed off to work and I was going to come back after 5pm to see if my new glasses were ready. I was very anxious all day. I wanted to get my new glasses badly. But when I got back there after 5 he was still really busy with a number of people waiting to see him. He then promised he would be closing at 6 and he would finish my glasses as soon as he could. I was to come back at 7 for them now. When I got back at 7 I was thrilled. I slid my new glasses onto my face and I could see perfectly again. I paid for them and then I asked if I could watch while he made a few other pairs of glasses. It was an interesting experience. All of the lenses he had were made the same size to fit all of the different frames that he had in his truck, and all he had to do was to choose the lenses of the correct power and then insert them in the frame that the customer had chosen. I watched him for the next hour while he made over a dozen pairs of glasses. While I watched we also talked and by the end of the hour I had decided I wanted to be a travelling eye doctor. I would have to go to school for 2 more years, and then I would have to take a one year course so I could become certified. The next two years went quickly. I did have to get stronger glasses the next year when the same travelling eye doctor returned, and now I viewed the world through -10D lenses. But to me the increased power didn’t change a thing – except that I could see clearly again. That year Elaine, my youngest sister also had to get glasses. She was nearsighted and needed lenses that were -2.50D so there were now 2 of us out of 7 kids that wore glasses. My year of training was a very interesting year. I learned how to use the phoropter and the retinascope. I learned how to place orders with the optical lab. I also learned that the optical lab maintained files on all the patients they made glasses for and I managed to get them to look up an address for Mildred and Elizabeth Booker. It was a different address from the one I had written Elizabeth at after they had moved, so I figured that Reverend Booker had been moved to yet another church. Just for the heck of it I wrote Elizabeth at her new address and was shocked a few weeks later when she sent me a reply. We wrote a few letters to each other, and I determined that Elizabeth was not married, engaged or even attached to anybody so I suggested that I would love to take a train trip to see her as soon as I finished my schooling. Immediately after I graduated I bought a return trip ticket to the small city where the Booker’s now lived. I did wonder what Elizabeth would think of me, as I had just gotten another new pair of glasses with even stronger lenses. I was now looking out at the world through -12.50D lenses, and I wondered if Elizabeth had also needed a few changes in her prescription. I must admit that I hoped that Elizabeth now wore glasses with lenses similar to her mother’s as I had really liked the looks of the thick lenses that Mrs. Booker wore. When I got off the train I recognized Elizabeth immediately. She looked as gorgeous as I had remembered, and while her glasses were not yet as thick and strong as her mother’s they had gotten a heck of a lot stronger. She was taken aback by my glasses and asked me when I had gotten them so I told her that I had been wearing them since shortly after she moved. Then she put me on the spot by asking me how terrible her glasses looked, but I simply told her she looked very pretty wearing them. I had planned to take a hotel room for the next 2 nights, but Elizabeth convinced me that her parents wanted me to come to stay with them, and Elizabeth and I walked to the house that they lived in. Elizabeth had turned into a very beautiful lady and I wondered why she was unattached, but I didn’t dare ask. That weekend I had a great time. Mrs. Booker still wore very similar glasses to the ones she had worn back in our town and she still fascinated me every bit as much. Audrey’s glasses had gotten slightly stronger, but they were still a bit weaker than mine were. The most important thing that happened that weekend was when Audrey cornered me in private and asked me truthfully what I thought of Elizabeth’s strong glasses. I told her that the strength of her glasses didn’t bother me at all, and that in fact my own glasses were now quite strong. I did wonder why Audrey had asked me that until she told me that Elizabeth had been going with a guy who had stopped seeing her after she got her latest new pair of glasses and the only thing that Elizabeth could think of was that he was scared away at the fact that her glasses could get even stronger, maybe even to the point of being as strong as her moms were. I thought a little bit about her mom’s eyesight and although her glasses were very strong I never remembered thinking that her mom could not see reasonably well, so I could not see why Elizabeth would have a problem. My idea of buying a panel van truck and becoming a travelling eye doctor was no longer viable. Now more and more of my fellow graduates were setting up offices in different cities rather than buying a truck and going from small town to small town to examine eyes. I had decided that I would check out the small city where the Bookers lived during my visit and if I felt that Elizabeth and I had deep feelings for each other I would attempt to set up a stationary office somewhere in the area. It didn’t take more than my two day visit to make me decide that I loved Elizabeth very much, and I had the feeling that she felt the same way about me. I took my leave of the Bookers on Monday morning and as Mr. Booker drove me to the railway station he and I discussed my future. When I told him I thought I might like to return and set up an office here he suggested that he would ask around to see if any of his friends or parishioners knew of a place I could rent for a reasonable amount. I didn’t have a lot of money. My phoropter and my retinascope that I had purchased upon graduation at a special discounted student’s price had taken every penny I still had. I was going back home to talk to Uncle Walter in the hopes that he might float me a loan. People were still dying every day and his business was doing very well. He was the first person I went to see as soon as I got home, and after a short conversation Uncle Walter offered to loan me the money I needed. I didn’t even have to beg, because he knew I had a good work ethic from my years working for him. While I was home the travelling eye doctor came through town. I went to see him, more as a professional courtesy than for an eye exam. We had a very good visit and he told me he was retiring. He offered to sell me his truck and all his equipment for what I thought was an extremely reasonable amount. I spoke to Uncle Walter about this offer, and he advanced me the funds for the purchase. If I rented an office the shelves had to be stocked anyway and this was a fairly reasonable way to buy inventory. I didn’t really need the panel truck, but I did need a form of transportation for myself and Elizabeth so the truck could serve as our car. In buying his business I ended up with all of his contacts in the industry, which would help me immensely when I needed specialty lenses and such. While I was home I tested the eyes of my family members. Dad needed bifocals as did my mother. My youngest sister was still nearsighted and her prescription had become a fairly strong one, as she now needed -7.50D lenses. My oldest sister had married and was the mother of 3 children, a girl and 2 boys. I tested their eyes as well, and discovered my niece was fairly nearsighted, so I made her a pair of glasses with a -3.50D prescription and she was much happier after getting her glasses than her mom was about the fact that she needed them. I knew no one would ever find out I had given her a prescription that was slightly stronger than she needed. After my visit I headed back to see Elizabeth and to rent office space. If her dad had not found me anything at least I had the truck and I could travel from town to town around the area. Fortunately Mr. Booker had found space for my optical store and I was surprised at how good a deal his friend had given me. I advertised in the local paper immediately and then I proceeded to set up the frame racks and the lens fitting area along with the darkened room I was going to use for testing the eyes of my customers. Elizabeth had just finished her grade 12 and she decided that she would leave school and come to work with me as a receptionist, even though I could not pay her right now. I was now just over 20 years old. I wondered if my patients would think I was too young at first, but I soon found out that as long as I did a proper eye exam they didn’t seem to be bothered by my age. It didn’t take long before word of mouth and my newspaper advertising brought me enough business to pay my rent and to provide Elizabeth with a salary. I was even able to send Uncle Walter a payment every month. And Elizabeth and I were deeply in love. I had tested her eyes and discovered that she was seeing quite well with her now -18D prescription. Her lenses were typical of all high powered lenses in that they were biconcaved the same amount both front and rear. Even my -12.50D lenses were made the same way. And her mother, who I discovered had a prescription of -28D had the same thing, with -14 as both the front and the rear curve, giving her glasses that unusual appearance that I liked so much. The following year, just after I was 22 and Elizabeth was 20, Reverend Booker walked Elizabeth down the aisle and performed the wedding ceremony. All of my family came, even though it was difficult for them to travel such a distance. All 3 of my brothers had cars, as did 2 of my brother in laws, so they were able to bring everyone. My youngest sister did not bring a boyfriend, although she was cute enough that I was pretty sure she had one or two guys hanging around. She was still wearing her -7.50D glasses and they did not detract from her looks at all. I looked at my niece, and could tell that it was a good thing that I had given her a little extra power in her glasses, because she was going around with what appeared to be a permanent myopic squint. I mentioned this to my sister, and I suggested I would do an eye exam the morning of the wedding if she wanted, and of course she wanted to save the money. My youngest sister also wanted to have her eyes checked, so I did exams on both my niece and her. Elaine needed a little bit of an increase, but I added another diopter and made her up new glasses with -9.00D lenses. Then I checked my niece’s eyes and discovered that in the 2 years since she had gotten her first glasses her prescription had climbed to -6D from -3.50D. I made her new glasses with a -6.50D prescription and I told my sister Mary that if Karen appeared to be doing a lot of squinting she should borrow Elaine’s old glasses until I could check her eyes again. Mary was quite worried about Karen’s poor eyesight, and I told her that she had every reason to worry as Karen, at the age of 6, already had a very strong prescription and it would likely end up being a lot higher. Mary asked if Karen’s eyes would get as bad as Elizabeth’s were, but all I could tell her was that we would have to wait and see. I managed to get the new glasses made for both girls in time to get back and get dressed for my wedding. The ceremony went well, and everyone had a great time at the dinner and the dance following. My parents and my siblings were outnumbered by the friends of the Bookers, but I noticed that Reverend and Mrs. Booker spent a lot of time talking with Mom and Dad so I guess everything went well for them. The time flew by so fast it seemed like everything was in fast forward. A war came along and a lot of men my age had to go off and serve in the military. My eyesight was so poor that I was classed as 4F and I managed to stay home to be with Elizabeth and our new born daughter. But I lost one brother and a brother in law to the war. The brother in law that died was married to Elaine and they had a 2 year old son along with a daughter that had not been born when he was killed in action. After his death Elaine’s eyes seemed to get a lot more nearsighted rapidly and I felt that this was likely because of the stress. Her lens powers needed to be increased a lot and Elaine ended up wearing a prescription of -13D not long after she got the news of her husband’s death. Her myopic progression would normally have stopped at her age, but her next exam showed that she had added another -2D and her new glasses were now -15D and that is where it ended. Elizabeth and I had 4 children. A girl came first, followed by a son, then another daughter came along and finally we had another boy. One of the girls and both of the boys were nearsighted, but none of them needed really strong glasses. My niece Karen now wore the strongest glasses of anyone I had ever seen. She even had a stronger prescription than Elizabeth’s mom as she needed glasses that had a -32D prescription. Elizabeth had a few bumps in her already strong prescription, and I don’t know if these bumps were the result of her pregnancies, but I suspect they were. Her prescription ended up stabilizing at -25D, and like her mom and my niece ended up wearing myodiscs. She still looked as beautiful to me as she did the day we married. My own prescription never got any stronger than the -12.50D I was wearing when I graduated and I often wondered if I was already slightly nearsighted when I tried those old glasses I found at Uncle Walter’s. If Elaine had never needed glasses I would have figured that I had forced my eyes to see through them, but since my sister was also nearsighted maybe we had myopia in our genetic makeup, which would also explain our niece Karen becoming so nearsighted. I still loved wearing my glasses though, and I wouldn’t have changed a thing. Specs4ever Sept 2018
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