Two of my dearest friends, Harry Pincus and Bill Saunders, urged me to do this.  Harry Pincus is a lawyer from Norfolk, Virginia.  Bill Saunders, a former president of 20th Century Fox, formerly from California and now retired but still consulting, lives in Monaco.  They insisted that I owe it to my grandchildren to let them know some of my feelings and occurrences.  They urged me to sit down with some good writers and complete this task.

 

 

 

 

Although many thought of me as the inventor of the soft contact lens, I was not.  I was just interested in trying to make them better and teaching.  I felt the hydrophilic material (from which the soft contact lens was eventually made) developed by the Czechs was a great advancement.  My role was teaching optics to the Czechs, trying to improve on the material and ways to fit and prescribe, and teaching the technology--others did too--so many could benefit.

 

 

 

 

I never thought about that.  I did dare to try to find different solutions to some problems when I felt the conventional way was less than adequate.  My imagination was always working, often in vain.

 

 

 

 

Yes. I pursued many projects and was granted many patents, but they certainly were not all good ideas.  For example, I patented a device that would accurately measure a corneal lesion so that the practitioner could tell whether a treatment or time had affected a change.  I was pretty proud and excited about it, but it never seemed to move the practitioners.

 

 

 

 

I felt that all people were equal and had eye problems I hoped I could help with or refer them to someone who could.  Of course it was fun to see royalty and movie stars.  Most all were very nice; now and then someone was very impressed with himself.  Generally speaking, though, all were very pleasant and it was an enjoyable experience.

 

 

 

 

Royalty and movie stars are great at giving wonderful gifts.  They included carpets, jewelry, books, platters, watches, and so many nice things.  Royalty liked giving something that typified their country.

 

 

 

 

Although I am not an avid animal lover, I just marveled at the animal life when on safari in Africa.  Just being inside Royal Palaces, seeing ancient things like pyramids, famous art, famous statues.  I loved it all!  How lucky can one guy get?  I felt extra lucky when my wife and Patty and Jim were with me.

 

 

 

 

If I could add on to the end of my life all the hours I spent playing sports, I would live to be a very old man.  I liked baseball and football.  My specialty in baseball was flying out to the outfield.  I seldom got a base hit--always seemed to fly out.  Football?  I weighed 125 pounds, and a good breeze would blow me over.  I did love to tackle a bigger guy and thought I was pretty tough when I did.  I spent thousands of hours playing basketball at what we called Grubmeyer Athletic Club, an alley behind my friend Charlie Grubmeyer's house.  I just loved that sport but thought I was better than I really was.

 

 

 

 

If we were playing hard, I wanted to win--didn't always happen.  If they were beginners, and indeed some were, I would try to make it fun by giving them easy shots, especially when they were close to the net.  I would give them an easy lob so they could have the fun of smashing it.

 

 

 

 

I know it was not fortune.  I do also know that my office manager's concern for fiscals allowed me not to have to be involved.  I just don't know if I would have been more concerned if she wasn't.  It might sound corny, but I always knew the financial affairs were OK, and I could afford to be involved in other pursuits.  I never even thought about fame.

 

 

 

 

The awesome computer!  It fascinates me but I have little knowledge of how it works.

 

 

 

 

I really think having a nice wife, two wonderful children, and five grandchildren is as good as one can ever dream of.