Northern Illinois College of Optometry - Focus Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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EH-IIIE AIFTVIEIFMIMXAGIF --: BRANDON E. REA Produciion Manager WARD B. MacKEEN JAMES C. MANVILLE Business Manager Edifor-in-Chief A SAMUEL KOVEN EE SAMUEL P. BRADLEY Adverfising Manager Picf'-ll'9 Edifol'

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From The beginning, Dr. Needles was mosT forTunaTe in having his sisfer as his asso- ciaTe and co-worker. Miss Lida E. Needles has served The school' and The profession in nu- merous capacifies, being Treasurer aT The presenf Time. l-ler long affiliTaTion has meanT a greaT deal To The growfh and developmenT of The college. Dr. Needles was a generous and prolific lecTurer, especially in his earlier years, when he devoTed much of his Time To various sTaTe convenfions and meefings of The nafional as- sociafion. Though an exfremely busy man of manifold responsibilifies, he was never Too preoccupied To confribufe arficles of inTeresT and imporTance To The opTomeTric publica- Tions, in which he forcefully pressed forward his endeavors To insrall Opfomefry upon a higher professional plane. His efforfs have borne grafifying fruiT. Like so many men of ideas and influence, he found some who did noT always agree wiTh him or wiTh his meThods: inTeresTingly enough, how-ever, Those who disagreedwere among The Tirsf To admiT ThaT Dr, W. B. always acfed and spoke in The besT inTeresTs of opTomeTric advancemenT. l-lis friends were numerous and locafed in all parTs of The coun- Try, due To his widespread convenTion acfivifies. So marked was his influence upon Opfom- eTry, over The years, ThaT There were few pracficing opfomefrisfs who did noT know him per- sonally, or who were noT familiar wiTh his sound philosophies. i NoThing less Than indispuTable proof could cause him To guesfion eifher The mofives or abiliTies of a friend in whom he had once placed confidence. When misTakes were made by any member of his sTafT, he always assumed full responsibiliTy. To The public, he was The only man in The whole organiiafion who ever commiTTed a serious error. A Dr. Needles suffered a hearT aTTaclc while aT Richmond, Virginia, following The SouTh- easTern Convenfion of l942. From ThaT Time, he gradually relinquished much of The ad- minisTraTive work of The college. AT The Time of his passing, he was an l-lonorary Life Member of The American Opfome- Tric AssociaTion, which membership dafes back To I92O. l-le was a Fellow of The American Academy of OpTomeTry and of The Disfinguished Service FoundaTion in OpTomeTry. ln addiTion, he held memberships in The Befa Sigma Kappa and Omega Delfa fraTerniTies. The guidance and counsel of a greaT leader is no longer wiTh us, buT The professional influence and creeds of Dr. Needles will casT a long shadow in The fufure of The profession he loved so well.

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SepTember, I948 The GraduaTing Seniors NorThern Illinois College Dear DocTors: WiThin a very Tew days, 442 men and women who have worked, sTudied, griped and laugh- ed TogeTher Tor Tour academic years will leave This College in as many direcTions as There are poinTs on The compass. lvlany oT us will never again see some oT The men wiTh whom we have been in such close conTacT These pasT years, wiTh whom we have eaTen daily or exchanged lecTure noTes and sTudied inTo The wee hours. TogeTher, we have been Talking, living and breaThing OpTomeTry since The day we Timidly saT lining The corridors oT The AdminisTraTion Building, moving up seaT by seaT Towards ThaT sancTum sancTorum, The RegisTrar's OTTice. AT ThaT Time we were individuals whose only bond was a desire To learn OpTomeTry. We had arrived Trom various secTions oT The counTry, wiTh variegaTed backgrounds, each living in his own separaTe world. From ThaT TaTeTul day unTil The presenT Time, however, we have been working Towards a common goal, Thinking The same ThoughTs, living The same kind oT exTisTence and imbibing our knowledge aT The same TounTain oT educaTion. The end resulT oT This consTanT associaTion, wheTher or noT you realize iT, is a group oT men and women who noT only have The same obiecTive, buT who also will use The same meThods To aTTain iT: whose ThoughT processes, Though individual in operaTion, will ineviTably arrive aT The same conclu- sions. This is a power Tor The propagaTion oT e+hicaI OpTomeTry unegualled since iTs begin- ning some TiTTy years ago. Never in The hisTory oT The proTession has a class been graduaTed Trom an OpTomeTry college wiTh as much knowledge as we possess. Never has The service oT OpTomeTry been oTTered more capable and pracTiced hands Than Those which we exTend in her direcTion. YeT, we oTTer Them wiTh a Teeling oT TrepidaTion born oT an awareness oT The viTal role played by OpTomeTry in The healTh oT socieTy and oT The obligaTions we owe Those who have pioneer- ed To raise OpTomeTry To The exalTed place iT now commands among The proTessions. The College has provided us wiTh The Tools wiTh which To build our opTomeTric Thinking and The Theories and consTrucTs upon which To erecT iT. Ours now is The Task oT inTegraTing and molding This mass oT knowledge inTo a philosophy wiTh which we may beTTer serve Those who enTrusT Their visual welTare To our iudgemenT and by which we may vindicaTe The con- noTaTions oT The TiTle To be conTerred upon us This coming G-Day. l express The opinion oT The Annual STaTT and The class oTTicers when l say ThaT iT has been a privilege To serve you and ThaT we hope, someTime in The noT-Too-disTanT TuTure To hear oT your exploiTs and conc1uesTs in The Tield oT OpTomeTry. Sincerely and good luck, - Ward B. MacKeen and The ATTer-Image STaTT