York High School Alumni
York, Maine (ME)
Alumni Stories
Neal Doten
Class of 1967
My Ophthalmologist Got It Right
“You know the kids in the small coastal towns of Mexico don’t have sunglasses.” This was the reply I got from my eye doctor while she was performing my annual eye exam; I told her I was leaving in a couple weeks to cruise the coasts of Baja and mainland Mexico. She caught me by surprise on two accounts: how did she know, and why hadn’t I considered that?
“Hmmm. Good point. How can I help when I’m there?” Well, she suggested I could take some of the temporary “sunglasses” (aka “Roll-Lens”) that she provides to her patients after an exam involving pupil dilation. Needless to say, I walked out of the office with a plastic bag of them.
“Cutting to the chase,” I didn’t get a chance to be a “sunglasses good Samaritan” until anchoring off the beach in Chacala – about 50 nm north of Puerto Vallarta. It was an idyllic setting with a sandy beach, waterfront thatched-roof palapa restaurants, and palm trees – a “riviera for the middle-class Mexicans.” The only “Gringos” one encountered on the beach or in the small town were from the anchored cruising boats.
As you can see, I encountered a mother watching her two kids playing in the water. Seeking permission in my best Spanish (not all that great), I asked her if I could give the kids sunglasses. She okayed it, and as you can see the kids thought the sunglasses were really fun. They were all smiles!
Walking down the beach after that, I wondered how my ophthalmologist knew . . . plus I was enjoying the feeling of having done something good for someone.
“You know the kids in the small coastal towns of Mexico don’t have sunglasses.” This was the reply I got from my eye doctor while she was performing my annual eye exam; I told her I was leaving in a couple weeks to cruise the coasts of Baja and mainland Mexico. She caught me by surprise on two accounts: how did she know, and why hadn’t I considered that?
“Hmmm. Good point. How can I help when I’m there?” Well, she suggested I could take some of the temporary “sunglasses” (aka “Roll-Lens”) that she provides to her patients after an exam involving pupil dilation. Needless to say, I walked out of the office with a plastic bag of them.
“Cutting to the chase,” I didn’t get a chance to be a “sunglasses good Samaritan” until anchoring off the beach in Chacala – about 50 nm north of Puerto Vallarta. It was an idyllic setting with a sandy beach, waterfront thatched-roof palapa restaurants, and palm trees – a “riviera for the middle-class Mexicans.” The only “Gringos” one encountered on the beach or in the small town were from the anchored cruising boats.
As you can see, I encountered a mother watching her two kids playing in the water. Seeking permission in my best Spanish (not all that great), I asked her if I could give the kids sunglasses. She okayed it, and as you can see the kids thought the sunglasses were really fun. They were all smiles!
Walking down the beach after that, I wondered how my ophthalmologist knew . . . plus I was enjoying the feeling of having done something good for someone.
Recent Members
| Dorothy Dorothy Gaddy | 1988 |
| Joanne Baker | 1996 |
| Jonathan Jonathan Dearborn | 1991 |
| Marc Decoff | 1987 |
| Mike Stockless | 2001 |
| Nina Mccormick Mccormick | 1979 |
| Patricia Hayward | 1958 |
| Tina Woodward | 1997 |
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Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays!