Bio: Foster, Dr. John W. (60 Year Member - 2014)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Foster

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co, WI) /2014

Foster, Dr. John W. (60 Year Member - 2014)

Retired Neillsville optometrist recognized for 60 years of membership

Dr. John W. Foster of Neillsville was recognized for 60 continuous years of membership in the American Optometric Association and the Wisconsin Optometric Association. The recognition occurred at the annual meeting of the Wisconsin Optometric Association held in Madison Sept. 25 to 28. During the membership luncheon, members completing 60, 50, 40 and 25 years of membership were officially recognized. Dr. Foster was not able to attend the conference, but his son, Dr. Gregory Foster, was present to acknowledge the accomplishment of his father.

Dr. John Foster joined the U. S. Navy just out of Neillsville high School. He was discharged at the end of World War II and studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Minnesota. He began his career in optometry after graduating from Pacific University College of Optometry in 1953. He started his practice in Thorp and eventually moved to Neillsville in 1964 to take over his mother’s eye care practice. Dr. Martha Foster learned she was dying of cancer and had many concerns. Among those concerns was who would take care of her patients. Dr. John promised his mother that he would take care of them and continued what has now become a 77-year-old family business in Neillsville. Dr. Martha Foster was one of the first women to be licensed as an optometrist in Wisconsin in 1922.

Dr. Gregory Foster, while addressing the floor of the convention, took time to thank the AOA and WOA for their kind recognition of his father’s years of membership and service. He relayed to the attendees that his father often described himself as being born into the business. The story goes that Dr. Martha Foster went into labor with John while examining a patient in her Black River Falls practice in 1925. Dr. Martha practiced in Black River Falls from 1922 to 1937, when the family moved to Neillsville. John was her only child.

Dr. John Foster actively practiced for 51 years and retired in 2004. He has held a life membership in the AOA and WOA since his retirement. He and his wife Dolores have been married for 65 years and continue to reside in Neillsville.