It was about 1958 when the Eye Study Club, a group of ophthalmologists, was formed. Its membership was designed to be half academics and half prominent men in private practice. You had to have your boards no more than 10 years. Membership was limited to 60 and you were a member for only ten years. This made for a young dynamic club.
It was expected for you to come to the annual meeting at least once every three years or you were dropped. And all members were expected to present a brief subject at each meeting. It didn't have to be a finished project, but it was a great place to present something new -- even if it was not finished -- and get quality comments if you didn’t mind the criticism. It really was good criticism since many of these members were going to be future leaders.
The change in membership was important to the vibrancy of the organization. I received my boards in 1966, and I was elected in 1969 and went to my first meeting in 1970. It was at the Breakers in Palm Beach. It was a break for Sally and I since we could stay at my father-in-law's house.
The group had so all very bright, responsible people. Many of them came from Johns Hopkins. But they liked to party. One of our routines at the final banquet was to throw those finishing their ten-years stint into the pool with their clothes on. The Breakers management did not look kindly on that, and we were never asked back.
The next year, we went to Hawaii and to the Mauna Kea. It was great. At that time, the resort was all by itself at the end of the Big Island. Our room overlooked the ocean and we could sit out there and see Lanai and the whales that had come down at that time of the year to mate. There was also great snorkeling.
Jackie Pung was a native of Hawaii and a famous golfer. She almost won the 1957 U.S. Women’s Open at Winged Foot, but the victory was taken away from her because she signed an incorrect scorecard. While we were at the Mauna Kea, she was re-marrying her previous husband who was now dying of cancer. One of our members was a friend and he went to the wedding. When they came back, we partied with the wedding party most of the night.
The volcano was very active in the center of the Big Island. Sally and I and two of the members' wives rented a car and we went to see it. It was late in the afternoon and it was spectacular. We got close for pictures and stupidly sat on the edge. Lava was shooting up in the air and flowing down into the sea.
We had at least two other trips to Hawaii and I mentioned them before. We took the kids, which most of the members did, so there were plenty of friends for the children to see while we were at the meeting all morning.
Trip to Madeira
Several times, our group would meet with our counterparts from England. On one occasion, we went to the island of Madeira. On the flight over to Portugal, I got a fever and spent the first day there in bed. Sally rented a car and toured around Lisbon. We all got stuck there for a day because of an air-traffic controllers strike.
The landing field on Madeira was unique. There was a mountain at one end. It made landing and taking off interesting. When we saw the crash truck and noticed that the tires were very worn out, it made things even more exciting.
We were at one hotel and the Brits stayed at another. They came over each night since we were picking up the tab for cocktails. One of the adventures was to go to the top of a mountain and have lunch. The view was spectacular. Then you got in a basket and they pulled you down a cobblestone road all the way to the harbor. Sally and I went to lunch and decided on the ride. It did not look so dangerous.
The cobblestone road they were using was only about 50 yards long. What we did not know was that after that, the road took a left turn. It felt like we were shot out of a cannon for another mile.
Another day, the men decided to play golf. We made the reservation ahead because they had to cut the greens. It worked to our advantage. They cut the greens, but they did not take the flag out of the hole so there was grass all around it. Considering our feeble golfing abilities, it made little difference.
One trip was to Puerto Rico and another one to the Dominican Republic. When we went to the Dominican, we were told in advance no American soft drinks were available. We brought a case of Tab for Sally. We went to San Juan overnight before transferring to another plane to the Dominican. We lost the Tab. I spent most of the night looking for the lost case. Eventually, it was found somewhere in the luggage department.
Author, Author
I became very active in the club and made many lifelong friends. One of them was Tom Kearns from the Mayo Clinic. Since he was a Neuro-Ophthalmologist, we often hung out together.
During that time in the club, I was asked by a publisher to do a book on Neuro-Op. I also wanted to redo the American Academy of Ophthalmology book on fields. A former chairman of the Mayo Clinic was Wilbur Rucker, who was the author. I had met him when Sally and I went to Minnesota for my job interview in 1965 after I had finished my fellowship in Florida.
As a courtesy and because of my youth, I wrote him a letter suggesting he and I redo the book with Dr. Rucker as senior author. He was so kind that he wished me well and to do the book by myself since he was retired. He even sponsored me with the Academy. You don’t see that courtesy in medicine nowadays.
Now, I had two books to do, a private practice, a university practice and a family to keep happy. In addition, Tom Kearns sponsored me for the Senior Society in our specialty. That is the story of my experiments at Yale that I mentioned before. My son Tommy knows the story since he was part of it all.
One of the humorous stories about doing my first textbook in 1978 involved Tom Kearns. He was a lot of fun but was a bit straight. I could not tell him most jokes.
I started doing my book by asking him to be co-author. I wanted to be sure of my facts. He thanked me but declined because he was just made editor of the journal of the AOS (American Association of Ophthalmology). He said however that he would read my material and give me his thoughts.
That was great. He was very gentle. When he disagreed, he would ask in pencil if I really believed what I had written. When I got to the section on headaches, I was getting tired of the book and I wanted to get it finished. I included a segment called, "Not Tonight Honey I Have a Headache.'' His comments came back all over the page in red. I didn’t do that to him again.
My Reign in Spain
One year, I got the job when it was time to plan an Eye Study Group meeting, again with our British counterparts. We picked Spain. Sally was a great help in many details with the agent we used and trying to keep so many doctors happy.
Our family planned to go a week early and show Spain to the girls. We arrived in Madrid in the morning after an overnight flight. Sally wanted us all to get some culture, so we went to the Prado museum right after landing. We hired a guide with breath so bad that it would melt a marble statue. Everything he showed us, he said, “Better but not best.”
We went to Bodeans for dinner, which was Hemingway’s restaurant and was quite good for a tourist trap. We took a carriage ride one evening and it took us to another restaurant called Porto de Mores. It was good food with lots of atmosphere.
One of the Study Club families was supposed to join us but could not make it. We had arranged for transport for about 10. The tour company sent a bus for 65. To say the least, the bus was comfortable. We went to see the Valley of the Fallen, which is spectacular. On the way back, we went to San Lorenzo De El Escorial, where the Goya tapestries are.
The last time we were in Spain in 1961 with the Army, we arrived on a special day. Generalissimo Franco and the Honor Legion were there for their annual Mass. Then we hired a small van for us and the children and a special guide to take us out to Toledo. Our guide, Andreas, was worth the trip. He came with a cape and a certain theatrical air.
Toledo was worth seeing. On the way back, we found ourselves in the middle of a political demonstration. These people were so angry with the government that they started a fire and accidentally set fire to their own apartment house. They also blocked the road.
Things looked a little hairy, and I was afraid that Sally and the girls might get hurt. However, our friend got us out of it by waving his cape and making some grand gestures.
Lights Out
One morning, we had no lights and called for the maid. She said it was not a problem and took off her shoe and banged the wall. The lights came back on. That was not part of any electricity course I took at the Academy.
We then flew to Seville. It was a great city to see and very Spanish. We took everyone to a Flamenco restaurant and the show. Then we rented a car and were planning to finish the rest of our tour of Andalusia before going to Malaga and the meeting. The car was not very big, and by the time our luggage was loaded up, we looked like a circus car. The people who rented the car to us warned us we would be picked up by the police. We saw a few cops as soon as we left the hotel, but nobody stopped us. Our problem was how to get in and out with the luggage.
We arrived at our hotel in Malaga a day before the group was arriving. Many of our members came on the same plane. I understand that some of them walked from New York to Madrid. They never sat in their seats and bought out the liquor cart for the group’s private party all the way over.
Our hotel had a casino. The sign over the door said no one under 16 was allowed in. But because we dominated the place, the casino turned out to be a play yard for all the kids in the group that were there, and there were many. It became one large playpen.
The meeting was very well-received, and the British liked us and our hospitality, particularly our booze. By this time, I had gotten to know their leader, Ian Stracham. Sally and I ran an afternoon trip to Tangier and a trip through the Casbah on another day.
All the way through the Tangier trip, beggars were trying to sell us all sorts of things right up till we got on the boat home. One in particular followed me up to the gangplank. Since he could see that I finally was not going to buy anything, even though I was accused by my kids for coaxing him along for the last hour, he eventually got a little perturbed and shouted an ethnic insult at me from the dock.
There I go again with my charm.
Sally arranged for the women to have a trip to the village of Milas. Sally knew I liked chess sets and saw this wooden one in a frame to set on a wall. When they returned to the plaza, Sally got a cerveza (beer) and then suggested that Sara go up the hill and buy it for me. Sara had to literally run up and down the hill to make the bus while Sally finished her cerveza.
Another afternoon, we played golf. There was another wrinkle as we played. If you had a big drive out of sight, the local kids picked up your ball and tried to sell it back to you.
Tale of the Alhambra
The end of the trip was a visit to Granada. My friend Jan Van Delft lived there, but he was not there when we were. However, he and his wife gave us addresses for shopping. They also let me use one of their cars. It was a Peugeot. It had some funky suspension that I was not aware of. When you put it in some gear, the front would go up and down. I thought I broke it.
By this time, we had pretty well spent the club's bankroll. We had a great day in Granada, where we toured the Alhambra and some colorful gardens. Later, after cocktails and dinner, the manager wanted to know if we wanted some entertainment. We said yes. It was Flamenco dancers. However, we had to pay, so I went around the club and took up a collection as if it was a church. We had our floor show.
The harbor was full of huge yachts. One member had one so big, he had to anchor his in the bay and even brought his own oil tanker. The big one at the dock was fascinating to the girls. They flirted with the men on board and were given a grand tour. Sally and I were not invited.
The great reason for going downtown was to go to a restaurant called Christians. They served strawberries and cream in a big mug.
The Brits were very pleased with the trip and me in particular. As a result, they made me a member of the Oxford Ophthalmologic Society, of which few Americans belong. I’ll tell you more about that in the Trips chapter.