Doctors see eye-to-eye for 40 years

By Geri McShane, Tribune Lifestyles Editor

When Roger Truax and David Simpson met in optometry college in Chicago, they immediately hit it off.

Little did they know at that time it would be the start of a partnership that would span 40 years.

There were a few early indications, however.

After the first year, Simpson asked Truax to be the best man in his wedding. The maid of honor happened to be Susie Simpson’s best friend, Rosalie. Truax would marry her a year later.

The two also liked the idea of two young doctors practicing together. Truax finished a year before Simpson and settled in Albert Lea. The Simpsons visited a couple of times, and joined Truax in Albert Lea’s first clinic approach to vision care in Albert Lea. Simpson’s specialty was vision therapy, while Truax’s specialty was contact lenses.

Originally, they were in the Hyde Building downtown, but remodeled the Avalon Cafe at 140 W. Clark St. (where Four Seasons is now) to house their practice.

“We liked the idea of getting on the main street where people could see us,” Truax recalled.

Simpson’s father was heavily involved in the remodeling, and the partners put up their own walls.

“We learned how hard it was to build over a terrazzo floor,” Simpson said with a chuckle.

At one point, Simpson was drafted (the second optometrist from Minnesota to be commissioned) for two years.

“It was difficult to keep our practice open,” Truax recalled.

Truax himself was the most eligible optometrist for the draft from the state of North Dakota.

“They sent my paperwork to Minnesota, but a young man had tried private practice and didn’t like it, so he volunteered and I avoided the draft,” he recalled.

In 1973, Truax and Simpson were two of five partners to build the professional building on West Front Street where they still practice today.

There were other changes to the practice as well. In 1990, the Albert Lea Regional Medical Group acquired the practice, and in 1995, the Mayo Health System acquired the Albert Lea Regional Medical Group. In between, the eye specialists who had been practicing in the West Clinic joined Simpson and Truax in the professional building.

Over the years, Truax said he has had the privilege to serve three generations of some families. “They were children when I started seeing them, then they became parents, and some now are grandparents,” he said.

Simpson said he’s amazed at some of the changes in the community over those years. He remembers Wilson and Company, Farmstead, the rebuilding after that, and eventually the fire in the packing plant. When they moved here, there was no interstate system through Albert Lea like there is now, he added.

Both have been members of the Albert Lea Lions Club and active in regional and state optometric groups. Simpson has been an elder at First Presbyterian Church, and Truax has sung in the choir at First Lutheran Church for 25 years.

Truax said he’s also enjoyed his involvement with Albert Lea Community Theatre and the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce.

The Simpsons had two daughters, one living in Shakopee and one in Boulder, Colo. There is also one grandson. While Susan Simpson died in 1997, Joe Ubl at Vision Plus introduced the doctor to his sister, Ruth, who had lost her husband to the same type of cancer Susan had. The two later married.

The Truaxes have a son living in Rochester. He has two sons, ages 6 and 3. Their daughter lives in Athens, Ohio, and has two sons, ages 5 and 2.

“Albert Lea’s been a wonderful community in which to live and raise our families,” Truax said.

“It’s been a privilege,” Simpson said.

Just as they began practicing together, the two are retiring together at the end of October.

Both plan to stay in the community.

“Our friends are here,” both said.

They both hope to travel, and Simpson looks forward to doing some reading that’s non-professional in nature, as well as woodworking. Truax sees some volunteer opportunities ahead.

They will miss their work, however.

“I’ll miss my patients,” Truax said, adding they’ve been like family in many cases.

“I’d always ask for an update – where’s the family, the kids,” he added.

He still remembers his first patient, who, not coincidentally, will be his last.

Darlene (Arneson) Diemer started going to him as a child. “He was familiar with my condition and he was very good and very thorough,” she said. “He tried everything.”

Diemer’s mother went to him, and she took her daughter to him as well. She appreciated the fact he always asked about her parents. “He’s a very kind-hearted man.”

At her last appointment, Diemer said Truax told her he was retiring. “He said, ‘You were my first patient, and I’d like you to be my last.’ So we set it up.”

Still, it’s with mixed feelings that she sees him retire.

“Now who am I going to go to? Forty years is a long time.”

(Contact Geri McShane at lifestyles@albertleatribune.com or 379-3436.)