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Optometry
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With three generations of optometrists from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) in the family, a lot of experience and knowledge can trickle down through the decades. In the case of the Schott family, one of those things was something informally called “the coat rack test.”
In optometry-speak, it’s actually called the Turville Infinity Balance Test, a binocular vision test used to assess and balance the visual system, particularly for determining accurate lens prescriptions that ensure comfortable and natural binocular vision.
In layman’s terms, the test uses a chart with two columns of letters, one seen through a mirror with a central obscuring strip, and the other seen directly. The optometrist can then assess the balance of the vision of the two eyes and make the appropriate corrections.
But if an optometrist doesn’t happen to have a “central obscuring strip,” a coat rack will do just fine.
That’s one of the things Edwin D. Schott, OD ‘51, taught his son, Edwin M. Schott, OD ‘76, who passed it along to his son, Daniel Schott, OD ‘04.
“I remember my grandfather and dad doing that test, and they literally used a coat rack,” said Dr. Daniel Schott. “I never learned about it in school, and I’ve never seen anybody else do it. But I still have a coat rack in my exam room.”
(As a sign of the times, the Turville Infinity Balance Test is still taught in the Clinical Skills 2 course at PCO, but to simulate the coat rack, students now hold up their cell phones as a way to block half the screen from each eye.)
Another thing the Schott family shared over the course of three generations is upon graduating from PCO, they all returned home to Coudersport, Pennsylvania, to open a private practice. With a 2020 population of 2,371, the borough serves as the county seat of Potter County and is located in rural north-central Pennsylvania, near the New York state border.
Dr. Edwin D. Schott was scheduled to open his practice in Coudersport on Oct. 8, 1951. There is no question about the specific date because that was the day his son, Edwin M. Schott, was born.
“Instead of seeing patients that first day, he drove my mom 46 miles to the hospital,” said Dr. Edwin M. Schott. “I assume he saw patients the next day. He ran the practice by himself, and I don’t think he even had a secretary then.”
Dr. Edwin D. Schott’s original office was on the upper floor of a downtown business in Coudersport. But it wasn’t long before he bought a house and dedicated two rooms in the front of it to a waiting room and an exam room.
“There were double doors to the kitchen, and as kids, we weren’t allowed to go through those double doors during the workday,” said Dr. Edwin M. Schott. “When we came home from school, we had to stay in the back of the house.”
Although there is a picture of Dr. Edwin M. Schott at around seven years old looking into the eyes of his younger sister with an ophthalmoscope, it wasn’t until he was in the ninth grade that he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps at PCO.
By the time he joined his father’s business, Dr. Edwin D. Schott had opened another office in a neighboring town. Father would work in one office and the son in the other.
“I certainly would ask him about things that I wasn’t sure about, and we’d discuss it. But we really didn’t work together; we worked in two different offices,” said Dr. Edwin M. Schott. “Two days a week, I’d go to the main office, and he’d go to the new office. We saw each other more on the golf course. But it was easy enough when I got into something I wasn’t sure of, I’d call him and we’d talk.”
Dr. Edwin D. Schott eventually retired, and Dr. Daniel Schott joined the practice right out of PCO in 2004. Dr. Edwin M. Schott expanded the practice again, and the family opened a third office in another neighboring town.
The two were partners in the practice until 2016, when Dr. Edwin M. Schott retired.
“There is a ton of stuff, even to this day, where I think my dad was so much better than I at doing,” said Dr. Daniel Schott. “He was by the book and by the numbers. He was much more organized at practice management than I am.”
But Dr. Daniel Schott said he wouldn’t trade the years working with his father for anything.
“There were times when my approach to a problem was much different than his but it was a special and cherished time for me. And, we would usually take Tuesday afternoons and go up to the golf course,” said Dr. Daniel Schott, revealing yet another family aspect that passed from generation to generation.
Of course, in a small town, there’s a chance that there are patients who have seen all three generations of Schott optometrists.
“A patient who’s been a family friend for years is 80 years old now. And, he was talking to me about how he got his first pair of glasses from my grandfather when he was five years old. He’s never seen another eye doctor besides the three of us,” said Dr. Daniel Schott. “Those are fun anecdotes that sometimes get sprinkled into your day that you definitely appreciate.”
In addition, longtime patients are also familiar with artwork displayed in the office — two flocks of geese flying in different directions — that has been a constant for all three generations.
“Every patient that ever went into our office has sat in that waiting room with that goose print on the wall. It’s still in my office now. It’s become a branding thing. It’s our logo, I put it on our letterhead,” said Dr. Daniel Schott.
In 2001, all three generations celebrated two special family milestones — Dr. Edwin D. Schott’s 50th anniversary of his graduation from PCO and Dr. Edwin M. Schott’s 25th anniversary of his graduation from PCO. Dr. Edwin D. Schott died in 2015 at age 91.
“We’ve had a good life,” said Dr. Edwin M. Schott, reflecting on his family’s optometry legacy. "I’m down here in Florida for the winter. My dad started to go to Florida the last 10 years he was in practice. We were all golfers. Dad would make sure we went to all the state conventions because there was always a golf course nearby to play.”
