Ives Family’s Optometry Legacy Continues into the Next Generation

By the time she was in seventh grade, Tessa Ives ‘21OD had decided to become an optometrist. While growing up she had watched her father, Paul Ives, OD ‘83, and he had really influenced her career choice. 

“I’ve never met someone who loves their job more my dad. He actually enjoys going to work. I thought that was pretty inspirational,” said Ives.

So, when Tessa Ives earns her Doctor of Optometry degree next week from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) at Salus University’s 122nd commencement ceremony, she will continue the Ives family legacy that now spans nearly 80 years in the profession of optometry.

It started with Louis Ives, OD ‘43, who entered what was then called the Pennsylvania State College of Optometry (PSCO) in 1939. The school’s founding father, Albert Fitch, was president, and Louis Ives entered the first year PSCO became a four-year program.

After graduation, Louis Ives served in the United States Army for three years during World War II, then secured a job working for an optometrist in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. That optometrist eventually opened a series of small satellite offices, one of which was in the small town of West Newton, Pennsylvania.

Louis Ives worked at that satellite office for a year, then bought the practice in 1946. That same Ives family practice continues to this day and recently celebrated its 75th anniversary. 

“I saw that he always enjoyed going to work. People respected him and he was able to make his own hours, he was able to do things that he enjoyed doing, like playing golf and bowling. He was able to lead a good lifestyle and have a nice profession,” said his son, Dr. Paul Ives.

Early in his college career at the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Paul Ives decided he wanted to follow in his father footsteps and attend was now called the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO). 

“It was nice (going to PCO) because when I got into my father’s practice, a lot of people in the community accepted me because they had known my father for many years,” said Dr. Paul Ives. “It was a lot easier for me to just go into the practice in West Newton and join groups like the Rotary Club. He paved the way for me a little bit more.”

The two worked together in the family practice for three years, but West Newton was too small for two optometrists so Dr. Paul Ives opened his own satellite office in Murrysville, Pennsylvania, an office the family practice still has today.

In the late 1980s, Dr. Paul Ives changed the family practice’s name to Ives Eyecare Center. Dr. Louis Ives retired and eventually passed away in 1993. 

Tessa Ives isn’t the only granddaughter of Dr. Louis Ives who is continuing the family legacy. Her older sister, Alexa “Lexie” Ives, OD ‘19, was the first of the third generation of the family to attend and graduate from PCO/Salus. She joined the family practice and has been working with her father for the past two years, while also working for another doctor in Greensburg a couple of days a week.

Dr. Tessa Ives said there was no doubt that she was going to follow her grandfather, father and sister to PCO/Salus. 

“I know that my grandfather was extremely caring toward his patients. He had a lot of mannerisms that he passed along to my dad. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to meet him,” said Tessa Ives. 

But it was Lexie who was also a tremendous influence on her younger sister. They went to high school, college — Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where they both earned degrees in Biology — and PCO/Salus together.

“Being in the same profession brought my sister and I so much closer. She was able to help me prepare better for boards and what to expect. Even during my classes, she was able to help me out a lot,” said Tessa Ives, who recently finished her final rotation at the W.G. (Bill) Hefner VA Medical Center in Salisbury, North Carolina.

Excited to have her schooling complete, Tessa Ives is equally as excited to be starting the next chapter of her life by joining the family business, adding she may initially get a part-time job in another practice as well. 

With a second daughter joining the business — mother Lisa Ives is also part of the family’s optometry legacy working one day a week in the practice — Dr. Paul Ives plans to gradually reduce his hours, although he will keep his hand in the business end of things and teach his daughters that aspect of the profession.

Of course, he’s doesn’t hide the fact that he’s pleased that the Ives family name will continue to practice optometry for at least another generation. 

“I’m very proud of both of my daughters because I think it’s actually much harder now than it was when I went to school. They’re recruiting kids from all over the world now instead of just in the U.S., so it’s a lot more difficult and competitive,” he said. “They really put in a lot of work to make it through and they did very well.”