41.

Mazel Toy!

Great-grandmother

BILL CARROLL
Special to Jewish News

W

hen Pearl Baum was in
high school in the 1930s,
she considered a career in
journalism. But her moth-
er insisted she become an optometrist so
she could "earn a living and not let -a-
strong wind blow her way.
The young woman heeded her moth-
er's advice. Now as Dr. Pearl Hauser, she
has been an optometrist for 65 years and
will turn 85 on May 1. She recently
received an award for being the oldest
practicing optometrist in Michigan, and
she may be the oldest Jewish great-
grandmother/doctor- of-any-kind in the
country.
Not bad for someone who has spent a
lifetime asking patients, "Is number one
better .., or number two?"
Optometry is Dr. Pearl Hauser's life.
Spry, active and sharp for her age, she
works eight hours a day, six days a week,
driving 30 minutes each way from her
home in Southfield to her office in
Hamtramck.
She married an optometrist, and her
daughter and son-in-law are
optometrists. She has helped do free eye
examinations and prepare glasses for
people who can't afford them. She rarely
takes vacations, traveling only to visit
some of her six grandchildren and six
great-grandchildren.
And when she's gone, she can hardly
wait to return to her office and her
patients.
"She doesn't like the idea of getting
old and she does her best to resist it,
said her granddaughter, Molly Schneider
of San Diego. "She hates to complain or
bother anyone. She always has looked at
life with an optimistic and energetic per-
spective."
Her other grandchildren, in an out-
pouring of love, admiration and sup-
port, agree their grandma optometrist is
an "eternal optimist ... always positive
and upbeat."
Dr. Hauser summed it up this way:
"I'm happy and comfortable with my

)3

"

who's about to turn 85

still goes to work

six days a week.

Dr. Pearl
Hauser,
in her
Hamtramck
office.

way of life I just want to keep work-
said. "Mysteriously, we all failed. We
ing."
think it was because the higher-ups did-
The family will gather from around
n't want too many young optometrists
the country to honor Dr. Hauser at a
crowding the field."
birthday dinner on May 2 at the Milk
Her father and others complained to
& Honey of West Bloomfield restaurant. state officials, the exam was taken again
While attending Detroit's Central
, with monitors present — and they all
High School, Pearl Baum dabbled in the passed.
family store, Baum and Gray Jewelers in
Dr. Hauser opened her optometry
Hamtramck. It was operated mainly by
practice in 1937 in Hamtramck so she
her parents, David and Eva, both Jewish
could still help in the jewelry business.
immigrants from Poland — lured to
Married to Dr. Myron Hauser, whom
Detroit by Henry Ford's promise of $5 a she met in optometry school, she con-
day to work in a plant. But that didn't
tinued the practice off and on while rais-
work out.
ing two children, Mark and Joann,
They started with a candy store, until
whom she taught to "take pride in being
David bought a batch of jewelry on
Jewish," while the family belonged to
credit. Working hard and saving, the
Temple Beth El.
family lived in the back of the business.
Mark, of Birmingham, is now a
"In those days," Dr. Hauser recalled,
lawyer in Southfield and president of the
"eyeglasses were sold in jewelry stores,
United Jewish Foundation of
and people could buy them at Baum's
Metropolitan Detroit. Dr. Joann
for '$5 down and forever to pay'."
Greenberg and her husband, Dr.
Pearl listened to her mother and went
William Greenberg, live in West
to Chicago to attend Northern Illinois
Bloomfield.
College of Optometry, graduating in
Dr. Pearl Hauser and her husband had
1936. The class had only two women
been divorced before he died at 57 in
and very few Jews.
1983. Her brother was the well-known
"A strange thing happened to me and
Wayne County Circuit Court judge,
about 20 other graduates when we took
Victor Baum, who died two years ago.
the Michigan optometry exam," she
Since the 1960s, Dr. Hauser has assist-

ed the Optometric Institute and Clinic
of Detroit, a non-profit organization
handling developmental vision for chil-
dren and providing eye exams and glass-
es for families that can't afford them. She
also did research in children's vision at
the Gesell Institute and Clinic at Yale
University, making monthly trips to
New Haven, Conn.
Dr. Hauser now sees 10-12 patients a
day at her office, with the assistance of
an optician and an office clerk. She spe-
cializes in bifocal contact lenses, which
are gairiing popularity in modern eye
care.
"Pearl is an excellent optometrist and
a wonderful person," said Dorothea
Becker of Bloomfield Hills, who has
been a patient for 32 years. "I don't
mind at all traveling to Hamtramck to
see her. I also consider her to be a good
friend. The world would be a lot better
off with more people like Pearl Hauser."
Added Mark Hauser: "She's a great
mother and amazing person who's really
dedicated to her profession. She always
encouraged me to start my own law
practice rather than work for someone
else."
Said Dr. Hauser: "I guess I didn't want
a strong wind to blow him away." ❑

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4/26
2002

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