Dr. Palmer Cook - 2015
MHS 1957 Graduate
Dr. Palmer Cook, class of 1957, was nominated to the Minerva High School Alumni Hall of Fame by Joan Hart Henninger, also of the class of 1957. Dr. Cook definitely fills the definition of what a member of the Minerva Alumni Hall of Fame should be . . . someone who has brought honor and distinction to Minerva High School through his career or his community service or both.
Dr. Cook's mother, Bryda Cook was a first grade teacher in Minerva, and his father owned Cook's Tire and Repair on S. Market St. where young Palmer enjoyed spending time listening to the discussions among the customers. His mother and one of his favorite teachers, Mrs. Dorothy Heath, particularly encouraged his love of reading. Other Minerva teachers that he remembers with high regard are Mrs. Hammond, and Miss Hogue in eighth grade and Wendell Smith in high school chemistry and physics. "Mr. Smith," Dr. Cook recalled, “had a sense of humor and an honest and enduring quest for doing the best possible job of teaching.”
After high school graduation he was an apprentice printer for the Canton Repository, then worked as an ad compositor at the Ravenna Record Courier, and at a printing shop in Kent. In 1959, he became a full time student in pre-optometry at Kent State and married a high school classmate, Linda Hawn from the New Franklin area. He remained a student at Kent State, Ohio State, or the University of Houston from 1959 through the spring semester of 1965. During those years they had a daughter Susan and a son Christopher.
Dr. Cook received his B.Sc. in physiological optics (OSU 1963), B.Sc. in Optometry (OSU School of Optometry 1964), and his O.D. degree (U.H. College of Optometry 1965). He was licensed to practice optometry by the Ohio State Board of Examiners in Optometry in 1964. At the University of Houston he served as a clinical instructor while pursuing his graduate studies. Upon returning to Ohio he entered private practice in Eaton, near Dayton. In addition to private practice, he began teaching as a part-time clinical instructor and lecturer at OSU's College of Optometry. He taught at OSU 1965-1985, and today occasionally returns to guest lecture.
He built a small clinic in Eaton in 1970, which still remains an eye care facility. In the 1980's the Ohio optometry law was changed, and he undertook the additional education and the state board examination that licensed him to treat eye disease and diagnose and treat eye problems medically. His primary interest in practice was pediatric eye care.
“My first prescription lenses," he said, “were designed by Dr. Fred Jamison who formerly practiced in Minerva in Dr. Weir's medical building."
In 1985 Dr. Cook discontinued his regular teaching at OSU to seek additional challenges outside the field of eye care. In 1989, along with a good friend and partner, he opened what was then a new concept in bookselling- a bookstore café - named Nickleby’s after Dickens' character, Nicholas Nickleby. The store had an indoor café, an outdoor café, a stage with an upright grand piano, and a stream of events and book signings. In 1992 he and his partner were featured on the cover of Publisher's Weekly Magazine as the first booksellers-of-the-year they had ever honored. His partner left Nickleby's in 1992, and shortly after she left, Dr. Cook retired from active practice to turn his full attention to the bookstore. Ultimately he closed the bookstore in 1995. "Nickleby's," he remarked, “was an interesting part of my life. I enjoyed it greatly and still miss it today."
Upon closing the bookstore, Dr. Cook accepted an invitation to join an ophthalmic laboratory, Cincinnati-based Diversified Ophthalmics, as a consultant. Today the company, founded in 1977, is the 9th largest privately owned ophthalmic laboratory in the US. Dr. Cook is a member of the company's Board of Directors and continues to work full time as their Vice President of Professional Education and as a technical consultant. The company supplies optometrists from coast to coast with prescription lenses, ophthalmic equipment, and nearly every kind of product that an eye care office might need.
Dr. Cook has written a monthly column for optometrists and optometric technicians for more than 18 years. He also writes a weekly news bulletin for The ECP Network, a group of more than 1,000 optometrists interested in new developments in vision care. Since 2003 he has been writing technical features related to lens design and vision care for 20/20 Magazine, a global publication produced by New York-based jobson Publishing, Inc.
Books and reading are still an important part of his life, and he enjoys traveling to the UK to visit his daughter Susan who lives in Richmond, a suburb of London. Although he is nearly 76, he actively enjoys woodworking. “Sometimes," he said, “it’s a race between adding books to my library and building more bookcases to hold them.” He tinkers with 0-gauge trains, and hopes to write some fiction when he retires.
Dr. Cook lives in Cincinnati with his partner of many years, Mary Kay Denny – a graduate of Miami University and who is retired Procter and Gamble. “We both,” he said, "believe that life presents a kaleidoscope of challenges and opportunities. Mary Kay and I encourage today's students to use education as their key to meeting life's challenges and the many opportunities that will be available to them as a result of their efforts."