Sharon Bowser notes 45 years in local optometry

After 45 years in optometry, Sharon Bowser still isn’t slowing down. 

For nearly half a century, Bowser has been a steady presence at some of Holton’s busiest eye care clinics.

From her first days helping Dr. Wesley R. Clark establish a small clinic on the south side of the Square to navigating the latest technology at Lifetime Eye Care, Bowser has seen it all. 

“I love people. I love being here, and I like who I work with,” Bowser said. “They take good care of us. It’s like a family.”

Bowser graduated from Holton High School in 1961 as Sharon Sawyer (her maiden name) and attended Clark’s School of Business in Topeka (no relation to Dr. Clark). 

Shortly after, she married a Holton guy, Allen Bowser, who was serving in the Air Force in South Carolina. She joined him there for three years before they returned home to Holton.

“We came back to Holton. We didn’t even talk about it or really think about it,” she said. “If he had reenlisted, he would have been sent to Vietnam.”

Bowser worked in various roles for United Telephone, just off the Square in Holton, for 15 years before the office closed.

“I was on unemployment for six months, and right as it was running out, Dr. Clark called me,” she said. 

She joined Dr. Clark’s staff when the practice opened in 1980 and continued working there 28 years through his retirement in 2008.

“When he started, he saw one patient in the morning and one patient in the afternoon,” she said. “I only worked mornings to start with and then moved to full time.”

Bowser said she did “anything” that needed to be done in the office, from testing and typing dictation to billing and filing. She even set up the clinic’s first computer.

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