SOUTHBRIDGE, Mass.—The Opticians Association of Massachusetts held its 8th fall conference earlier this month with a series of education courses, a special tour of the facilities and Optical Heritage Museum, education classes as well as special honors for attendees.The meeting was held at the former American Optical headquarters here, the birthplace of American Optical, now renovated into a hotel and conference center. It also houses the Optical Heritage Museum, which is now sponsored by Zeiss.
Zeiss sponsored a special presentation by Ted Gioia about the history of innovation in the optical industry. In addition, there was an open house at the Optical Heritage Museum which featured tours and a demonstrations of Zeiss instrumentation.
There was a special tribute at the dinner to the late Massachusetts optician and contact lens fitter John Parrelli, RDO, FCLSA, NCLE-AC, who passed away very unexpectedly in December of last year. He founded Parrelli Optical in 1968 which had many offices in the Boston area, and Parrelli gave back generously to opticianry education in recent years, the association noted. His son, Jonathan, accepted the NAO Hall of Fame and OAM Infinity Award in Parrelli’s honor.
Todd Berberian of Todd Rogers Eyewear received Optician of the Year in recognition of his support of the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology Opticianry program.
Zeiss representative were on hand to demonstrate state of the art Zeiss instrumentation. Opticians had the chance to compare the iProfiler with a working 1898 CI Ophthalmometer on display at the museum.
At the Sunday education conference, almost 300 attendees chose from 21 different courses offered by Dick Whitney, Mike Gzik, Mark Dolabany, Barry Santini, Blair Wong and others. Thirty-five Corporate Partners exhibited company products.
Opticians Association of Massachusetts Fall Meeting
Former AO HQ, now a hotel and conference center, is the home of the Optical Heritage Museum.
Opticians Association of Massachusetts Fall Meeting
The OAM honored the late John E. Parrelli, with its Infinity Award.
Opticians Association of Massachusetts Fall Meeting
Jonathan Parrelli accepted the NAO Hall of Fame and OAM Infinity Awards in his fathers honor.
Opticians Association of Massachusetts Fall Meeting
Ted Gioia, sponsored by Zeiss, presented "The Evolution of Eyewear and Technology" that included much information about the contributions by American Optical.
Opticians Association of Massachusetts Fall Meeting
Dr. David Fleishman, executive producer of "Sight - the Story of Vision" and webmaster of antiquespectacles.com presented classes about antique eyewear.
Opticians Association of Massachusetts Fall Meeting
The Optical Heritage Museum sponsored a tour and Open House and debuted a Vintage Eyewear Photobooth.
Opticians Association of Massachusetts Fall Meeting
(L to R) The Zeiss team of Ryan Bean, Jeanine McElroy, Dick Whitney, Kamala Elliott, Tina Fowler, Megan Smart, Matt Kegler and Darius Panozzo.