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His idea of a vacation is an eye mission trip to another part of the world.
Foss, an optometrist and owner of Family Vision Center in La Crosse, has been all over the world delivering and fitting glasses to those who cannot afford them.
“There are so many people who are blind for no reason at all,” Foss said. “The leading cause of blindness is the lack of adequate eyewear. I bring them eyewear and make sure they get an adequate fit so they can see better.
“Helping people is just part of what we do as human beings,” he said. “We’re pretty fortunate here, and I have the skills to help someone. And I do like an adventure.”
An optometrist for 35 years, the 62-year-old Foss started going on eye mission trips in the 1990s. He has been to Nicaragua more than a dozen times and Mexico three times.
Foss also has been to Vietnam, Kenya, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Peru and other countries in Central and South America. He works on a mission trip about every 18 months and one time did two in one month.
He said his favorite mission experience was helping a young boy who was blind see again with the right prescription eyeglasses.
“People thought it was a miracle,” Foss said. “We help thousands of people on these trips. Simply, we can make a difference in these people’s lives.”
Foss said he volunteers partly because that is what he learned as a Boy Scout working on many volunteer service projects.
But Foss also said he is paying back a debt to God.
A Vietnam veteran, Foss studied at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse to prepare for Illinois College of Optometry. He found optometry school a bit challenging and overwhelming at first.
“I told God if I got a little help getting through optometry school, I’d give him a year,” Foss said. “Maybe I’m halfway there.”
For his volunteer work, Foss was selected Wisconsin Optometrist of the Year in 2005.
More than a year ago, Foss started seeing patients with eye problems referred from the St. Clare Health Mission one night a month.
“We see about six patients or so and refer some to surgeons,” Foss said.
“It’s a free clinic, and it’s part of my long-range goal to donate services one day a week down the road,” he said.
His daughter, Ann Wonderling, also an optometrist, works with her father and said he has been a great role model.
“One of the main reasons I went into optometry is I saw how my dad helped people, and I wanted to do the same,” Wonderling said. “My dad loves going to work.”
She went on her first mission trip to Mexico as a teenager and has been on about a dozen missions.
“When my dad started volunteering, the family vacations stopped,” Wonderling said. “That first trip was a wake-up call for a 16-year-old and a life-changing experience.”
Twice a year, Foss and his daughter also give free exams at state Special Olympics events.
Foss said his role model in high school in Wisconsin Dells, Wis., was his optometrist, Warren Bohlinger.
“He was a real good person, and I wanted to be an optometrist just like him,” Foss said. “I never had doubts I would be an optometrist, and I still wouldn’t change it.”
Terry Rindfleisch can be reached at trindfleisch@lacrossetribune.com, or (608) 791-8227.
