One of the most prominent names connected with Pacific鈥檚 College of Optometry is Carkner, and the connection began before the beginning.
Clarence 鈥淐lary鈥 Carkner attended the North Pacific College of Optometry and entered private practice, when he, Newton Wesley Hon. 鈥86, and Roy Clunes, all recent attendees, were offered the chance to buy the North Pacific charter. Wesley, a Japanese-American, had been forced to move inland, and Carkner became the public face of the effort to bring the charter to 91精选.
鈥淒r. Clarence Carkner is giving a great deal of time, and a lot of hard work in helping to raise the necessary funds, and is securing publicity that will be most helpful to our profession,鈥 declared Frank Bemis, the president of the Oregon Optometric Association, in the association鈥檚 newsletter. 鈥淟et us all do our part to make this worthwhile enterprise a complete success.鈥
When the College of Optometry opened on Pacific鈥檚 Forest Grove Campus, Carkner was an instructor 鈥 and the first of multiple Carkners to attend or teach at the school.
Clarence Carkner鈥檚 sons, Donald 鈥64, OD 鈥65 and David 鈥68, OD 鈥70, each received optometry degrees from Pacific. For years, they practiced together in a Northeast Portland clinic, a stone鈥檚 throw from the old North Pacific College.
The business eventually passed to Donald鈥檚 son, Jeffry OD 鈥92. In 2020, Jeffry Carkner sold the practice to a non-family member, but fellow alumna, Keely Hoban OD 鈥11. Jeffry Carkner has moved to Tennessee with his wife, but his uncle David continues to practice part-time in the family clinic, where his uncle Steve is an optician. Steve Carkner鈥檚 wife Lisa works at the clinic鈥檚 front desk.
