Invisible Vision - by Roy Wesley (Paperback)

About the Book

Invisible Vision is the inspiring, hidden story of Dr. Newton K. Wesley. The son of Japanese immigrants, he persevered through his family's incarceration in US war camps to eventually create the US contact lens market.

Book Synopsis

As recently as 1940, contact lenses did not exist for Americans. Invisible Vision is the hidden story of the man who brought them into existence, trained doctors and opticians to fit them, and developed the country's largest contact lens manufacturing company that started the industry. Despite these accomplishments, few people know his name or background. The surprising and inspiring life of Dr. Newton K. Wesley-born to Japanese immigrant parents who arrived at the turn of the 19th century, and eventually rising to create the US contact lens market-is a story of survival and flourishing against the odds.

Dr. Wesley gives hope to those starting life and businesses from nothing as someone who earned success in the face of loss: he was a US Citizen who lost everything in WWII, even his wife and two children who were incarcerated in Japanese American war camps, while he remained free to start a new life and career. His tale is one of perseverance with a big payoff.

Review Quotes

"An intriguing biography of the life of Dr. Newton K. Wesley. A must-read for anyone interested in optometry, eyecare, contact lenses and US History during the pre- and post-WWII era." -Dr. Mark K. Colip, OD, President, Illinois College of Optometry

"Newton Wesley has found a sensitive and sympathetic, but not entirely uncritical, biographer in his son Roy. Well-researched and always conscious of its broader context, Invisible Vision is an inspiring story." -Thomas Hamm, PhD, Professor of History, Curator of the Quaker Collection and Director of Special Collections at Earlham College