Gary Duey:
CLASS OF 1971
Belleville Township East High SchoolClass of 1971
Belleville, IL
Southern California College of OptometryClass of 1976
Fullerton, CA
Belleville Area CollegeClass of 1972
Belleville, IL
West Junior High SchoolClass of 1967
Belleville, IL
Jefferson Elementary SchoolClass of 1965
Belleville, IL
Gary's Story
After a year at Belleville Area College, I moved to Southern California to attend optometry school. Got my doctorate in 1976. A few years later I went back to school and got an MBA. Stayed in California for about 12 years, then moved to Georgia in 1994. I married in 1999, but I was not cut out to be a stepfather to three teenagers. So I called it quits. I've not remarried.
I changed my name shortly after my father died. Didn't do to be called "Dr. Die" all the time. Best thing I ever did. My mother didn't like the name Duy either.
Opened by own practice in 2006. I retired in 2021. Discovered I've had face blindness all of my life. I always wondered why I could never remember my patients even when they came back the next day, while my staff always knew everyone even weeks later. I suppose I couldn't recognize many o...Expand for more
f my classmates from time to time which would have made me seem aloof.
In the early 1980s I got rid of that banana nose I had all through my school years.
Miss my good friend, Harry Pauly, who died of cancer around 2000.
I've visited Belleville a few times. Things keep changing as they do everywhere. The neighborhood where I grew up has fallen into disrepair, but the trees my father planted in the backyard are giants now and I'm glad to see that. I look at satellite photos of the town from time to time.
It surprises me when I see so many of my classmates still living in the area. Belleville is not horrid, but I've see a lot of the world now and know there are better places to be. I suppose if you have a lot of family, you want to be nearby.
My photo is from 2024. I kept all of my hair but showing more gray now.
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