West Virginia Executive Spring/Summer 2020 | Page 116

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Mason Edward White II, O.D.
Optometric Physician, White Eye Care Center, Inc.
JENNIFER JETT-PREZKOP
Photo by Joanna Rodighiero.
DR. ED WHITE would likely have been an aerospace engineer,
empowering mankind to explore the heavens, had it not been for
NASA budget cuts in 1969 and 1970 that eliminated promising
aerospace jobs. NASA’s loss, however, was the great gain of the
optometry field and its patients, particularly those in Logan, WV.
Growing up in the small, blue-collar community of Justice
Addition, White dreamed of being a football player. It wasn’t
long before his passion for the pigskin was replaced with an
unquenchable thirst for math and physics.
“As a senior at Logan High School, I was somewhat of a
physics geek, and I was fascinated with geometric and quantum
optics,” he says. “I was also fascinated with human anatomy
and physiology, and I had tremendous respect for our family
doctor, Dr. Mick Kessel, and our eye doctor, Dr. David Mullins.
I wanted to be like them.”
It was these factors combined that led White to the field of
optometry, where he has found success in helping others for
the last 42 years. The impact White has had on the eye health
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE