Steadfast Vision

DENTON – Steadfast dedication to their faith, their families, their profession, and the Caroline community is the hallmark of their lives.

Whatever they do, Dr. Dorothy Branson and Dr. Lester Branson stick with it. Whether it’s their memberships at St. Luke’s Global Methodist Church, Denton Volunteer Fire Company, Temple Lodge or – in the case of Lester – 39 years on the Denton Town Council – the notion of giving up is not part of their natures.

And although they are in their 80s, the longtime Denton optometrists have no definite plans to retire.

Their stories merged over 60 years ago in college, but the native of the Great Plains and the daughter of the Eastern Shore have continued the legacies of their forebears and passed them down to their two children and four grandchildren.

Denton born and raised

Dorothy Billmeier Branson, 82, is a third-generation optometrist. Raised in the home adjoining the couple’s practice on Market Street, her parents, the late Dr. Alton Billmeier and Dr. Elsie Wright Billmeier, began practicing optometry in 1939. They joined the practice her grandfather, Dr. Fred J. Wright, founded in 1903 at 320 Market Street in Denton.

In fact, some of Dr. Wright’s equipment and cabinets, including the contents, are still intact. Although the Bransons have kept pace with newer technology, the well-built cabinetry, examining technology and lens-creating tools still occupy the Bransons’ workrooms.

Originally from Ridgely, Dr. F.J. Wright moved to Denton and began his career as a jeweler in the brick-front building adjoining his large, white clapboard Victorian home where Dorothy grew up, and “then he went into optometry,” said Dorothy, whose nickname is Dottie. “He used to go around to the different towns and examine people.”

Dorothy’s mom grew up in Caroline County, but her father was from Saginaw, Michigan. “My dad's sister (Dr. Dorothy Billmeier) and father were both optometrists, too,” she said. “So we have a lot of optometrists in the family.” Her parents met at the Pennsylvania State College of Optometry and came to Denton in 1939. In their Aug. 26, 1939, wedding announcement, the Denton Journal proclaimed, “The hometown has gained a son and has not lost her daughter.”

Always active in her home church, Dorothy Jean Billmeier was also a talented 8-year member of her local 4-H club, and in 4-H at the district, state and national levels. As a high school senior she served as a delegate to the 1960 National 4-H Club Congress in Chicago. She excelled in cooking and sewing projects, and she served in top leadership roles at the local and district levels.

An honor student, as a rising senior she was chosen as one of Caroline’s representatives to Girls’ State in Annapolis.

She graduated with the North Caroline High School Class of 1962, which included Kenny Wood and Dorsey Wooters. After earning her bachelor’s degree, she went on to optometry college where she met her future husband and graduated in 1967.

From Great Plains to Eastern Shore

Dr. Lester Laurence Branson’s father was a well-respected soil conservation official in Manhattan, Kansas, the seat of Riley County and home of Kansas State University, where Lester earned his undergraduate degree.

“He had a degree in botany, and the most interesting thing is that he knew every flower,” Lester said. “We'd go on a vacation – and I remember we went to Colorado one time, and there's all these beautiful flowers, and he knew every one of them. It was something.”

Lester, 83, was active in Boy Scout Troop 75, eventually achieving the rank of Eagle Scout in 1957, and with his high school track and field team at Manhattan High School.

After his 3-year stint in optometry college, he served from 1966 to 1969 in the U.S. Air Force as an optometrist at Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois. He performed “eye exams for the glasses, gas masks and sunglasses, and sent them on their way to Vietnam.”

“It was very interesting,” he said. “I'll never forget this: I had an airman that came through, and he was color blind, and so he didn't have to go over there.”

While still serving at Chanute AFB, their daughter Laura was born, just a few months before Lester’s honorable discharge and move to Denton in 1969. Their son Michael came along a few years later. Their children and spouses, along with four grandchildren live a short drive away in northern Virginia. Alumni of their mom’s alma mater, Laura became a kindergarten teacher and Michael, an engineer.

Decades of public service

Almost as soon as Lester arrived in Denton in 1969, he threw himself wholeheartedly into the life of his adopted community.

He’s been a member of the Denton Volunteer Fire Company for 55 years, serving as chief for nearly four years, prompting him to give his wife the Chief’s Award in 2003. “I had to cover for him while he was out, so that's why he gave me the award,” Dorothy said, laughing. Her husband added, “When the fire whistle blew, I left.”

When asked how many clients they have, Lester answered by pulling open multiple small-card file drawers behind the waiting room counter filled with hundreds of tightly packed cards.

The Bransons just celebrated their 60^th wedding anniversary in June. Like her parents, they too met in college, the Illinois College of Optometry in Chicago. They moved to Denton because her parents already had an established practice. “So she went back here, and I went with her,” Lester said, smiling.

“We enjoy living here,” Dorothy said. “It's a lot better than the traffic over in the cities. We like the Eastern Shore.”

As soon as they moved to Denton, Lester, also a lifelong Methodist, joined his wife’s home church, St. Luke’s Global Methodist Church, as it is now known.

The Bransons are both active in Freemasonry, a tradition that traces back to F.J. Wright’s involvement in the Temple Lodge No. 128. A past master, Lester was recognized as a 50-year member in 2020 by the Grand Lodge of Maryland. Likewise, Dorothy was recognized as a 50-year member of the Order of the Eastern Star, a Masonic appendant body open to both men and women. Her father was Temple Lodge’s oldest living past master at the time of his death in 2011, and served several state offices.

Lester has served on the Denton Town Council since 1982, interrupted by only one 5-year term. “I was defeated by two votes,” he said. He served as mayor nine times during the first 27 years of his tenure on the council. He is now serving his eighth 5-year term which ends in 2029 – which would comprise 43 years on the council.

The mayor is selected by the five council members from among them. “We've made Abby McNinch the mayor for the last five or six years, and she's been a very good mayor,” he said.

Things have changed since their time in optometry school, which is now a 4-year graduate program. “I was the only girl in my class, and there was a girl in Lester's class,” Dorothy said. “Now it's 60% to 70% women that go into optometry.”

Both doctors maintain their membership in the American Optometric Association, as well as the Maryland Optometric Association, which requires 50 hours of continuing education every two years, Dr. Dorothy said.

The Bransons have shortened their office hours to 9 a.m. to noon, Monday through Saturday. But if Dr. Billmeier’s longevity as an optometrist – he retired at age 90 – is any indicator, the Bransons have some years ahead to serve their community’s vision needs.

“We just we do our best to serve the community,” Lester said. “I do that in my profession, and also being on the town council for all that time to make sure that everything went well.”

“We've enjoyed serving the community,” Dorothy said. “We hope we've been of service to everybody.”