Dr. Walter R. Morrow, an optometrist who practiced nearly four decades in NW Ohio, died peacefully at his south Toledo home Wednesday, October 23, 2024. Diagnosed with kidney disease ten years ago, he had suffered a stroke in August 2023 that prompted his November retirement from the Bowling Green Walmart Vision Center during his 28th year of service. He was 75.
Walter Raymond Morrow was born February 9, 1949, in New Kensington, Pennsylvania. He was the second surviving child of three born to William H. and Helen Wilson Morrow. His mother died in 1960, his father remarried, and the blended family moved to Burton, Ohio, where Walt entered seventh grade. The next year he placed third statewide in math testing of eighth graders. He mowed lawns, baled hay, and worked on a Christmas tree farm as a young teen.
As an older teen, he spent Saturdays doing odd jobs at JARVA, Inc., in Solon, where his father oversaw the manufacture of giant tunnel-boring equipment. Walt was awarded a college scholarship and offered a job by the Johnson Rubber Co., Middlefield, toward the end of his senior year. He graduated from Burton (renamed Berkshire) High School in 1967 as senior class president and honor society member who wrestled three years and participated in other activities. Walt worked for both employers during summers and college breaks, honing his skill as a welder at JARVA, serving in the batch testing and molded product development departments at Johnson Rubber Co., perfecting a procedure the company patented.
Walt attended Ohio University as a pre-optometry student majoring in biology who participated in US Air Force ROTC his freshman year and US Army ROTC his junior year. He went to boot camp at Ft. Knox during the summer of 1970, months before the US Army instituted a lottery system of birthdates to meet recruitment goals, and this system precluded his being called to serve.
Walt was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity who met the former Jeannie Stevers when the fraternity was paired with her sorority to build a 1968 homecoming float. They wed July 3, 1971, in the campus chapel and settled in central Ohio. Walt took classes at The Ohio State University while installing replacement glass and repairing vehicle air conditioners at an auto glass shop.
Walt entered the Illinois College of Optometry, Chicago, in September 1972, working Saturdays and summers again as a welder. He graduated with his Doctor of Optometry degree in May, 1976, then passed the Illinois and Arizona state licensing exams. Walt performed routine examinations and fit contact lenses in an ophthalmology practice for a year before offering the same services at a west suburban clinic.
In early 1978 he acquired the practice of the lone optometrist in Rock Falls, Illinois, smaller sister city to Sterling across the Rock River in rural North Central Illinois. He remodeled and updated the office, seeing his first patient within 48 hours of moving to Rock Falls. He joined several civic organizations and moved the office to bigger quarters in 1981.
On the home front, his priorities were to adopt a black Lab puppy (the first of three successive long-term canine residents), plant a big backyard vegetable garden, and tackle projects like painting interior walls and remodeling the bathroom. He was delighted to become the hands-on father of three sons born in Sterling, whom he competently changed, fed, and bathed. Walt passed the Ohio optometric licensing exam in 1983, sold his practice the next fall, and the Morrows reached Lucas County in October 1984 for proximity to kin.
Walt functioned as an independent contractor, providing optometric services for EB Brown Opticians at its Glendale and Oregon locations, before he was recruited by the Lane Drug Co. to provide eye care at its Southland store and the Teamsters Union Hall, before he was recruited by Vision Express for its Northtowne location. Walt eventually oversaw optometric coverage at Southwyck and Lima locations as well, with the help of other subcontracted optometrists and several optometric technicians whom he hired. Walt left when Pearle acquired the multi-state chain, opening his own practice with one-hour lab service from 1990 until 1995, during which time he was active in the Reynolds Corners Rotary Club. He affiliated with the Bowling Green Walmart Vision Center in December 1995, and remained a fixture of the Bowling Green practice until his retirement in 2023.
Walt was a “car guy” and “tool guy” who knew he could have earned a living with the skills he learned from his father, but he felt he’d been born to be an optometrist. He genuinely enjoyed improving the vision of his patients. He had been licensed for several years to use diagnostic ophthalmic drugs and to prescribe therapeutic ophthalmic drugs. His second career choice would have been engineering. Or perhaps industrial arts teacher.
Just as he had enjoyed interacting with his patients, Walt liked visiting with other congregants at Zion United Methodist Church, where he cooked pancakes for the Palm Sunday Brunch, grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for the fall picnic, served on the flower-watering crew, and periodically provided refreshments after worship.
He’d had many interests in life: scouting as a boy; motorcycles as a teen; camping, downhill skiing, jogging, and racquetball from his late 20’s to mid-30’s. He’d been in two bowling leagues, one in Rock Falls, one in Toledo. He’d taken up woodworking in his 50’s, producing beautiful furniture. He’d been a big exercise buff until recently.
His camera and video camera were always at hand to capture family birthdays, holidays, and other special occasions. He was the designated driver for trips to the park or out for ice cream. He attended school open houses, Cub Scout pack meetings, school awards nights, plays, choral and orchestra concerts. He modeled exemplary citizenship and a strong work ethic. He always said the most fun he ever had was raising three boys, of whom he was immensely proud. Walt imparted to his sons a fierce pride in a job well done, and often invoked his personal philosophy that choosing joy each day could lift our spirits, no matter the task at hand.
Walt was preceded in death by a stillborn brother, his parents, stepmother, stepbrother, Jeannie’s parents and stepparents, and sister’s only son. He is survived by his wife Jeannie, sons, Jeffrey S. and Kelly Yeager Morrow and their daughters, Avery and Devon, William Judson Morrow and Bruce S. Temkin, Brooklyn, NY; Daniel O. Morrow, MD, and Charliegh Jo Haas, Plain City, Ohio; sister and brother-in-law, Donna and William Bruni, Hawthorne, Nevada, and Donna’s three daughters. Also surviving are Jeannie’s siblings, Charles H. (Chip) and Diana Stevers, Rockford, MI; Charles and Nancy Stevers Chlebik, Meadview, AZ; Thomas O. Stevers and son Rhett.
The family gratefully acknowledges all those who have attended to Walt: Todd Forrest, DO, Brian Savage, MD, the physicians and nurse practitioners in UTMC’s Emergency Medicine, Heart & Vascular, Gastrointestinal, and Hematology Departments; the staff at the Rehabilitation Hospital of Northwest Ohio and the in-home professionals from Med1Care.
Visitation was held Friday, November 1 from 2 pm – 8 pm at Newcomer Southwest Chapel, 4752 Heatherdowns Blvd. (419-381-1900). The funeral service was the next day at the funeral home, followed by private burial.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests direct memorial contributions to the donor’s favorite organization that aids people or animals in distress, especially veterans and hurricane victims.
To share a memory or leave a message for the family, please visit newcomertoledo.com.
