T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY As of Jan. 1, Dr. Collin Edwards, left, and Dr. Kacie Monroe, second from left, have taken over ownership of Eyecare Associates, located at 501 E. Main St. in Marshalltown, from Dr. Abie Chadderdon, right, the longtime former owner. Eyecare Associates also has offices in Toledo and Conrad.

When he first came to the community 40 years ago, Dr. Abie Chadderdon, a South Dakota native and U.S. Army veteran, made a name for himself as an optometrist and eventually changed the name of his practice to Eyecare Associates with offices in Marshalltown, Tama-Toledo and now Conrad. As of Jan. 1, he’s officially retired and has sold the business to two of his former employees, Dr. Collin Edwards and Dr. Kacie Monroe.

Edwards is a native of Spencer who holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa and a Doctorate of Optometry from the University of Missouri — St. Louis, while Monroe grew up near Conrad and graduated from BCLUW High School in 2003 before going on to earn an undergraduate degree from the University of Northern Iowa and an optometry degree from Indiana University.

Chadderdon said he began to seriously consider retirement within the last 10 years and thought about it even more when he found such strong candidates to take over the longstanding business, which is located at 501 E. Main St. in Marshalltown.

“One of the things in our profession is (that) it’s really hard to get doctors to come anywhere, let alone rural Iowa. People all over the country are always trying to get doctors, and we just kind of fell into a situation where Kacie wanted to come back to central Iowa where she grew up, and then another doctor that just joined us recently wanted to come back because this is where he grew up,” Chadderdon said. “So we had five doctors, which we don’t really need five. We need four, so I thought it was a great time for me to bow out. So that’s kind of what preempted it a little bit… The timing was just right.”

Monroe had practiced in Cedar Rapids for about a decade before the COVID-19 pandemic hit and caused her to reflect on her situation and the possibility of moving closer to family. She told her husband Nick that if they did return, she’d be picky about where she would work, and even though Chadderdon wasn’t hiring at the time, she knew him, called him up and asked if he’d be interested in bringing her on. The rest, of course, is history, and Monroe started at Eyecare Associates in the fall of 2021.

“I didn’t hesitate,” Chadderdon said.

Edwards, on the other hand, didn’t have any local connections when he first came to Marshalltown, but during the process of interviewing for jobs, he said he was impressed with Chadderdon’s commitment to investing in state-of-the-art instruments and how “medically oriented” the practice is.

“You might see a lot of advertisements for, like, 10 minute exams or virtual online exams, even worse, but I didn’t want to go in that direction. I definitely wanted to use the skills that we learned in school,” he said.

He bought a house here in 2020 and has since gotten engaged to an optician at Eyecare Associates with plans to get married this July. Neither Edwards nor Monroe sees a need to make any sweeping changes now that they’ve taken ownership other than simply continuing the longstanding tradition of keeping up to date on the latest technology and equipment along with growing the vision therapy clinic Monroe launched about two years ago.

The current building has grown exponentially since it was first constructed and opened 30 years ago (previously, the clinic was located on West Main Street), and a significant remodel was completed during the COVID-19 pandemic adding more square footage, exam rooms and a space for vision therapy.

And although walking away from something he put so much time and effort into for such a large chunk of his life could be seen as bittersweet for Chadderdon, he has all the confidence in the world that the new owners will keep guiding Eyecare Associates in the right direction.

“I feel very comfortable. They’re bright and aggressive, and they have two other doctors (Carnahan and Connie Feldman) that they’re working with,” he said. “I have great confidence that they’re gonna do great, and that was part of it too. There’s a lot of private equity sales, and they pay a lot of money. But they make it difficult to transition, and they start calling the shots of how you’re gonna do things and what you’re gonna do and what you’re not gonna do. I just knew that (Edwards and Monroe) were gonna carry on and go beyond where we are already, and it’ll be awesome to watch their practice continue to grow.”

Eyecare Associates can be reached at (641) 752-1511, and the Marshalltown office is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Toledo office (1001 B South County Rd.) is open every weekday but Tuesday, and the Conrad location (103 N. Main St.) is open every Tuesday and an occasional Friday.

An open house to celebrate the new ownership and honor Chadderdon upon his retirement will be held on Friday, Feb. 28 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Marshalltown office. And the outgoing doctor doesn’t plan to get lazy anytime soon, as he was headed out to the Dominican Republic with his youngest daughter for a mission trip on Thursday.

“We’re gonna be inland and not so much on the beach,” he said.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.