Our Story
Since 1974
This practice was started in 1974 (when the building was constructed) by James Hatton, OD. He developed a flourishing practice over the twenty years he owned and operated it. In 1994, Dr. Hatton sold the practice to Tom Wilson, OD. He remodeled Dr. Hatton’s practice and renamed it Tempe Vision Center.
Dr. Wilson owned the practice, but employed optometrists to operate and manage it for him. Over the years, he employed Paul Wolf, OD; Tina Cooley, OD, and Kirk Reed, OD. All of them opened their own offices in the East Valley after working here.
1999
In 1999, John D Pearson, OD started working at Tempe Vision Center. Dr. Reed had just left to open his own practice.
In 2006, Dr. Pearson purchased Tempe Vision Center from Dr. Wilson and renamed it Desert Family Eyecare. At the same time, the practice began being remodeled, which doubled the office size. We hired more optometrists as the practice grew. Lars Carlson, OD 2006-2008; Jeremy Olsen, OD 2006-2007, Alisha McCallen, OD 2007-2008, Karen Chow, OD 2006-2018 all worked here and left to operate their own practices. Damilola Lujubutu worked here from 2016-2018, but left to join another practice. Trina Cheng, OD started in 2007 and still works here as well as in her own practice. Dr. Ryff started as a staff member, went to optometry school and rejoined us in 2015. Dr. Cutunilli joined the practice right after graduation from optometry school in 2018.
2006
In 2006, Dr. Pearson hired Charles Hollis Jones, a long time friend in Los Angeles, to design the office furnishings. When you visit the office, you’ll notice that it is “Hollywood.” This is the standard background for Jones work. If you look around, you’ll see many of his designs. He and I are still working on the office. It still isn’t perfect! See his amazing work at CharlesHollisJones.com.
In 2010, We renamed the practice Desert Eye. The culture is one of constant improvement and change. One thing has never changed, though. We still provide comprehensive, caring optometric services as well as offer high quality, highly fashionable eyewear and contact lenses at reasonable prices.
We look forward to welcoming you.