This summer, optometrist Thomas P. Nadeau, ODPC will celebrate 40 years serving the Boothbay area. On Monday, Aug. 14, Nadeau will hold  a “Chamber after Hours” party for his patients some who have been with him since he opened his practice in 1977.

“Someone recently claimed to be my oldest patient. I told him there was one before him,” said Nadeau. He has kept a second office at 165 Bath Road in Wiscasset for the last 25 years.

“I am calling it a 40/10 plan,” said Nadeau who wants to continue his practice at a slightly slower pace for the next 10 years. He hopes to add to his practice a young doctor who can take over when he retires.

“I like to stay active,” said Nadeau, who cultivates a backyard garden, rides a bike with his friend Kate and is planning international travel for vacations. 

Nadeau graduated from Presque Isle High School in 1970 with the idea of becoming a mechanical engineer. While an undergraduate at the University of Maine in Orono, he modified his plans to combine his manual skills with a profession that could bring him in direct connection with the public.

“I am a people person,” he said.

After receiving his doctorate at the Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, Tennessee, he returned to Maine to stay.

“This is cool,” Nadeau said to himself after exploring the Boothbay area. “I may not get rich but it’s a good life.”

Over the years, Sheepscot Eye Associates has moved twice, finally taking over a former dental office at 145 Townsend Ave. The office came with a house, now his home.

He also has moved up in the statewide rankings, now a past president of the Maine Optometric Association. He has served  on the board of the American Optometric Association and the Maine Board of Optometry, is a past president of the Boothbay Region Lions Club and has served on the boards of the Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce and Boothbay Harbor Rotary Club, and has been involved with programs at the Boothbay Region YMCA and Big Brothers Big Sisters. He has served on municipal committees for Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor and on the School Administrative District (SAD) 41 board. 

At the state level, he has worked on legislative changes to the rules that govern optometrists..

Nadeau is looking forward to showing patients and community members his new “toys” and supplying food and drink at his party. The open house will run from 5 to 7 p.m.

 He feels he has established a special bond with his patients over the years. “It is a service to the community. It is a two-way street,” he said.