Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 23, 1995 TAG: 9503310004
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
During the past 50 years, Peters has persuaded almost 35,000 people to sign up as eye donors with the Lions Club Eye Bank. The exact number is 34,369, and Peters thinks it's a world record.
"I don't know of anybody else who has signed up that many," he said, adding that he thinks the feat is worthy of inclusion in the Guinness Book of Records. And, with the help and encouragement of a number of his friends, the Roanoke Valley resident is making a second contact with Guinness publishers.
Peters' effort was rejected in 1987 when Guinness officials said there was no way to confirm that Peters had truly achieved a world record.
"Regrettably, we have no information with which to compare this accomplishment, and so it is not possible to comment on it in record terms," said Alex E. Reid, deputy editor of Guinness, in a letter from Middlesex, England, in August 1987.
Michael Ferguson, a Roanoke Valley lawyer who is helping Peters, said he is assembling all the data he can about the number of donors Peters has signed up. After he "builds a case," he said, he will contact Guinness on Peters' behalf.
When Peters first started collecting eye donor pledges, few other than the Lions Clubs were doing so. Now, said Bill Proctor, director of the Old Dominion Eye Bank in Richmond, people can sign up when they obtain a driver's license.
Although they don't keep records on the number of people signing up eye donors, eye bank and Lions Club officials throughout the country tend to think Peters may hold some sort of record.
Merle Hash, office administrator of the Lions Eye Bank in Roanoke, said she has never heard of anyone else "coming anywhere near that number," and she has seen communications from the 110 eye banks in North America.
"The closest anyone has come to his record was about 500 donors," Hash said. "And that was years ago."
Patrick Cannon, public relations director for the International Association of Lions Club in Oak Brook, Ill., says he hasn't heard of any other eye procurer collecting as many donors as Peters.
Elizabeth Cummings of the Eye Bank Association of America, based in Washington, D.C., also said she doesn't know of anyone equalling Peters' numbers.
In 1945, after hearing a young woman tell Salem Lions Club members she had regained her sight through a cornea transplant, Peters began his quest to make eyes available to those who couldn't see.
He said he was greatly impressed by that story and, during that meeting, spoke with Everette Franklin, then director of the Lions Eye Bank in Roanoke. Franklin suggested Peters try to sign up donors.
"He's the one who really initiated this," Peters said.
Peters' first attempt was on a Saturday morning at the entrance of the now-defunct Lakeside Amusement Park, where he nervously asked people to donate their eyes. He got a lot of refusals in those early days.
"It was harder to get donors then than now," he said. "The transplant procedure was not as well known.''
But Peters stuck with it. During the years he was teaching and coaching at the former Andrew Lewis High School and later as treasurer in Roanoke County and Salem, he set up shop to solicit donors on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
After he retired in 1977, he stepped up the pace, setting up shop at various places - stores or shopping centers - for about five hours a day three or four days a week.
Now, at 85, he has slowed to about one day a week for three or four hours. He operates mostly at Tanglewood Mall.
Over the years, the task of persuading someone to become a donor has grown easier, he said, adding that he has perfected his sales pitch.
"If people will stop long enough to listen to me, they usually will sign up."
By allowing their eyes to be used after their deaths, sighted people can help others, Peters said. He tells prospective donors it is terrible to be without sight, and those who have never experienced it cannot imagine what it's like.
He also explains that the cornea of the eyes can be removed after death without disfiguring the body.
When people sign, Peters gives them a small red sticker to attach to their driver's license.
Peters said he has worked not only for the Salem Lions Club, but also for sightless people and the Lions International Sight Conservation program. He has received several awards and honors for his efforts. He has been recognized by presidents Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter for his eye donor achievements. In fact, Peters tried to sign up Carter, but Carter had promised his eyes already.
Peters' greatest booster was his late wife, Lorna, who encouraged him to keep at it. He gives her much of the credit for his success. "There have been many times that I was planning to do something else, but she encouraged me to get eye donors instead."
Peters said he has turned down many other volunteer jobs with the Salem Lions Club because he did not want anything that would take time from seeking eye donors. He has been chairman of the club's Sight Conservation Committee for almost a half-century and says that's about all he has wanted to do.
"I enjoy it," he said.
by CNB