THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 19, 1994 TAG: 9406180072
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940619 LENGTH: FRANKLIN
As a youngster, he enjoyed catching snakes and turtles, and he briefly considered being a herpetologist, the way many boys dream of being a fireman.
{REST} But he knew there would be few job opportunities, so he pursued another dream - helping others have a clearer vision of the world around them, as his father, E.B. ``Ernie'' Gatten Jr., and grandfather, the late E.B. Gatten Sr., had done.
He admired the way his father helped people - without the pain involved in some other service professions, such as dentistry.
``After school, I would go down to the office, ever since I was a little kid,'' Burdette Gatten said. ``Dad would be seeing patients. I'd see all the equipment, and I could see that patients liked him and respected him.''
Besides, optometry is a family matter. Ernie Gatten's brother, Billy, practices in Mathews, Va.
``At Christmas and the Fourth of July and family gatherings, we would always hear cases they were talking about,'' Burdette Gatten said. ``I was always interested in hearing them knock around `problem cases' - what they did to help someone or difficulties they had.''
Ernie Gatten, who grew up in Richmond, graduated from Northern Illinois College of Optometry.
After school, he and his wife, Emily, moved to Franklin, where he worked with the late Dr. J.B. Powell. But he hoped to join his father's practice in Richmond as soon as there was an opening.
``When the time came, I liked Franklin so much, I didn't want to leave,'' said Ernie Gatten, 72.
His father had never indoctrinated him about the profession, Ernie Gatten said. But he always wanted to follow in his father's footsteps.
``My daddy was very careful not to direct me,'' he said. ``But I always knew, from the beginning, that I wanted to be an optometrist.''
He also tried to keep from influencing any of his children about their careers.
Another son, Chuck Gatten, owns Audio Showroom and Appliance Center in Franklin, and a daughter, Caroline, has a marketing business in Chicago.
``There wasn't any pressure,'' said Burdette Gatten, 42. ``It was just, `Whatever you want to do. Just do it well.' ''
Burdette Gatten graduated from Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, then practiced in Demopolis, Ala., for nine years before returning to Franklin in 1986.
He had built a successful practice outside of Franklin but had reached all of his goals, he said.
And his father was looking for an associate. But after interviewing about 20 people, Ernie Gatten still had not found the right match.
One night, the younger Gatten called his father and asked him to delay a decision until he could get there and discuss his plan to return home.
``I think the timing was good,'' he said. ``I came in with experience, and he was slowing down. I think that's why it worked. I would have been frustrated if I had come in wanting to make changes if he hadn't been.''
Patients have accepted him readily because of his father's reputation, Burdette Gatten said.
``It was easy to make the conversion,'' he said.
He and his wife, Joann, enjoy living in Franklin, close to both families and lifelong friends. They have a 2 1/2-year-old daughter, Gabrielle - ``Gabby'' - and are expecting again in November.
The father-son team worked together for three years. In 1991, he turned the practice over to his son.
``Fathers need to get out,'' Ernie Gatten said. ``The younger ones need freedom to develop their own ideas.
``But we were fortunate to get along so well.''
{KEYWORDS} FATHER'S DAY
by CNB