When Rhonda Saldivar was a child, her mother took her to an optometric practice in the northern sector of Houston every year. Rhonda was always fascinated when her optometrist clicked different lenses into place with the phoropter. Even more captivating was the way her vision progressed from blurry to clear with each click.
Rhonda was good at math and science, and she had an insatiable interest in what makes things work. Once, she even took her doll apart to find out why its eyes closed when she laid it flat. “I had to know why,” she says. “When I started developing myopia, it was like, why? Externally, my eyes look as normal as yours. Why can’t I see? Why do glasses help?”
One year when Rhonda was in high school, she went to her annual optometric appointment as usual; this time, however, she saw a female optometrist. In the past, the only optometrists at the eye clinic had been male. Suddenly, the “click” was something in Rhonda’s brain. If women could be optometrists, why couldn’t she?
Rhonda was exposed to many ocular disorders during her formative years: one grandfather had a prosthetic eye; the other had a retinal detachment. Her father had only peripheral vision in one eye—a condition that threatened his career—and several extended family members had vision loss from glaucoma. When she helped a blind mother from her church care for her new baby, Rhonda was captivated by the poignant moment when the mother “saw” her newborn daughter by caressing her face. Looking back, Rhonda understood it was as if seeds were being planted that would grow into a future career in optometry.
Later, Rhonda realized that the University of Houston had an optometric college—one of only 17 the country. Suddenly, she was sure of her career path. The college’s program only admitted a limited number of Texas candidates each year, but Rhonda, undaunted, began taking prerequisites to gain admission into the optometry program. After just two years, she applied for admission, competing against people who had completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees. “I didn’t even have a backup plan, because I knew optometry was what I wanted to do,” she says.
Rhonda now recognizes her early admission to optometry school as God’s providence. “All the doors were opened,” she says. “I was selected among the last ten candidates of the groups interviewed. It’s amazing when you think about it.” She graduated from the University of Houston College of Optometry when she was 23 years old. She was the youngest graduate in her class.
After working for 15 years at Kelsey-Seybold and Cigna clinics, Rhonda realized there was no access to optometric care in Magnolia. Local residents had to travel many miles to seek eyecare. So, in 2000, she founded Magnolia Vision Center, becoming the first optometrist in the city. It was an enjoyable job. “I loved seeing the smiles on their faces as their vision cleared,” she says. She worked at her clinic until 2022, when, faced with the challenges of aging parents and the fun of grandmotherly duties, she decided it was time to retire. She had spent 38 years as an optometrist.
“I cried for a week when she told me she was going to leave, and that’s not an exaggeration,” says Charlie Solis, who works at Magnolia Vision Center. “She was more than my boss.” Heather Clark, who began working at the clinic about 15 years ago right after she graduated from high school, agrees. “She felt more like family,” she says.
Rhonda left her thriving optometric practice in the capable hands of Dr. Vincent Lam and Dr. David Chavez. To this day, she considers her work in establishing eyecare for the community of Magnolia as her life’s crowning achievement.
Rhonda realizes that she received immeasurable encouragement from her mother. As one of five children, Rhonda’s mom never had the opportunity to go to college, but she realized that having a college education was a great advantage in life. Knowing her two daughters were highly intellectual, she taught them such a gift was not to be wasted. “She told us, ‘You are fully capable. If this is what you want to do, you can do it,’” Rhonda says. “She was going to help us out in any way she could. The expectation was we would not miss this opportunity.” Both of her daughters got the message. (Rhonda’s sister is a successful attorney.)
Rhonda’s mother was instrumental in helping develop other talents, too. When Rhonda was eight years old, she flipped through the Sears Christmas Catalog and found something that looked like fun: a ventriloquist’s dummy. She had long been a fan of Shari Lewis and Lambchop, so she asked her parents for the dummy. She received it on Christmas morning, along with a book of instructions for inspiring ventriloquists. Right away, Rhonda began to practice. When her mother realized Rhonda was becoming fairly accomplished, she found a Houston-area instructor who could provide further instruction. Rhonda performed at many school and church events with help from her mother, who was a gifted scriptwriter. “She was very clever,” Rhonda says.
Rhonda ultimately progressed to the point she was invited to perform on a television program for Houston-area children, “Don Mahoney and Jeanna Clare with their Kiddie Troupers.” Along the way, Rhonda’s mother gifted her with a custom-made “upgrade”—a dummy named Alice Gossip. Rhonda still has Alice Gossip today.
Meanwhile, Rhonda’s mother loved music, so she obtained a piano and played it by ear. When Rhonda showed an aptitude for learning easy songs like “Chopsticks,” her mother enrolled her in lessons at a local piano studio. Interestingly, Rhonda’s teacher also played the accordion, and taught Rhonda this unusual skill as well. She remembers playing her accordion along with her cousin at her grandmother’s tiny church in the Heights area of Houston.
Rhonda took piano lessons for about three years while she was in elementary school, but then continued to teach herself. She copied favorite artist Floyd Cramer by repeatedly listening to a cassette tape. “I played it over and over and over again, picking out each and every note,” she says. Eventually, she could perform two songs: “On the Rebound” and “Last Date.” Unbelievably, she learned Floyd was the famous cousin of a friend’s mother, who contacted Floyd and asked him to send Rhonda an autographed picture. She still has it today.
When Rhonda was 13, she played regularly for her church’s youth choir; by the time she was 15, she was asked to play for a praise band that performed across Texas. Rhonda wanted to improve her skills, so when she was in high school, she took piano lessons from a classically-trained pianist, learning to play Beethoven, Chopin and Rachmaninoff. She sidelined her musical activities so she could focus on her college course, but afterwards, she accompanied the Houston Police Department Gospel Quartet for three years.
Music even played a part in introducing Rhonda to her husband. In 1986, at the encouragement of a friend, she attended a Gaither Vocal Band concert. There, she began to chat with the man in the adjacent seat. One thing led to another, Rhonda says, and she and Alfonso Saldivar have been married for nearly four decades. They have one son, Scott.
During the busy years when she was a working mother, Rhonda put her music on hold once again. Many years later, however, she dusted off the ivories. When she and Alfonso joined West Conroe Baptist Church a few years ago, her piano skills caught the attention of several members. Today, Rhonda is the pianist for the church’s 8 a.m. service. She also sometimes plays lively tunes on her accordion at small-group get-togethers.
Even though she is officially retired, Rhonda stays busy. She occasionally substitutes for other optometrists while they are away from their offices, and she helps out with her two grandchildren, (Aiden [13] and Liam [10]), her daughter Michelle’s sons. She even puts her nimble fingers to good use by crocheting temporary breast prostheses for women who are recovering from breast cancer surgery.
Being a church pianist, however, is one of her life’s biggest joys. “People will come up to me and tell me how a rendition of a song blessed and spoke to them,” she says. “I am my own worst critic. No matter how much I practice, I will never be a great virtuoso as I would like, but it’s a blessing to use my gift to be able to reach out to someone on some level.” Rhonda finds the job personally rewarding, but not in the traditional sense. She refuses payment for her talents, choosing to build her treasure in heaven rather than on earth.
Postcards Magazine
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