Dr. Antonia Marie (Stoll) Orfield

Orfield, Dr. Antonia Marie (Stoll) 67, of Somerville, Massachusetts, passed away on April 26th of breast cancer. Born in Minneapolis on December 14, 1941, daughter of Eva Swenson and Alfred Anthony Stoll, she graduated from Paige School and Washburn High School prior to heading east to attend Smith College. Her central interests were her three daughters and their families, and her career as a pioneer in behavioral optometry -- the prevention and treatment of a variety of vision problems and the enhancement of visual skills by nonsurgical, therapeutic methods. She was a former member of the faculty of the New England College of Optometry, and practiced at the Harvard University Health Service and privately in Cambridge. Earlier in her career Dr. Orfield operated a vision clinic at Mather Elementary School in Dorchester, Massachusetts documenting the improvement of children's grades and test scores with vision-related remedies to learning problems. Her findings were published in several articles and in her 2007 book, Eyes for Learning: Preventing and Curing Vision Related Learning Problems. She also coordinated a national conference on this issue at Harvard Graduate School of Education which led to a special issue of the Journal of Behavioral Optometry. Dr. Orfield received her masters in education from the University of Chicago and her doctor of optometry degree from Illinois College of Optometry. She began her career as a teacher but took 14 years for full-time mothering of her children, before deciding to train as an optometrist after experiencing a stunning cure of her severe myopia, through her own treatment by a behavioral optometrist. She was a fellow of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development and active participant in professional and civic organizations. She is survived by daughters, Amy Jacques, Sonia Orfield and Rosanna Cavanagh, their husbands Ralph Jacques, Adam Shah and Joseph Cavanagh, respectively; her grandchildren, Joseph Paul Cavanagh, Sylvie Anne Jacques, Luke Thomas Cavanagh, and Ava Antonia Orfield-Shah, and her brother, Stephen Stoll. A Memorial Mass will be celebrated on Monday, May 18 at 1:00 pm at St. Catherine of Genoa Church, 179 Summer Street, Somerville, Mass.

Published on May 16, 2009