Harold Rowe, O.D.
I attended Messiah College in Grantham, PA, graduating cum laude with a B.A. in Science in 1978. I continued my education at the Illinois College of Optometry, and in 1985 served an externship at the former Fort Sheridan Army Base in Illinois. In 1985 I graduated from Illinois College of Optometry and moved back to my home in Maryland. I started practicing Optometry in 1986 as a self-employed optometrist when I joined an already established practice, until selling my practice in 2017.
Since then, I have worked part-time as an employee in retail optometry and most recently have been employed with Darrell M. Sipe Opticians and Hearing Aids in Hanover, PA for the past three years.
(Submitted by Harold Rowe)
I am a member of the Maryland Optometric Association and the American Optometric
Association. I provide comprehensive eye care and refractive services.
I enjoy outdoor sports, running, gardening, farming, and am active in local church and non-profit ministries. I am married and have two adult children and four grandchildren. My wife and I live in Carroll County, Maryland.
I was introduced to eye care and Optometry, when at age 16 I had trouble passing my first Motor Vehicle vision test. That introduction spurred my interest in eye care and helped me discover a path to this very rewarding career.
Matthew L. Burr, O.D.
Born in the mid ’60s, I grew up the third of four children in an army family. We lived in many interesting places, including South Korea and Germany. In the U.S., I’ve lived in Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
My father retired in 1983 to Carlisle and I attended Shippensburg University, graduating in 1987 with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications.
(Submitted by Harold Rowe)
I took a job at the local Pearle Vision Center, thinking it would keep me going until I found a job in the field I had studied for. Eventually, I felt that this type of work was more to my liking than journalism, and I ended up working as an optician and manager for five years, while taking extra college courses on the side, to prepare for optometry school.
By 1992, I had completed the courses needed for admission to optometry school and passed the entrance exams, and that fall I started at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry in Philadelphia.
While in school I received special training in pediatric eye care at The Eye Institute, ocular disease training at Hahnemann University Hospital, and performed laser procedures at the Hafter Light and Laser Institute.
After graduation in May of 1996, I worked for four years for an optometrist in private practice in Carlisle. I eventually realized that the headache of owning my own business was not for me.
Since then I’ve worked at various optical shops in the South Central Pennsylvania area. This allows me to spend most of my time caring for patients, and relatively little on office management and paperwork.
I live in Boiling Springs. I’ve got a daughter who lives in Australia, and two sons who are at college, as well as a cat and a pug.
In my spare time I like working on my car, astronomy, listening to music, skiing, history, collecting ancient roman coins, riding my motorcycles, and powered paragliding.
Saundra M. Austin-Biltz, OD
Born and raised in New Jersey, I attended Upsala College on a full scholarship majoring in Biology and graduating in 1981.
Married in 1984 , I moved to Delaware where I attended Pennsylvania College of Optometry graduating in 1989.
(Submitted by Harold Rowe)
Upon graduating Optometry school, I opened a private practice in Newark, Delaware and raised my growing family until we relocated to Pittsburgh PA in 2002.
In Pittsburgh, I worked as an optometrist in various roles including becoming a National Board examiner for emerging Optometry students. I also became very active in medical missions travelling the world extensively, providing eyecare services and training eye care professionals in five continents.
In 2021, now empty nesters, my husband and I relocated to Gettysburg to be closer to our three grandchildren Joshua 6, Isabel 3, and Azrael 3.
In my spare time I enjoy traveling, ministry work and babysitting our grandkids.
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