Article by Liz McCue, assistant director of communications and media relations
Images by Brad Mellema, Grand Island Tourism executive director
In January, Unity Eye Centers celebrated a major milestone — the opening of a brand new, state-of-the-art facility in Grand Island, Nebraska. Unity partnered with Allen Capital Group to build the two-story facility, which the two businesses share.
But the story of Unity Eye Centers began far earlier, even before five of the optometrists that work at Unity’s multiple Nebraska practices completed their bachelor’s degrees at Doane.
It all started when several Grand Island graduates met at Doane. Mark Allen ’99 (CEO and co-founder of Allen Capital Group) attended Northwest High School with Chad Hudnall ’01, and helped recruit Chad to be a Tiger football player. At Doane, Chad met Kara Fiorilli ’01 Hudnall (who came to Doane from Denver) and Josh Conner ’01 — who was also from Grand Island.
A little earlier, Jeff Pape ’94 and Stephanie Quandt ’95 Pape graduated from Northwest, as well. And a few years later, so did Chris Rupp ’04. All three knew Hudnall in some capacity, mostly through connections between their parents.
Chad, Josh, Jeff and Chris all knew they wanted to go into optometry by the time they arrived on campus.
“My dad and uncle were both in the eyecare industry, so I was able to see the profession up close,” Jeff said. “I liked the aspect of providing healthcare while also being involved in retail with the frames and lenses.”
Chad had always been fascinated by the profession, too. But during middle school, he had a serious eye injury that amplified that interest.
“I felt after that experience that optometry was what I wanted to do,” Chad said.
He and Josh both went on to get their doctor of optometry from Indiana University. The idea of opening a practice together had been in their minds since their Doane days. But although they took separate paths after receiving their doctorates, the thought stuck with them. A few years before the pandemic, Josh joined Family Eyecare Center in GI, where Chad was already a partner.
“We had long discussed the possibility of one day becoming partners, and it worked out that Josh and his wife, Lynda, also an optometrist, could move back and join our practice,” Chad said.
In 2020, they joined with Authier Miller Pape Eyecare in Norfolk and with EyeCare Associates of Columbus, creating Unity Eye Centers as an umbrella for all three practices. Now, Unity Eye Centers encompasses five practices serving five central and north central Nebraska communities.
Most recently, they added Ethan Rockwell — a 2019 graduate of Doane who began seeing Jeff for eyecare when he was three years old, and later worked at Authier Miller Pape Eyecare as a way to boost his intended application to medical school.
“Working as a technician, I quickly discovered there was much more to eyecare than the glasses and contacts side I had seen and was amazed by the variety of disease optometrists could treat, the technology and imaging that was available and the complexity of the visual system,” Ethan said.
He ended up getting his doctor of optometry instead of medicine.
“I think that the fact we all have our Doane background as well as many of us having roots in Grand Island, it just fits very well,” Chad said.
