Then he got his first pair of contact lenses. "I had a huge correction," he says. It was an eye-opening experience. The quality of his life improved so dramatically that he knew then and there that he wanted to bring the same experiences to others

The 1962 Monte grad became an optometric physician - an eye doctor. In 1971, after completing his service in the Navy, he started practicing in the Yakima area. He returned to Montesano in 1999 when the family home became too much for his father, the late Heston Weyrich, to take care of on his own.

Today, Weyrich and his wife, Ellen, lease space at Wal-Mart in Aberdeen where they operate the Vision Clinic. And they live in the same home where Weyrich grew up - the 1909 Hewett House on North Talbot Street.

"I'm loving it now," he says of being back home. "Growing up I was like so many of us---I couldn't get out of town fast enough and now I don't know why I ever left."

For the past five years the Weyrichs have been developing the EyeCare WeCare Foundation, a nonprofit, 501c3 corporation that is bringing the gift of better vision to people in remote villages in the Philippines - Ellen's native country.

The couple met when Weyrich, who has volunteered his services to Christian organizations since 1990, was on a Mercy Ship mission in the Philippines.

Mercy Ships are exactly what they sound like- Christian-sponsored vessels that visit remote areas of the world bringing various medical experts to poor people.

Weyrich was on a mission in Africa in 1994 when the village he was serving was visited by a Mercy Ship. " It kind of stayed in my mind and it kind of just set on my heart to maybe do that someday," he says the same day he mentioned to his pastor that he felt called to find out more about the Mercy Ships, a packet arrive in the mail that there was a need for eye doctors aboard a ship that would be visiting the Philippines.

That's how he came to be on a vision ship and cross paths with a smart, pretty young woman could make red tape disappear because she worked for people at the highest levels of government, but who also seemed to know just about every barefoot villager who came to the traveling clinic seeking better sight.

The ship sailed without Weyrich, who surprised himself by being so smitten. After a divorce and settling in with his dad at Montesano, he hadn't really planned to fall in love. "I wasn't looking for a wife," he says "I went over to serve." But he made eight trips to the Philippines in 2000, both to continue bringing eye care to those the Mercy Ship didn't have to help and to court Ellen.

"It's going to be years before one of those ships is in the Philippines again," he says. The rules of courtship in the Philippines "are really hard." Weyrich adds. He was not allowed to take her anywhere unless they were chaperoned.

Ellen, a Roman Catholic surprised herself too. "In never dreamed I would marry a foreigner!" She laughs. She remembers Dr. Weyrich as being "very foreign" on first acquaintance as she helped orchestrate the Mercy Ships clinics in those early days. but as they became good friends "I can tell it is God's plan." She said.

They were married twice in 2001. In January in the states and April in the Philippines. Their religions may be different, but they share the same vision, so to speak, to use their God-given talents to help those who otherwise would not have access to eye care,

The result was creation of EyeCare WeCare Foundation in 2001. Its board of directors includes eye doctors and eye care professionals, including former Montesano resident Rick Baxter, an optometric physician who practices in Olympia.

The Weyrichs say they've learned through the trial and error of their previous mission work how to maximize the generosity of those who give and how to maximize the time of those willing to serve.

For example, many missions organize all the supplies they need and travel to the site with their equipment and supplies in tow. But that requires trips through customs and in the case of vision care, the equipment is delicate and doesn't ship well. There also can be long delays at boarder crossings. "You can lose so much time if things get held up at customs." Ellen Weyrich says.

Through EyeCare WeCare, the Weyrichs organize the supplies and ship them in advance to the Philippines. Her Knowledge and background in the Filipina government has been a godsend.

The first shipment went to the Philippines in August 2004- a 20-foot   container full of used eyeglasses, medical and optical equipment. Many of the eyeglasses came to them through the Kiwanis, conducts an active second-hand eyeglass campaign.

Under the auspices of the new foundation, they hired and trained an individual to evaluate and sort the donated eyeglasses so that they would be ready upon arrival of eye doctors and other eye care professionals.

The equipment, which can be quite delicate, is stored by EyeCare WeCare in the Philippines, but sometimes the storage is less than Ideal, Ellen Weyrich said, such as an old house no one is using, an empty classroom at a school. "wherever we can find."

One of their goals is to raise funds for a mobile eye-care van (think Bookmobile or Smile Mobile) so the delicate equipment is portable without having to be packed and unpacked at each village. Such a vehicle will make it possible for EyeCare givers to visit the remotest-of-remote villages, the couple says.

"We want to go to the people because many of the villagers simply have no money to even get to a clinic," Ellen Weyrich says. That's if their village is even served by a bus.

Another goal is to someday build an optical laboratory in the Philippines to manufacture eyeglasses for people whose prescription needs can't be filled from the donated eyeglass supply.

It took several years to get the non-profit organization fully up and running and sanctioned by the IRS. The first full-blown EyeCare WeCare vision mission was conducted last July. Weyrich say more than 100 patients a day.

In January, the second mission was completed and they're heralding it as a huge success. "We worked out all the bugs this time and it went off without a hitch,"  Again more than 100 patients a day were seen.

Over the six days they conducted clinics on Negros Occidental Island, more that 700 indigents were seen for eye examinations, 674 pairs of donated spectacles were dispensed, 50 bottles of eye medicine were dispensed and 84 patients were referred to participation local doctors for cataract surgery.

But the highlight of the January trip was able to do for Myra Amar. They Weyrichs had met her the previous summer when she was guided into the first Eye-Care clinic by her mother.

The doctor could see right away that eyeglasses weren't going to solve Myra's problem. She had been blind since the birth of her fourth child, and he suspected traumatic cataracts. It doesn't matter how many free pairs of eyeglasses you have to give away if the patient can't see at all.

Weyrich set about trying to find a qualified specialist willing to help and even accompanied her on visits to specialists. They Located Dr. Miquel Sarabia, a Filipina ophthalmologist. He agreed to try surgery on one of her eyes but couldn't promise anything. The surgery was performed in January.

Dr. Sarabia called the Weyrichs, who by this time were back in Montesano, to report that when the bandages came off the young mother, she was jumping up and down and hugging everyone in the room because she could see again and would be able to watch her children grow up.

"Our main focus is free eye glasses and eye exams,"  Weyrich said. " But when someone like Myra comes along it gives everyone joy to be able to help. It is a blessing."

Instead of a man on a mission, Weyrich has become a man with a mission.

"God has put something in my heart for the Filipino people," he said.

The EyeCare WeCare Foundation operates out of the Weyrich Home in Montesano. For more information www.eyecarewecare.org, write to 304 N. Talbot St., Montesano, WA 98562 or call 249-2243

Dr. James Weyrich examines a patient during the EyeCare WeCare mission to the Philippines in January while others wait patiently.