About H & H Optical and Hearing
My name is Donna Layden and I am the Office Manager and Co-Owner of H&H Optical & Hearing Center, with my husband Clark Layden. We are located at 50-3rd Avenue East in Drumheller, just east of the Napier Theater.
Our office opened in 1981 which, at that time was owned by Karl & Helga Hauck. They had an established business on Ross Street in Red Deer called Hauck Opticians. Clark’s best friend, Dick Huebner, was an employee in the Red Deer office, so Clark decided to join the staff and train to become an Optician with Dick. To obtain your Optical Dispensing license back then, the course was completely by correspondence/apprenticeship and took 2 years to complete.
Clark and I were married in August 1975 and by March 1976 we moved to Stettler so Clark could manage the new office opened by Karl and Helga, also called Hauck Opticians. After Clark received his Opticians license in 1978, he moved on to take his training to become a Hearing Aid Practitioner, which was a 5 year correspondence/apprenticeship course.
H&H Optical was opened in partnership between Karl & Helga Hauck, and 4 of their most trusted and competent employees. Those employees were, Tom Todd, Dick Huebner, Dale Ward, and Clark Layden. By 1984 it was decided that Clark and Donna would move from Stettler to Drumheller to try and grow the business with Clark as the new Manager/Owner of H&H Optical. In the late 80s, the four partners purchased H&H Optical from Karl and Helga, then Clark and Dick bought out the other two partners. In 1991 I became a licensed Optician. Dick wanted to purchase an Optical Lab selling eyeglass lenses, in Red Deer, so asked if Clark and I would consider purchasing his half of H&H Optical. Clark and I became the sole owners of H&H Optical and by this time Clark was also a licensed Hearing Aid Practitioner.
When we opened our doors in 1981, we had Dr. Herb Matthews and his associate, Dr. Hank Drexler, both from Red Deer, come to Drumheller to provide eye exams which were booked through H&H Optical. Their office was located above Laval’s Clothing store, down the hall from Marg’s Coiffures. Eventually, in 1990, Dr.’s Matthews and Drexler decided not to travel to Drumheller any longer, so 3 other Dr.’s took their place. These 3 Optometrists alternated flying their airplanes to work in Drumheller once a week. Dr. Leinweber from Red Deer, Dr. Jones from Calgary, and Dr. Erlandson, from Lethbridge. H&H did an addition to the building and increased the square footage from 300 to 1000 square feet. This addition included an eye exam bay, an in-house lab, and increased frame displays.
