Gerry Haines grew up on a farm located in the center of the northern border of Missouri. He graduated from Livonia High School as Valedictorian at age sixteen and left home to seek his fortune. After moving to Moline, Illinois, he got a job as an apprentice manufacturing optician. During the next five years he completed the apprenticeship, attended college at night and married a wonderful young lady, Janet Robb. They moved to Chicago so he could attend Illinois College of Optometry. He obtained his Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Optometry Degrees. They moved to Freeport, Illinois where he joined an optometric practice and spent the next 40 years practicing optometry. During those years they had two beautiful and delightful daughters, traveled the world, and acquired some great and vast experiences. Dr. Haines taught wine appreciation classes for a number of years, co-authored a book on wine appreciation, spent a lot of time with photography, and adopted the hobby of tracing his family history. He is now working on producing a number of books dealing with his and Jan's genealogy.