Dr. Baxter is a native of the Pacific Northwest. He was born and raised in Aberdeen, graduating from Weatherwax High School, before going to Walla Walla where he attended and graduated from Whitman College. He did his doctoral training at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, graduating in 1983.
He then moved to Olympia and established Vision Health in September of 1983. Dr. Baxter enjoys providing primary eye care to patients of all ages. One of the greatest blessings of having been in practice for so many years now is having had the privilege of caring for multiple generations within the same family. Dr. Baxter enjoys all aspects of primary care, but he has a special interest in the medical management of glaucoma, diabetic eye disease, and macular degeneration.
Dr. Baxter has been married to his wife, Janet, since 1979 and they have three grown children, Stephanie, John and Megan. The kids are all married and have blessed them with 7 grandchildren. For the time being, they are all living here in the Olympia area and one of their long-standing family traditions is Sunday Family Dinner. So, pretty much every Sunday evening there are 18 Baxter’s gathered around the table for food and fellowship and it gets pretty crazy at times. They understand that this won’t last forever, but they’ll enjoy it while it does!
Dr. Baxter’s outside interests include spending time with his family, sports of all kinds, especially tennis, as well as hiking and mountain climbing, and he is actively involved in his church. He has done many eye care missions trips over the years, including multiple trips to Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Romania, Bulgaria, and Samoa. He loves being able to use his skills to help those in need. He has been the director of Eyecare Services for the Olympia Union Gospel Mission’s eye clinic since 2010. He enjoys working with Special Olympics by doing vision screening for the athletes. Dr. Baxter is a member of the American Optometric Association and the Optometric Physicians of Washington and is past-president of the Olympic Optometric Society.