For Dr. Richard E. Jewell, Cedartown has been and always will be the perfect place to live and work.

Dr. Richard E. Jewell will be retiring as of Aug. 28, after 52 years of service to the Cedartown community.

His office, located in town at 306 South College Street, next to Litesey Funeral Home, is one of the select remaining testaments to Cedartown’s timeless small business pardigm. His office — the former home of Albert Moore — is a quaint, nostalgic slice of classic Cedartown, inside and out.

Richard E. Jewell was born in Sanford, North Carolina on March 15, 1928. He attended the University of North Carolina for two years and graduated from Southern College of Optometry in 1951. He married June Adams of Memphis, Tenn. the day after his graduation, and had two children; Becky Sweat of Cedartown and Perry Jewell of Peachtree City. June passed away in 1972, and Dr. Jewell married Beverly Hammond of Rome in 1978.

Jewell and his family moved to Cedartown in April 1957, where he began to practice optometry at his first location on Main Street. He relocated the business to its current location in 1974.

“I’ve loved Cedartown since the day I came here,” Jewell said. “It’s just a wonderful town full of wonderful people. I’ve lived other places, but never like Cedartown. It’s always been the place for me.”

As a member of the First United Methodist Church, Jewell has held all offices on the Administrative Board of the church at various times. Jewell also played the organ for the church for 15 years.

Jewell has served as a member of several boards, including the Board of Trustees of Commercial National Band and later C&S Bank. He also served on Polk School Board of Administration, Cherokee Country Club, an is still a member of Polk General Hospital Board of Trustees — a position he has held for nearly 40 years.

When asked about Cedartown 52 years ago, Jewell just laughs. “It really hasn’t changed that much.”

He fondly remembers the incredible welcome that he and his family received when they first arrived.

He smiles on memories of his first home on Victoria Avenue where Mr. and Mrs. Gus Henderson invited the newly relocated Jewells to a backyard cookout. The Hendersons introduced the Jewell family to neighbors and left Jewell with a Cedartown-styled open invitation that he never forgot: “Anytime you see smoke from across the street at our house, just come on over … and bring your meat!”

“The past 52 years have been a great blessing for the Jewell family,” he said. “ (I) love my patients as as if they are family, and (I) have been very blessed with two great and devoted employees for a long period of time.”

The small office on College Street would not be complete without office administrator and self-proclaimed jack-of-all-trades, Marsha Fincher, who has been with Jewell for more than twenty years and will also retire in August.

Margie Reid came to work for Dr. Jewell in 1980 and currently serves as the office’s optometric assistant. Both ladies praise Dr. Jewell’s continued support of the community and enjoy reminiscing about times past.

After retirement, Jewell says that he plans to work in his yard and spend time at his ‘little place on Lake Weiss’.

“I don’t have many hobbies,” he laughed.

Professionally, he hopes to sell the business to a young, upcoming optometrist. Jewell hopes that a fresh face can keep his life’s work flourishing, and says that a young person could come in straight out of school and stand to make a lot of money.

Jewell has been an intergral member of the community since 1957. His service to the community included a brief period in the army from 1952-1954, where he also served as an optometrist.

“I don’t think any business has been in Cedartown as long as Dr. Jewell’s,” laughed lifetime resident Dick Martin.

Jewell, ever composed and in good humor, believes he has truly found his home in this small town that has served to provide friends and clientele for over half a century, and considers himself blessed with ‘good health and a great community’ in which to continue his life’s next steps.

“The greatest thing about Cedartown are the people who live in it,” Jewell says with a smile. “Thanks for all the time.”

Medical records are available for pickup at his office during regular office hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 306 S. College Street.