Catholic Business Special Issue/Optometrist sets his sights on helping Skaggs Catholic Center schools

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The Abundo family, Roland, Catherine and children Kyle and Ellie, pictured here at St. John the Baptist Parish's Festival of Roses, have all been very involved with the Skaggs Catholic schools.

MIDVALE — Optometrist Roland Abundo is a busy man. A small business owner, he spends many hours helping his patients at Abundo Eye Care. But he has never been too busy for his two children, Kyle, 18 and Ellie, 15, or to help out at their schools. For the past four years he has also co-chaired the Catholic Business Network, which gives generously to the Catholic schools.

The Abundo children came to the Skaggs Catholic schools from public school after Juan Diego Catholic High School football coach Joe Colosimo expressed interest in having Kyle, then in eighth grade, play for the Soaring Eagle.

Even before Colosimo’s suggestion, Abundo and his wife, Catherine, had been considering enrolling the children at Juan Diego and St. John the Baptist schools, he said. The children were less than enthused when he mentioned the idea while they were out to dinner celebrating a birthday. Both cried, he said. Afterward, Ellie threw up her meal.  The incident has become a family story of legend, but fortunately, making the move has been a very positive thing for both kids.

“Kyle had a great four years at Juan Diego (he is now a freshman at Occidental College in Beaver Rock, Calif.), and Ellie is having a great experience,” Abundo said.

After the children were enrolled in the schools, their parents discovered a strong sense of community and volunteerism among the families there, Abundo said.

Catherine Abundo, a special education resource teacher with Canyons School District, taught religious education at St. John the Baptist Middle School for several years.

“Before you know it, you’re there all the time,” Roland Abundo said. “We understand it’s time to take your seat in terms of volunteering. … Now it’s just simply our turn. We all have to take part.”

The owner of a 1964 Volkswagen microbus, Roland Abundo is often seen in it around the Skaggs Catholic Center campus and has entered it in local car shows held there. He even lent the bus to the school a couple of years ago for the Homecoming dance that had a retro theme.

“That van has brought me a lot more friends than I could ever have imagined,” Abundo said.

Abundo has been and continues to be a volunteer parent for a lot of his children’s activities like football and dance, Juan Diego Catholic High School Principal Galey Colosimo said.

 “Roland has been supportive of many fundraising and advancement initiatives at Juan Diego and has helped to grow its endowment,” Colosimo said.

Abundo serves as a member of the high school board of education; he and other board members help Colosimo work to show the broader community that the high school is not just for Catholic kids, but a school where any child can receive a great education in an environment that upholds Christian values, Abundo said.

“Going to Catholic school made a huge difference in our kids,” he said. “It has reaffirmed our whole Catholic belief.”’

 “He really values the education they are receiving,” said his friend and Catholic Business Network co-chair, Tricia Bruggeman. “He is way more passionate about our golf tournament school fundraiser since they started attending Catholic schools. He saw the community as a huge help in raising his children. It’s something he has mentioned over and over again.”

Abundo, who received his doctorate from South California College of Optometry, Fullerton, said he was drawn to the medical field and chose to go into optometry so he could help people without having to endure the high demands placed on medical doctors.

“With optometry, unlike many medical professionals who see the gravely ill, it’s usually an easy turnaround to fix what’s wrong with your patients,” he said. “You get to see the fruits of your work much faster.”

Abundo estimates he sees close to 2,500 patients a year at the Midvale office he has operated for the past 24 years.

Bruggeman said as an eye doctor Abundo goes above and beyond for his patients, seeing them in the evenings and on weekends where necessary.  

One evening when her sister was experiencing vision problems, Bruggeman called Abundo, who responded immediately and got her sister the help she needed.

“He saved my sister’s sight,” Bruggeman said.