Ohinemuri Regional History Journal 44, September 2000
A well known Paeroa resident, Allan George Bott, died on 28 June 1999, at the age of 68 years.
Mr Bott was one of the original lecturers at Auckland's School of Optometry and the first lecturer in contact lens fitting. Before he moved to New Zealand in 1963 with his wife Jean, Mr Bott lived in England and Australia. Mr Bott served on the New Zealand Association of Optometrists' National Council of New Zealand, the Contract [Contact ? - E] Lens Society of New Zealand and the New Zealand Optometric Vision Research Foundation. He was also the first president for the Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind and served on the board for 15 years, and on the Thames Hospital Board for six years. He was a Jaycee and became a marriage guidance counsellor in 1961. He brought the first guide dogs to New Zealand from Australia in 1963.
Mr Bott and his wife moved to Paeroa in 1965, buying an existing practice and opening another in Waihi two years later. He retired in 1989. In 1995 he, along with Eion and Ann Scarrow, formed the Prostate Awareness and Support Society. He is survived by his wife, Jean, three children and five grandchildren.