Dixie Eyecare & Contact Lens Center has the longest continuous operating history of any independent optometry practice in St. George. Dr. Jerry Keyes founded it in 1973 — the year before Gerald Ford became president, four years before the city's population crossed ten thousand. In 1999, when Dr. Keyes retired, he passed the practice to Dr. Brent Croft, a Southern College of Optometry graduate who relocated it in 2003 to its current state-of-the-art suite on St. George's Tabernacle Street corridor.
The ownership has been kept within an informal professional family ever since. Dr. Michael Croft — a Southern College of Optometry graduate who completed a missionary assignment in Spain — joined in 2006. Dr. Jason Foote joined in 2018 after completing a residency at the Memphis VA Hospital specializing in ocular disease — a specialty training designation that the practice notes makes him one of only two residency-trained optometrists in St. George. Both Dr. Brent Croft and Dr. Foote have participated in humanitarian cataract surgery trips to Mexico.
Services run the full clinical optometry range: comprehensive exams, contact lens fitting including specialty contacts for keratoconus and other irregular corneal conditions, ocular disease management, and dry eye treatment. The practice is at 301 E Tabernacle Street, Suite 101.
**Verification notes** Website live; 1973 founding confirmed on About page; Dr. Keyes as founder, Dr. Brent Croft as owner since 1999, Dr. Michael Croft and Dr. Jason Foote confirmed on site; address 301 E Tabernacle St Ste 101 consistent across Yelp and Yellow Pages.