Time. It is a precious thing, the greatest gift you can give and it flies. Three reasons Jack Middleton doesn't waste his. He, instead, spends his time doing what he loves. So what is it that makes him tick? Clocks! Many, many clocks. Most of Jack's timekeepers are more than 100 years old. He cleans, fixes and displays them all in his Carson City home. Jack estimates he has about 100. "Easily. You trade a few, you sell a few."
Jack fell in love with clocks in the 1960s. He's especially fond of the sounds when they strike, tick and chime. "But when you have as many as I do, this one's faster than this one. The only clock that's right is the only that's not running." If anyone can fix them - he can. Jack knows the inner-workings of practically every make and model. "After you've done it so often, you know, they're pretty much the same." It is time-consuming and meticulous work. Jack does a beautiful job, especially when you consider this. "Now is there braille on there?” I ask him at his work bench. “Yes. That's how they're marked." The focus of Jack's longtime passion is one he's never actually seen; at least, not with his eyes. "You can see stuff with your ears. You can see stuff with your fingers."
Jack is blind. He was born with congenital cataracts. "I had gobs of surgeries and all kinds of stuff." Early on he saw barely enough to get around. However, he still managed to graduate from Purdue and earned a Master's degree guidance and counseling. "In college, I used readers and that's how I met my wife." He was even recognized by President Eisenhower for his accomplishments. He went on to work 30 years in the mental health field. Plus, he's personally restored classic cars - his other collection. "And you work on them?” He answers, “Oh yeah. I have a Model A in the garage I took completely apart - every nut, bolt and screw."
Jack does it all with his buddy wrangler, who never leaves his side. No, life isn't always easy for him. “But that's the way it is." However, instead of feeling sorry for himself, Jack's learned to see things differently. He may be blind, but he sees the beauty that surrounds him and he refuses to let time - doing what he loves - slip away. "It's a sighted world. You gotta learn to live with what you get and live with what you got."
