Star Profile
Dr. Kelly Hynes of 20!20 Vision
By John Temple Ligon
Temple@TheColumbiaStar.com

Dr. Kelly Hynes

Kelly Scott Hynes was born in Columbia at Providence Hospital. Her father was the second employee hired by the Wilbur Smith headquarters office in Columbia. Her mother worked at the Five Points Sears, what became the Food Lion site on Harden Street. They lived on Monroe Street, where they are now, between Harden and Queen. Hynes recently bought herself a house on the same block.

Hynes took the Shandon kid's classic route: kindergarten at Emily Douglas Park, A.C. Moore Elementary, Hand Middle School, and Dreher High School.

When she was 12, Hynes shared an afternoon paper route, tossing The Columbia Record from the back of a MoPed while Arthur Tompkins, her neighbor, steered. In high school, Hynes ran and hanged with a tight circle that included Kristin Davis, as in "Sex in the City."

For college, she attended USC, earning her bachelor of science in biology. She moved immediately from undergraduate to graduate school, entering USC's PhD program in anatomy at the medical school, making Hynes the second on record to do so.

Hynes's dissertation, "A Comparison of the Osteoinductive Ability of Intramembranous and Endochondral Bone," reported on her research to identify the precise chemical structure of a protein believed to carry the genetic blueprint for promoting the growth of "flat" bones, such as the face or the skull. USC applied for a patent to protect the research findings.

Upon gaining her PhD, Hynes stayed with the medical school for her MD, another four years. In this case she was the medical school's first PhD/MD graduate. While in medical school, she taught physiology and anatomy at Midlands Tech.

Her transitional year of internship was spent with the Greenville Hospital System. For the next three years Hynes was in Augusta with the Medical College of Georgia, working on her residency in ophthalmology.

Out of school and out of her residency, Hynes went to work with Drs. Keisler and Walters in private practice in Lexington. On weekends, she worked part- time at LensCrafters in Harbison, learning the retail side of the eye business. She bought the Harbison LensCrafters, but she soon tired of the commute from her Monroe Street home and the distance from her children.

Last September, ophthalmologist Hynes moved into her present quarters called 20!20 Vision on Blossom Street, between Master Cleaners and Saluda Avenue, where she and her staff run a thriving retail optician's operation besides her medical practice. On display are frames from stylish labels in current demand, such as Calvin Klein, Coach, Deneuve, Ermenegildo Zegna, Gucci, Guess, Tommy Bahama, and Tourneau, to name maybe half of the inventory.

Hynes has two children. Christopher is six and in the first grade at Rosewood, and he reads on a fourth- grade level. His sister Caroline is five, still in kindergarten at Shandon Presbyterian, but already reading. Hynes and her children share a long- coated chihuahua and an oversized cat.

For fun, Hynes takes her children boating and shrimping. Recently, there was a return to the Nantahala River. Tennis, snow skiing, and rollerblading take up her time when she can manage care for her children. Her reading includes Nicholas Sparks.

When entering Hynes's 20!20 Vision on Blossom Street, the most imposing piece of furniture presents itself, an old upright piano. Her friend was contracted to demolish a building near Gaffney, and he called to ask for advice on what to do with an upright piano left in the condemned building.