A barefoot kid in wartime Hawaii. A teenage DJ with a gift for words. A pre-med student on a bicycle in postwar Europe. A young doctor building an eye care empire from scratch. A recovered alcoholic who took to the skies and the sea, chasing purpose across islands and continents. A healer who gave up profit to restore sight in the most remote corners of the world.
John Corboy’s five-part memoir unfolds like a string of turning points — unexpected, unfiltered, and unforgettable. From the quiet chaos of family life to the front lines of global mission work, his story moves with momentum and meaning. Each chapter reveals a man in motion: adapting, expanding, refining what it means to live a good and useful life.
The journey is real. The voice is unmistakable. The impact is lasting.
Walk alongside John throughout this book series and experience the full depth of his journey—each chapter revealing new challenges, victories, and moments of transformation. Only by reading them all do you grasp the true scale of his resilience and the profound lessons woven through his life. In doing so, you’ll uncover inspiration to face your own struggles, find hope in hardship, and discover the strength to shape your own story with courage and clarity.
Order now and begin your journey alongside John today.
About John Medford Corboy, MD
John M. Corboy grew up in Hawaii, attending first Punahou then St.Louis School. He completed his premedical training at Loyola University in Chicago and earned his MD from the University of Illinois, Chicago. After completing his internship at Rush-Presbyterian Hospital, he served in the USPHS as medical officer for the US Coast Guard Air Station Clinic in San Diego and for two years as Medical Officer in Charge (MOC) of San Ysidro Border Quarantine Station.
He served his Ophthalmology residency with Washinton University in St.Louis and the USPHS Hospital in San Francisco.
Returning to Hawaii he practiced Ophthalmology with Kaiser Permanente Medical Group, and in 1975 he opened his Hawaiian Eye Center as Surgeon-Director, which grew to a statewide network of nine offices. In 1979 Corboy created the annual Hawaiian Eye Meeting, which still serves the profession today after forty years. On his retirement after thirty years in ophthalmic practice, he gave a further twenty-two years to hundreds of charity medical missions worldwide and Asian training programs through his Hawaiian Eye Foundation.
After his second retirement, from the foundation, he has returned to his interest in writing by describing all the fun and joy he has experienced in life in the five-volume series The Life and Times of “Little Johnny Corboy.”