Dr. William A. Carriger Jr

William Allen Carriger, Jr. O.D. (78) died of Parkinson’s Disease on Saturday, September 27, 2025 at his home surrounded by his family. He was born on February 3, 1947 in Chicago, Illinois, to Zelma (Murphy) Carriger and William Allen Carriger, two native Kansans temporarily displaced by William Senior’s time in optometry school.

Bill grew up in Topeka and earned his bachelor’s degree from Washburn University. He went on to optometry school at Indiana University where he met Diana Liu at North Central church of Christ. They married in Bloomington, Indiana on December 17, 1972. Bill graduated #1 in his class and joined the I.U. faculty as Director of Screening Services, taking teams of optometry students throughout the state of Indiana to do examinations for schoolchildren. In 1977, they moved back to Kansas and opened a private practice, Drs. Carriger & Carriger, with offices in Topeka and Rossville. In addition to serving the Northeast Kansas community, the Drs. Carriger also volunteered their expertise to Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (V.O.S.H.), providing free eye exams, referrals, and glasses to communities in Bolivia, Thailand, and five trips to Honduras.

Bill loved outdoor activities all year long: waterskiing, snow skiing, fishing, and hunting elk, deer, pheasant, quail. He was an American Canoe Association-certified instructor and took more than thirty wilderness canoe-camping trips to Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada with Diana, family, friends, and Girl Scouts. On days off, he spent time on his farmland in Wabaunsee County, including cultivating tallgrass prairie. He received a conservation award for his work in 2015.

He was able to combine his passion and expertise for the Kansas landscape with his most important community, the church of Christ, Christian camps, and especially Topeka’s Central church of Christ where he taught Bible classes, and served as a deacon and later as an elder. After decades as a Christian camp counselor and then camp director, work began in 2001 on Tallgrass Christian Camp near Harveyville, KS. Bill was instrumental in the design and construction of the camp as well as acquiring and donating the land. Bill served as the inaugural middle school camp director.

He is survived and deeply missed by his wife, Diana, children, Michelle and her husband, Damian, Greg and his wife, Shelby, and grandchildren Nigel, Mya, Solomon, Stella, Seraphina, and Genevieve, and sister Mary Gardner. If Bill Carriger touched your life in any way, please hug a loved one, catch up with a friend and try to make them laugh, or go outside into nature and take a deep breath.

Please join the family at a memorial celebration of Bill’s life at Central church of Christ, 1250 SW College Ave, Topeka, KS 66604 on Friday, October 10, 2025, 1pm. In lieu of flowers, consider contributing to Tallgrass Christian Camp: tallgrasschristiancamp.org or mail to Tallgrass Christian Camp, P.O. Box 23085, Overland Park, KS 66283.

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