Today's Chiropractic Lifestyle

Discussion Board

Survey

My Profession

Chiropractors from the Greatest Generation
By Sherry Jackson

When you’re in the midst of passionately enjoying your chosen profession and you are making an absolute difference in the lives of others, why stop and retire? Living completely and enthusiastically chiropractic, minus retirement, might be the secret to a long healthy life.

The following four chiropractor pioneers have a few things in common other than their profession. They connect and care deeply about patients and the truth of chiropractic. They see no purpose in retiring. They let themselves be ruled by their passion, emotions and belief in the truth. Learn wisdom and sage advice from some positively dedicated practicing chiropractors that blazed the path for those today.

Dr. Thomas Langley, 100
Dr. Thomas Langley reached a career milestone last December when he turned 100 years old. He apparently became the oldest living chiropractor in the world. “I wanted to practice longer than anyone else,” says Langley. It’s official according to both the International Chiropractors Association and Georgia Chiropractors Association. Langley proudly has a plaque in his office to illustrate his accomplishment. “You get started and you get wound up,” says Langley, who has practiced for 69 years in Dalton, Ga. “I don’t have any stopping sense and I don’t know of anything else I’d rather do than play better golf. The only thought of retiring briefly crossed my mind in 1980.”

Langley sees approximately eight patients a day on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. His patients aren’t limited to his long-time faithful. He gladly accepts walk-ins, as well. The small town of Dalton, which lies in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and is known as “The Carpet Capital of the World,” was recently abuzz about the possibility of Langley’s retirement since he turned 100. “We have patients who say they don’t know what they will do when Langley is no longer available to care for them. He has many long-time patients,” says Pat Jordan, his former assistant of 33 years, who was a patient before she worked for him. “His patients really depend on him.”

Despite reaching his goal, Langley doesn’t have future plans to retire. “It depends on how well I feel,” says Langley. “I like to help people feel better.”

In 1937, Langley moved to Dalton and opened his first office months after his graduation from Palmer College. Langley’s younger brother, Raymond, was a chiropractor and Palmer graduate, who inspired him. “I’d like to see the public know more about chiropractic,” says Langley, who was married for 60 years to Jessie Lee until death parted them. They have three daughters.

The profession has changed tremendously since the doctor first started practicing, but “I practice the same as I did in the beginning. You can’t tell how many adjustments a person will need. I tell my patients to come back when they feel like they need to. I tell them not to put off getting an adjustment when they need it, but I don’t want them coming to my office if they are feeling tip top.”

Langley’s advice to young chiropractors is simple, yet sound. “Try to help people and be kind to them. Make them like you and with good results, they will come back.”

Dr. Clair O’Dell, 90
Can you imagine having a burning desire to get out of bed and work every day since Sept. 20, 1937? Dr. Clair O’Dell, a 1936 graduate from the Palmer College of Chiropractic, can. “My mission 365 days a year is to advance chiropractic to everyone that I connect with,” says O’Dell, founder and director of the “World Queen of Posture Pageant,” an annual chiropractic event that ran from 1954-1968. The purpose of the pageant, sponsored by the Chiropractors of America, was to select a young lady with the straightest spine, perfect posture, poise and personality. O’Dell thought that if Americans could focus on the importance of postural fitness, then they could focus on the importance of chiropractic. The event not only brought worldwide attention to the profession, it eventually conveyed a political message. In 1967, the World Posture Queen visited the White House and O’Dell armed her with a mission to promote chiropractic to President Lyndon Johnson. At this time, Medicare did not contain a provision for chiropractic care.

O’Dell’s 69-year chiropractic journey has been filled with activism, accomplishments, accolades and awards. To highlight a few, he founded the American Chiropractic Association in 1962 and he was a charter member in the International Chiropractors Association. He was the first president of the Straight Chiropractic Academic Standards Association and he was listed in the first edition of “Who’s Who in Chiropractic International.” Also, he was instrumental in getting chiropractic licensing laws passed in Massachusetts, New York and Oklahoma. However, nothing was more important to the profession than the 15-year legal battle that he tirelessly spearheaded against the American Medical Association’s (AMA) plot to destroy the chiropractic profession. He was chairman of the National Chiropractic Anti-Trust Committee (NCAC) that brought a successful lawsuit against the AMA in 1974. “At that time, nobody believed the AMA could be whipped,” says O’Dell reflecting on the victory.

O’Dell and his wife of 69 years, Martha, have a personal philosophy that the luckiest/happiest person in the world has three things: 1) Something to do; 2) Someone to love; and 3) Something to look forward to.

Ever since 1934, when O’Dell, who was raised on a farm in Cass City, Mich., heard the six most important words spoken to him by a friend, “Why don’t you try a chiropractor” he has had ‘something to do.’ At the time, O’Dell’s father was seriously ill for more than two years. All medical treatments failed and the doctors had given up. Chiropractic not only entered his life, but it completely changed his life. After O’Dell returned home from school and saw his father walking in the barn after only a few weeks of chiropractic care, “My purpose in life had been handed to me on a silver plated platter.”

Since 1937, O’Dell has had ‘someone to love.’ “As much credit goes to Martha, who was a graduate of the very first CA class at Palmer, as to me. The combination of us has worked,” says O’Dell. The dynamic chiropractic team has four children, two sons, who are both chiropractors, and two daughters, who are both CAs. There are 38 chiropractors in their entire family. “Our love was solid and our life purpose was clear and plain,” says O’Dell.

When O’Dell began practicing “straight principled, simple subluxation-based chiropractic” in 1936, he started having ‘something to look forward to.’ O’Dell, whose mentor and friend was B.J. Palmer, has encouraged over 210 of his patients to become chiropractors, by simply asking “What are you going to do with your life?” Shortly before Palmer died in 1961, he asked to see O’Dell. With Palmer’s parting words, “Clair I trust you,” to O’Dell, the chiropractic baton was passed.

O’Dell hates the word retirement and continues to practice “because God gave me a special gift and purpose for two reasons: 1) to help as many sick and injured people as possible; 2) to spread the word of chiropractic to as many people as possible.” Being a practicing chiropractor is O’Dell’s greatest achievement because “getting sick people well is the most rewarding thing I know.”

O’Dell, who has lectured in 35 of 50 states and to provinces in Canada, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Caracas, Venezuela, wants young DCs to preserve the profession’s separate, distinct identity and purpose of correcting vertebral subluxations. “Chiropractors are informing the world of a secret that others don’t know: The body is a self healing organism.” As far as the future for chiropractic, O’Dell, a member of the International Board of Governors of the World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA), “would like to see all [chiropractic associations] join WCA.”

Dr. Tom PerrauLt, 70
In 45 years of practicing, Dr. Tom Perrault of Methune, Mass., has heard some unbelievably positive, life-changing testimonies. “Some of the most gratifying moments come when a person tells you how their health was bad and chiropractic made them healthy and gave them a new outlook on life. [Chiropractic] made a big difference in their life.” Perrault, a 1962 Palmer College graduate, is the only person to be named Chiropractor of the Year four times in Massachusetts. “I enjoy seeing the people,” says Perrault, whose patients are considered family. “It’s relaxing and enjoyable to come to work every day.”

For 20 years, Perrault’s hobby has been an unpaid executive vice president position with the Massachusetts Chiropractor Society to “facilitate progress and help the officers to accomplish their objectives.” His better half of 47 years, Sandy, works tirelessly as a paid executive, writing position papers and organizing continuing education for the Massachusetts Chiropractic Society. Perrault and Sandy have five children. Their oldest son, Tom Jr., is a chiropractor in practice with Perrault.

Perrault, who was the 11th person to get a license in the state of Massachusetts, would like for the profession to “always remember its roots—adjusting the spine to improve the body.”

He strongly believes that young chiropractors today need to impart to their patients “chiropractic is an investment in their own health. It’s their insurance.”

Perrault points out that most insurance sadly involves death for collection. “If you get a chiropractic adjustment once a month and consider that a health insurance premium for the fullest dividend in good health, you don’t have to get sick or die to collect.”

Today, Perrault believes “there’s a lot of ‘treat the condition and discharge.’” He doesn’t think that any other doctors discharge the patients. For example, “a dentist has six month cleanings and medical doctors prescribe drugs. Nothing is ‘once and done.’”

Dr. Virginia Brannon, 71
Thirty years ago, Dr. Virginia Brannon, one of the first women to graduate in Sherman College’s first class, Sept. 18, 1976, stumbled into chiropractic by answering an ad in the local Spartanburg newspaper. At the time, she was a LPN in training, working in a hospital, who needed a part-time job. The job was in a chiropractor’s office. She accepted the job but “I didn’t want anything to do with getting an adjustment.”

After five months of working with Dr. James E. Dupre, a chiropractor who studied under B.J. Palmer, Brannon says to Dupre, “I don’t know what you’re doing, but I want an adjustment.” Her life changed and it would never be the same. “I had to admit the good of chiropractic,” says Brannon, a member of the South Carolina Chiropractors Association. “Seeing what chiropractic really did for Dr. Dupre’s patients and how alert they were, changed my mind.” Now the former LPN can’t get enough of chiropractic. “I don’t plan on retiring until the good Lord takes me,” says Brannon, who has never had any staff, and she practices Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. “I am in good health and I enjoy what I do.”

The doctor’s chiropractic journey was not an easy road. “I struggled very hard in school because I was a wife and mother of four with classes to attend and assignments to complete,” says Brannon, wife of 55 years to Robert and a grandmother of six and a great-grandmother of seven. “My bathtub would not hold the tears that I cried.”

Brannon, who became the seventh person to be licensed in the state, persevered in faith. She says, “At the time, it was quite a battle to get a license in the state of South Carolina. The first licensing test was given to the 40 graduates of Sherman College and we all failed. It wasn’t a test. It wasn’t anything you could pass. Six months later, 38 people took the test and six passed. I wasn’t one of the six.”

She was determined, and six months later Brannon took the licensing test for a third time with 27 others. Lawyers “harassed me because I forgot to put my sealed anonymous number [an assigned number] on the paper,” says Brannon. The lawyers accused Brannon of purposely forgetting to put her number on the test. They froze all 28 papers and refused to grade them. The lawyers continuously called Brannon to harass her and advise that they didn’t know what they were going to do about the situation.

Brannon grew weary with the phone calls. She asked the lawyers if they could grade everyone else’s papers but hers. They continued to call her. She advised the lawyers the following, “Don’t call my phone until you have some solution. If you refuse to grade the papers, you can’t say that I failed it, right. You have to make the decision.”

The decision was made for four board members and the two lawyers to grade her paper. The attorney general of South Carolina got involved and graded her paper. Brannon was the only one of the 28 to receive a license on Dec. 31, 1977. She wouldn’t trade anything for her journey because “I have seen some remarkable healings as a result of chiropractic.” Brannon would like for the profession “to educate more people about chiropractic so that more people will have an understanding of what chiropractic can do for you.”

Throughout the years, Brannon, the first grandmother, at age 42, to graduate from Sherman College, has had more than 100 students from Sherman intern with her. She advises them and other young DCs to “make sure your goal is to help people have better health and a better life.”