As a child he was constantly sick and was placed under chiropractic care. When he regained his health, he decided to enroll in Texas Chiropractic College when B. F. and Flora Gordon bought control. Soon his father J. A., mother, Elizabeth H. and a sister Alice H. entered T.C.C. and graduated within a few months of each other. They opened an office in San Antonio for one year; then, moved to Sequin, Texas, where they practiced for several years.
After having practiced successfully as a family, Dr. Jodie, as he is familiarly known, and his sister, Dr. Alice, moved to Lufkin, Texas, where they established a joint office. During his first year in Lufkin he was arrested 19 times on a charge of the practice of medicine without a license. Dr. Jodie tells that since his office was across from the courthouse and he was charged so many times, the sheriff would whistle out the court house window and Dr. Jodie would grab a spine and nerve chart and go over to court. He was never convicted and usually one or more members of the jury became patients.
Alice H. Baier married and she and her husband studied chiropractic. When he graduated Dr. Jodie sold his half of the practice to them and attended Palmer School of Chiropractic for post-graduate work. When he completed this course he met his mother and father at the Texas Chiropractic Association in Dallas and they formed a partnership and opened a new clinic in Houston, on February 26, 1926. He practiced in Houston ever since.
On May 30, 1926, Dr. Jodie married Marth Lou Childress of Nacodoches, Texas. She attended Stephen F. Austin College, and was teaching Home Economics when they married. After six months Mrs. Jodie enrolled at Texas Chiropractic College. When she received her D.C. degree, she, too, entered practice with the family.
One son, J. G. Baier, was born to them. After attending public school in Houston, New Mexico Military Institute and earning a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Houston, he enrolled and graduated from Texas Chiropractic College and is in active practice with Dr. Jodie at the present time. This makes the third generation of chiropractors in the Baier family. Due to the Baier’s dedication to chiropractic there have been twelve members of the family graduated as chiropractors since 1921.
Dr. Jodie is a member of the Lutheran Church where he is on the Finance Committee and chairman of the Parsonage Committee. He is a 32nd Degree Mason of the Scottish Rite, a member of the Arabia Temple Shrine where he was honored with a life membership in the Drum Corps, after having been elected twice as Captain and also served as president. He is a member of the wrecking crew of the Shrine, and a member of the Zeta Phi Tau and is now serving as President of the East End Optimist Club of Houston. Dr. Jodie was an organizer and first president of Texas Motel Association and organizer and director of National Motel Association.
He has been a member of the Texas State Chiropractic Ass’n. since 1923, President of the Texas Chiropractic Society in 1948-49, Texas Chiropractic Society Chiropractor of the year in 1953, and past president of the Gavel Club of the T.S.C.A.
He was elected a Fellow of the American College of Chiropractic in 1927 with the FACC Degree. In 1965 he received the E.E.C. degree from the Texas Chiropractic College. He was president of the Committee for Chiropractic Education when the newspaper, which helped chiropractors all over the nation increase their practice, was being published. He holds license #16 in Texas and is licensed in Arkansas where he took the Chiropractic Board in 1939.
Dr. Baier was the moving force behind acquiring a new plant and moving the Texas Chiropractic College from San Antonio to Pasadena, Texas. He spent much time and effort and personal expense in this endeavor, but has felt that if you make your living in chiropractic you should make some contribution to ensure its continuation.
Dr. Jodie has said that the two highlights of his career have been; first, the taking of twenty chiropractors into his office, teaching them and having each one make a success in his own practice; and second, moving the Texas Chiropractic College into a new and modern plant in Pasadena, Texas.
His hobbies are, first, chiropractic, and, second, fishing. He has said that he would go anywhere and do anything to advance chiropractic; and also, will go anywhere and do anything to be able to fish.
For his dedication to chiropractic and work for his profession he received the Keeler Plaque in 1966.
