In 1921 the family moved to Boston, Massachusetts, as certain patents, developed by his father, were being marketed in that area.
After grade school at Lukin Military Academy in Alamo Heights and in Waban, Massachusetts Public School, Dr. Harper entered the Huntington Preparatory School in Boston and upon graduation, entered the Boston University Pre-Medical in September 1928.
With the change in entrance requirements at Harvard Medical School to four years, Dr. Harper transferred to Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1929 and received his B.S. Degree in 1933 and his M.S. degree in 1934 in General Engineering. While at the Institute Dr. Harper played clarinet and saxophone in the instrumental club, sang in the glee club, worked on the staff of the Technology Christian Association, was chairman of his dormitory his senior year and maintained his standing on the Dean’s list.
After graduation, his father and mother gave him a trip to Europe with twenty three other M.I.T. students to study European industry, art and culture over a seven week period. Upon returning from Europe, Dr. Harper realized that the “honeymoon” was over and that it was time to go to work. This was right at the bottom of the depression and industry wasn’t “screaming” for M.I.T. men as it is today. While at M.I.T., Dr. Harper had obtained a patent for a brake for trucks and his father suggested that he take this and go into business. The end result was a successful business that carried him up to 1939 when he married Miss Madelin D. Morse of Brookline, Massachusetts.
While at M.I.T., Dr. Harper became acquainted with chiropractic by being permanently cured of hay fever. This experience altered the course of his life and resulted in his abandoning a future in medicine for one in chiropractic. So in 1940 Dr. Harper transferred his business holding and moved to San Antonio, Texas to enroll in the Texas Chiropractic College. As a result of his premedical training at Boston University and credits from M.I.T., Dr. Harper graduated from the Texas Chiropractic College shortly after Pearly Harbor receiving D.C., and Ph.C. Degrees and maintaining a 98% average in his courses.
With the outbreak of World War II, Dr. Harper was asked by M.I.T. to look over a plant in Springfield, Massachusetts that had a contract to build triple expansion steam engines for the Maritime Commission to be used in Liberty Ships. This company, the Springfield Machine and Foundry, was having difficulty turning out the crankshafts which were twenty-one feet long and weighed eighteen tons. After observing the operation, Dr. Harper accepted a position as Assistant to the Plant Manager and subsequently built 109 of these engines before VJ Day.
While in Springfield, Dr. Harper requested admission to the Masonic Bodies, was accepted and completed the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Commandery and became a member of Meltha Temple A.A.O.N.M.S.
The end of the war closed this plant, so Dr. Harper moved to Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts and practiced chiropractic until 1949 when he was urged by Dr. Troilo and Dr. J. H. Drain to “return to Texas” and teach at the Texas Chiropractic College.
The idea was appealing, but the legal requirements of the State of Texas had to be met, so he took and passed the Basic Science Board in Iowa and with his college credits met the Texas Basic Science requirements. Earlier he had obtained license to practice chiropractic in Maine and New Hampshire and three licenses were suitable for reciprocity with the Texas Chiropractic Board of Examiners. Once accepted legally, Dr. Harper opened an office in the Texas Chiropractic College Building at 615 West Park Avenue, San Antonio, Texas, giving his mornings to teachings and afternoons to practice.
Academically, Dr. Harper has been instrumental in correlating the teachings of Dr. D. D. Palmer with present day concepts of anatomy, physiology and pathology. He has been a very prolific writer in the Journal of the National Chiropractic Association over the past decade and is recognized national as a convention lecturer in the fields of Principles, Diagnosis, Pathology and Spinal Dynamics and Physiology.
As a result of these accomplishments, Dr. Harper has received the following distinctions from the profession:
- Made Fellow of the International College of Chiropractors with the Degree of F.I.C.C. by this honorary society of the National Chiropractic Association in 1955.
- Awarded the Honorary Degree of EEC by the Foundation Board of the Texas Chiropractic College in 1959.
- Recipient of the Keeler Plaque as “Chiropractor of the Year” by the Keeler Plaque Committee of the Texas State Chiropractic Association in 1961.
At present Dr. Harper is Dean of Students at the Texas State Chiropractic College giving his mornings to teaching, student problems and curriculum. In the afternoons, he conducts a private practice in his new office at 823 West Hildebrand.
Dr. Harper has been a member of the National Chiropractic Association since 1941, and a member of the Texas State Chiropractic Association since 1949 and prior to coming to Texas a member of the Massachusetts Chiropractic Association.
Since coming to Texas he has transferred his Masonic affiliations to San Antonio. He is a member of Alzafar Temple Chanters, of which, he was President in 1953.
With his wife he has been Communicant of the Trinity Episcopal Church since in 1949. His hobbies included fishing and boating at his new summer home at Canyon Lake Shores, playing his electronic Estey organ and “woodshedding” with the Chanters.
Dr. Harper requested that the following be included in his own words:
I owe a debt of love and gratitude to my wife, Madeline M. Harper, and to my father and mother for their support and encouragement that have made me the man I am today. They have all passed on to their maker in the past two years and were not here to witness my coming of age professionally. I trust that they will be proud of my efforts to pass this heritage on to students who have and will cross my path and who will remember me as a “Doctor of Chiropractic."
