The Doctors Brassard were my childhood chiropractic doctors and Dr. Parker indirectly influenced my life because it was his clinic in Beaumont, Texas to which G. M. Brassard came to practice Chiropractic.
Without the chiropractic profession I may not have come into being.
Chiropractic originated in 1895. It began its growth as a profession in 1898 to 1901 after D. D. Palmer began to teach others about the science and art that he discovered. My maternal grandparents were born in 1898 and 1899 and I am told that my grandfather desired to enter the profession of chiropractic but his circumstances would not permit it to be so. He was able, however, to permit two of his three sons to attend the Texas Chiropractic College in San Antonio to enter the profession.
It was my maternal grandmother, Ruby Williams, who had a profound effect on the life of Keeler recipient Dr. Harold Tondera as noted in his biography. Another of their sons became a professional counselor and their eldest daughter, my mother, gave birth to three sons of her own.
Following the birth of my older brother in 1950, my parents desired additional children but were unsuccessful. For nearly a decade their desire for additional children did not come to fruition, but after initiating chiropractic care with Dr. Gerald Brassard I was born sometime thereafter. My younger brother was born four years later in 1962.
I was a typically active young boy, large for my age, and full of vigor. I grew up playing outdoors on the Texas Gulf Coast in the era when air conditioning had not yet come to be a widespread convenience. I played football, wrestled with my neighbors, played all of the typical children’s games with the other boys on my block, played in the frequent flood waters that occurred in our neighborhood near the bayous that were so prevalent in the swampy land that was Beaumont.
I don't have a dramatic personal chiropractic story to share, but typical of so many I had need for the health care that chiropractic provides and I wasn’t aware of it. I didn’t know I had need of a dentist for cavities when I was young, but I did. I didn’t know I had need of glasses until junior high, but as seeing the chalk board became more of a strain I came to understand that need. I didn’t know that I had need of chiropractic until the stresses and strains of an active childhood led to fairly frequent muscle tension headaches. I still remember my first adjustment from Dr. Gerald Brassard. It was not painful, but it certainly was scary to hear loud sounds occurring in my neck after receiving a forceful adjustment that my brain told me should have caused me injury, but which my body informed me caused relief instead. Since that early adjustment in my pre-teen years chiropractic has been a regular feature of my life.
I always knew that I wanted to be a doctor. I felt called to be a healer, but I also knew that I had no desire to become a medical doctor. The use of chemicals to induce changes in the body never appealed to me and I had no interest in surgeries, dentistry, or managing only disease processes. As the time in life came to make my career decisions and plan for my further educational future I decided that I would become a chiropractic doctor.
I began my undergraduate studies at Baylor University in 1976 and during my time there I met and proposed to my wife Angela Hackley. I completed my undergraduate work and began my studies at Texas Chiropractic College in 1978, and married Angela in 1979. I graduated with a Doctor of Chiropractic degree in 1982 and, following graduation, I returned to my hometown and associated with the chiropractor who treated me in my youth. I joined the practice of Dr. Gerald Brassard’s son, Richard Brassard. In that same year our first child, Sarah, was born.
After about two-and-a-half years of associateship I desired to acquire my own practice and sought a practice for sale somewhere in a small central-Texas town. After looking at practices for sale in each region of the state, I agreed to purchase the practice of Dr. Henry Ford in Brenham, Texas, in 1985. That same year our second child, William, was born. As of 2017 I have remained in active practice in Brenham at the same location for over 30 years. Our third child, Clayton, was born in Brenham in 1989.
My father, being a hospital administrator in Beaumont and a president of the Texas Hospital Association, I have always felt that a professional must support his professional trade association. No one else can possibly tend to the interests of the profession better than the professionals themselves. When professionals don’t care to protect and promote their own profession it leaves me to wonder how professional they really are.
The TCA is the primary trade association for the chiropractic profession in Texas. The successful 2017 Texas legislative session demonstrates the vital importance of our professional association. Chiropractic successfully passed its own sunset bill while the Texas Medical Board did not. They will have to continue their pursuits in a special session.
It is my hope that doctors of chiropractic will continue to raise our profession to its highest levels through concerted efforts through the Texas Chiropractic Association.
