Seventy Years in the Making!
- bacdockw
- 12 minutes ago
- 5 min read
I will quote my son, Patric, to start this blog. “Perspective is a Hell of a thing!” On that thought, I must agree. We can look at a thing one time and see something that is not particularly pleasing. We can look at that thing another time and find great pleasure or beauty in it.
Let’s take for example, the number 70. I am approaching my seventieth birthday this October and that is a number that is less exciting than maybe 50, or 40, or even 30. But as Patric says, perspective is a Hell of a thing. I can look at the number 70 with a perspective on 70 years of chiropractic service by the Weber family to our community and I can swell with pride! That perspective is an interesting thing.
We at Weber Chiropractic are preparing to enter our 70th year of service and that is exciting. We are now into our third generation of chiropractors in that run, and that is exciting. In fact, it is so exciting that we are going to celebrate. We want, no….I will correct that, we need to have YOU as an integral part of that celebration. You see, without you, none of this becomes possible. But I am getting a little bit ahead of myself. I will return to that thought in a little bit.
Let’s put 70 years in perspective. It would have been 1955 when Dad opened his practice in Ford City. In 1955, Disney’s Lady and the Tramp premiered in Chicago. 1955 was the year that the “rock and roll” genre of music became the most popular genre on the radio. 1955 was the year that Albert Einstein died and milk was selling for a tremendous price of $0.92 per gallon. A loaf of bread cost $0.18 and a gallon of gas was $0.23. Eisenhower was the President of the United States and the Soviet Union and nuclear worries were on everyone’s mind.
There was also a huge event that took place, at least for me, in the late summer of 1955. That is when Dad and Mom moved to Ford City, Pennsylvania. Dad found an apartment at 600 Fifth Avenue in Ford City where he and Mom were able to live and operate an office out of that same space. The bedroom was the “living space”, a second bedroom was a treatment room, the street side door opened into what ordinarily would have been a living room but in this case served as a waiting room. The kitchen stayed as the kitchen, but when the office was operating, Mom had to slide a note under the door to Dad to move a patient into the treatment room so she could get to the kitchen to warm a bottle for their infant son (me!).
The building was a yellow brick multi storied building owned by Mr. Stanley Szypka (apologies if that isn’t spelled correctly). Mr. Szypka lived on the third floor and Dad had rented the first floor. I do not remember anyone from the second floor, but I am sure it was rented. Ford City was a bustling little town with PPG Glass and Eljer Pottery as the major employers.
My memories of 600 Fifth Avenue are mostly from when it was totally Dad’s office. In 1958 Mom and Dad built a home in Manor Township off Guthrie Road nestled in behind the Appleby Manor Church. That was where I grew up and will always remember as home.
Dad was always very much about his practice and his office. If he was off on a day and was working around the home and a patient called, he never refused to go in on his off hours. Dad would always shower, change to a shirt, tie, and dress pants and then go to the office. Once at the office, the shirt and tie came off and the clinic jacket went on. The clinic jacket was white, short sleeved and snapped up the left side of the jacket, across the collarbone, and up to the neck. I don’t know if I ever saw Dad treat a patient without it.
In 1967 Dad moved from 600 Fifth Avenue to 620 Main Street, Ford City for his practice. He bought a home from a gentleman that had worked at a local bank and was being transferred. Dad had heard about the transfer and went to the man’s home before the property was listed and made an offer to buy the home. I do remember Dad being very excited when he got home because the deal was worked out at that very first meeting. This was the office from then until Dad’s retirement in 1996.
Dad had a 41 year run in Ford City and he reminisced about it for the rest of his life. He continued to speak of his adventures in that office, speaking of the wonderful patients and great friends he made from his practice. Dad loved several things in his life and it would be difficult to put these things in a ranking order. He loved my Mom, us kids, his practice, his garden, and sailing. I think most of us got used to taking turns being close to the top, but I am not sure any of us ever spent as much time being number one as his practice.
I have tried over the years to live up to Dad’s standard of operating a practice. It has been a tough act to follow. Now we are embarking on a new chapter as Patric starts his tenure at Weber Chiropractic. I understand Dad’s passion, because being a chiropractor is (now to quote my Dad) “the greatest job in the world!” I’m not ready to leave just yet, but I am sure that there is enough of Dad that has passed through me to Patric that Weber Chiropractic will live up to the ideals set by Dad all those 70 years ago.
I would remind you, dear readers, to please follow me on Facebook as I present a few more anecdotes about the 70 year history we are celebrating. We will also be announcing contests with some gifts for lucky winners, some fun themed fundraising drives for a worthy cause based on the number 70, and an event in late summer or early fall that I hope you get an opportunity to attend. I will bring you more news on that as the plans start to take more shape.
Please watch my Facebook pages for the history of Weber Chiropractic contest that on Monday April 14 will ask a question about our history. I would invite you to reply to that Facebook post with your answer to the trivia question. Those answering correctly will have their names dropped in a hat and on Friday April 18 a winning name will be drawn. The winner will receive a $70 Amazon gift card.
My Facebook page is Kirk W Weber DC (I will share that post on the business Facebook page as well). Thanks to everyone that has been a part of this amazing journey.
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