Palmer graduate is 32nd chiropractor in her family

October 19, 2010 — The legacy of chiropractic runs strong in some families, continuing through multiple generations. When Kalie Elizabeth Judge of LaSalle, Ill., receives her diploma from Palmer College of Chiropractic during commencement ceremonies at 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 22, she will be the 32nd person in her family to become a chiropractor.

In October 2006, her brother, James E. Judge, DC, and cousin, Christopher M. Judge, DC, graduated from Palmer as the 28th and 29th in the Judge family to become chiropractors. Then in 2008 and 2009 Kalie’s cousins T.J. Sheedy, DC, and Zack Sheedy, DC, graduated from Palmer to become the 30th and 31st members of the family to join the profession. Kalie E. Judge plans to practice with her brother at his practice in St. Charles, Ill., following Friday’s graduation. 

“I was asked the following question many times as a student at Palmer, ‘Are you in chiropractic or is chiropractic in you?’ It took me a while to understand what that truly meant, but I can answer that question now without any hesitation,” Kalie says. “Chiropractic is in me.”

There will be 22 members of the Judge family joining Kalie as she crosses the stage in the auditorium of Vickie Anne Palmer Hall on Palmer’s Davenport Campus. It’s a Palmer tradition that members of the graduate’s family who have previously graduated from Palmer may join them onstage as they receive their diploma.  She also will be having close to 50 additional family and friends there to celebrate this historical moment in the family’s history.

The first generation of Judges to become chiropractors was represented by James Bernard Judge, DC, a 1925 graduate of the then Palmer School of Chiropractic. He died in 1956, after practicing first in Iowa, then British Columbia, and finally in his hometown of Albia, Iowa.

The Judge family’s chiropractic tradition will continue as the years go on. Another of Kalie’s cousins will be graduating in the next year and where are a few others that are finishing up their prerequisites and will be starting Palmer in the next few years.

Source: Palmer College of Chiropractic, www.palmer.edu