Professional Eulogy
David W. Jones, DC
December 26, 1943 - February 12, 2006
Given by Terry H. Lawson, DC

I am honored, humbled and saddened to stand before you today to pay my respects and say goodbye to my unconditional friend and colleague, Dr. David Jones.

At the age of twelve, David decided he wanted to become a chiropractor. After having three bouts of rheumatic fever and not getting well he turned to chiropractic and was returned to health. His decision to become a chiropractor never wavered from there forward.

In the fall of 1961 after graduation from high school, David entered Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa. David worked his way through college in a grocery store which held much appeal for him as produce was meager in his growing up years. He graduated from Palmer College in December of 1966. In January of 1967 David was in a car accident that left him with memory loss for ten months and a deaf left ear, which all of us learned to adapt to when visiting with David.

His accident and memory loss left him with the struggle of passing the basic science exams and national and state Chiropractic boards before starting his practice. At this point in time, Nancy became part of his life and in 1968 they moved to Minneapolis so he could do three months post graduate study for the exams. Due to his determination and perseverance he passed his boards in 1969 which, except for pharmacology, were the same boards required for medical physicians.

With their son, and now colleague, Dr. Mark, the family moved to Spokane where he established his practice in 1970. At that time there were three doctors of chiropractic in the Spokane Valley. In 1982 he moved his practice into their wonderful facility that of course you know is still in operation today.

Along with raising a wonderful family and maintaining a successful practice, David spent a total of 31 years and held 18 different positions on state boards for us. Among these were Chiropractor of the Year in 1983;, Chiropractic Consultant for the State of Washington Department of Labor & Industries since 1977; Member of the Chiropractic Advisory Committee for the State of Washington Department of Labor & Industries 1980-1991; Elected Chairman February 1982 through August 1986; Committee Member of the Chiropractic Advisory Board for Medicare 1981-1986; Past Chairman for the Yearly Chiropractic Consultant Review Program through the State of Washington Labor & Industries; Contributor to the Chiropractic Standards of Practice and Utilization Guidelines in the care and treatment of injured workers for the State of Washington Department of Labor & Industries…. I could go on and on with these accolades. Each is impressive and as important as the last. David was also instrumental in bringing this state together to form one state association for Chiropractic. To do that he became a member of both CSW and WCA and worked toward one voice for our state. WSCA was formed into a united association in 1991 and David was a speaker at the first joint convention.

I have received so many phone calls the last several days from colleagues with the same voice. David Jones was a peace maker and most importantly, he was ethical with absolutely no compromise. His commitment to right and wrong was unwavering in all he stood for.

Many of us were aware of David’s problems with his geographical compass. Dr. John Day shared a story regarding this. He wrote:

I personally first met David in 1977 in Mt Horeb, Wisconsin at a Gonstead seminar. As the years went on, we developed an unconditional friendship. He was not only my friend, but also my mentor in the chiropractic profession. When I received the phone call from Mark informing us of David’s accident, my wife Kelly said “I’ve never told you before, but if anything ever happened to you, I’ve just lost my go-to guy.” Well, David was a lot of people’s go-to guy. I don’t know of anyone who had to give more advice to others and always handled it with intelligence, knowledge and caring. During all the years of his professional life David worked tirelessly for the good of the chiropractic profession. He believed in the philosophy of our profession and did everything in his power to continue to make it grow. Dr. Jones was a true healer, not only by using his very gifted hands but healing also came from his heart. His patients were like family to him. He cared and loved each and every one of them and did all he could to return them to wellness. He applied love for humanity in such an individual way. As I spent time caring for Dr. Jones’ patients last week I experienced the love and respect for him by his patients and staff that is indescribable. I’m sure that all the other doctors that shared time in his clinic last week experienced the same feeling. I can only hope each and every one of us can serve our profession as well as you have David.

Nancy told me that the day before they left for their vacation David came home happy because for once every bit of his paperwork was caught up and done and he felt great about leaving on vacation.

I received a letter from Sue, one of Mark and David’s staff members, and will share this with you.

“We as a profession have suffered a severe blow by losing Dr. Jones. It is as a large rock rolls down a mountain it changes the landscape forever. Our profession will continue but David’s vast knowledge and influences will be sorely missed.”

I challenge each of us as a profession to carry out David’s vision for chiropractic.

To Nancy, Mark, Jennifer and the rest of your family, I assure you that everyone in our profession is here to help you in this difficult time. I am certain, without any doubt, that Dr. Mark will follow in his father’s footsteps in a way that will make David proud. After all he had a lifetime to teach him.

David, in my goodbye’s to you I always want you to know you have made me a better husband, father, grandfather and Chiropractor, and I’ll love you forever for that, and by the way, I just wanted to remind you, of all the times we talked about your enjoyment of the water and boating, that up there the water is smooth as glass.