PORT PERRY, Ontario -- The bust of D.D. Palmer recently traveled approximately 100 miles from "Old Dad Chiro's" birthplace, Port Perry, to the town of Orilla (both in Ontario) and then back again, to be refurbished in time for the Canadian celebration of chiropractic's centennial September 17, 1995.
Authorized by the Canadian Chiropractic Association, the project was actually carried out by the Durham Region Chiropractic Society, a branch of the Ontario Chiropractic Association. Durham Society President Dr. Diane Lott organized an exhaustive fundraising campaign to raise the $10,000 necessary for refurbishing not only the statue, but its base and the surrounding grounds of Palmer Memorial Park on the shore of Lake Scugog.
The Durham Region Society sent out two rounds of fundraising letters, and formally requested donations at a meeting of all the Ontario society presidents. There, Dr. Peter Amlinger challenged the presidents not only to donate $250 from each society, but to make a personal donation of $100 each. Dr. Lott also asked Durham Region members to donate $100 a piece. One member, Dr. Dave MacAskil, created a "before and after" poster of the monument, and managed to raise over $3,000 in personal donations.
The Sanderson Monument Company, Ltd. in Orilla performed the restoration wizardry, sand-blasting the bronze sculpture down to the bare metal and then carefully refinishing it. The result is an amazing new D.D., burnished to a lovely bronze glow and ready for the Canadian celebration of chiropractic's centennial.
