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() YEARS AND (DX COUNTING... but no retiring tor Dr. Helen Peel If 30 years pursuing a vocation represents a ver satisfying career, imagine 60 years at one profession. That, represents a true calling in life. Six full decades have passed since Port Perry’s Dr. Helen Peel graduated from the Canadian Chiropractic Me- morial College (CCMC) to begin the practice of chiroprac- tic. “I knew I was born to be a healer,” she said. “I also wanted a job where I could be my own boss. My choice reflected those two attitudes. If I hadn’t become a chiro- practor, I wanted to be a vet.” The first of three children born to Ron and Jean Peel, Helen grew up surrounded by animals on her parents’ poultry farm on Queen Street Wes One of Canada’s largest at the ime, the Peels employed 75 workers, shipping T k new both chickens and eggs across Canada, as well as 17 other countries. I was “We supplied broilers to Swiss Chalet when that chain first started. born to Our hatchery’s annual volume ran over five milliot be a From her youth, Helen remembers h ” the Port Perry of another era. ealer “Gone are the days when you knew everyone,” she remembered. “When I was young, the town had a population of only 1,500. And there were no buses. We walked everywhere.” A doctor's care for a sick animal, witnessed at a ten- der age, pointed clearly to the young girl's future. “We raised foxes, and I took one for a pet. When he was sick, we took him to a chiropractor. He sat up and was better straight away. I decided right then that’s what I wanted to do. My father believed in doin; everything as naturally as possible, so that kind of treat- ment was a logical progression.” After graduating from Port Perry High School in 1945, Helen began four years of arduous study at CCMC, becoming one of only six women in her gradu- ating class of 132. Her parents offered a room in their home where she could begin her practice, relying solely on word of veo mouth to expand her client base. Her father construct- Dr. Helen Pee has boon practicing chiropractic for "Pee ed a treatment table (which Helen still uses when she the town that she was bom, raised an Please turn to page 4 FOCUS - MAY 2009 5