In profile

A long-time member of the New London Rotary, Mike Collins recently shared his life story with the club. Born in Kentucky but raised in Ohio, Collins remembers working on a dairy farm while growing up, and one day his boss had an appointment with a chiropractor. "Although I had no experience with what it was," he said, this became his introduction to what would become his lifelong career. He attended Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, and passed his boards at age 20. The law said he could not practice until he was 21, so he temporarily went home and worked on a farm for a few months. Having little idea of where he wanted to set up practice, in the fall of 1975 he stumbled across the village of New London, where he decided to have lunch. The waitress told him the town's chiropractor had retired, and a new one was needed. Although he knew no one "except the waitress," Collins says he soon became part of the community. He adds joining the local Rotary Club was an important part of this, and says, "I'm still here because of Rotary where I met many people, and this helped my practice a lot." Collins established an office downtown and later bought land south of town on SR 60 and built an office where he still practices today. When asked about the almost 50 years he has spent in New London, Collins recalls the 1970s being a very busy time for the village. Because there were so many businesses and the school was just a block away from the center of town, it was hard to find anywhere to get lunch and parking was at a premium. Since then, of course, much has changed, just as it has all over the country in towns large and small. He added that at one time almost every community had a chiropractor, but today "small town practices are going away because graduates don't want to come to a small town." Collins said chiropractors have also had to change with the times because they traditionally worked mainly with spinal manipulation. Although that is still the center of what they do, they also need to be familiar with physical therapy, nutrition and other areas. Collins loves living and working in New London and lives there with his wife Debbie. They raised seven children, all of whom have their own careers and live in various parts of the country. One daughter works in Collins' office, a second is attending chiropractic school in Kentucky and a son is a chiropractor in Seattle.