The celebration was especially important for the Life community-including the extended communities of the Life DE Meeting and Life Chiropractic College West as well as for the ICA-as Drs. Sid and Nell Williams participated in the Founder's Day events for the first time since Dr. Williams' retirement almost 8 years ago.

Dr. Riekeman began by letting all those attending know that they would find what they wanted and take away an experience to bolster their viewpoint, but the reason everyone was gathered was to be true to Life's history and to allow a spirit of healing and recovery to be advanced.

“As one of two surviving faculty members from January 1975,” says Dr. Gerry Clum, current president of Life University, “I was pleased to sit in the audience along with life-long friend Charlie Kalb and enjoy the walk down memory lane. It was very gratifying for Charlie and me to be warmly acknowledged as the "Day One" faculty members. It was even sweeter to be greeted by those who were our students decades ago. It was comforting to see everyone a little grayer, a little rounder and a little wiser.”

“It was also wonderful to see Michael Schmidt, D.C., who assumed the presidency following Dr. Williams' resignation, be recognized as the person to whom fell, in many ways, the toughest duty of all during those fateful times. It was Dr. Schmidt who managed the wind-down from a budget of $50 million to less than $10 million and the associated layoff of hundreds of employees.”

“As Dr. Riekeman, noted,” continues Clum,  “each person who stepped in filled a crucial role at a critical time that, absent their contribution, the University would not be here today.”

Source, "The Latest Stuff" newsletter, by Dr. Gerry Clum, February 1, 2010, Volume 10, Number 3