Wes Trout of Northumberland, Pennsylvania was a quiet, unassuming gentleman who loved chiropractic. Usually, men who start practice building/motivational seminars are charismatic, gregarious people who tend to attract multitudes of loyal followers. That was not Wes. What came through clearly about him, however, was his love for chiropractic and his desire to see chiropractors have successful volume practices. He had such a practice himself in the small town of Northumberland in north central Pennsylvania. He had the ability to attract people from the rural areas surrounding Northumberland and the ability to attract young chiropractors to his seminars which for the most part took place in the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia areas and occasionally as far away as California. His ability to attract people to his practice and his seminars was first because of his warmth, his humility and his obvious love for everything chiropractic. I think many chiropractors were drawn to Wes because he was not flamboyant or charismatic. He was just a regular guy, someone who the average person could identify with. You could picture Wes in overalls with a piece of straw in his mouth leaning on a fence post. Yet he was always the gentleman and was rarely seen on a speaker’s platform or at a seminar without a dress shirt, a suit and a tie.
Wes got his start speaking at Jim Parker’s and Sid Williams’ seminars before going out on his own with Living Principles. He had previously been one of the prime movers in starting the Chiropractic Fellowship of Pennsylvania, however, he never really became vocal or involved in chiropractic politics. Although not actively involved in politics, we always knew on which side Wes Trout stood. He was a straight chiropractor through and through from his days at Palmer. He supported Sherman College and was a frequent speaker at their Lyceums. Living Principles was one of the first organizations to come out in support of ADIO Institute of Straight Chiropractic. When groups and individuals were holding back in their support of the fledgling institution, Wes committed himself and his organization to support us and even held a Living Principles Seminar in Philadelphia in conjunction with ADIO. That meant a great deal to me personally and whenever Wes asked me to speak at his seminar, whether it was in PA or California, I was happy to support his program.
While Wes is no longer with us, his legacy lives on in son Gary, who taught at both Sherman and ADIO and now practices in Pennsylvania; daughter, Cynthia Mickelson, practicing in Fall Creek, Wisconsin; and granddaughter, Dr. Heather Mickelson,who is a chiropractic missionary practicing in Bolivia.
If you knew Wes or have an anecdote about him please share it with us.
I have kicked myself for years for not going to LP when I had the opportunity. I’ve heard some of it on tape from friends who had been to, generally, more than one; I’ve gone thru the workbook, but too late. I encourage all new or wanna-be new Chiropractors to spend the money and take the time to go experience the seminars and speakers you are attracted to. If you feel it was a waste of time and money, good, you learned something. But, if you don’t do it, you’ll never know.
I’ve known and heard Wes Trout speak many times at Sherman and Adio in the 70’s and 80’s. He was a chiropractor of integrity. He gave much of his time to showing chiropractors HOW to choose to BE responsible for the sake of chiropractic. Wes was a true leader. He was a real gentleman always dressed with suit and tie. I realize that, by his example, he was inviting us to choose to BE professional and BE proud of our profession. I know he was. Thanks Wes!!!
It was my good fortune, not only to have known wes,but to be a team speaker at living principals program. unlile today all team speakers had practices, and were not travelers, gypsies, who go week after week to a different place too speak. Its called living the principal. Unless accidential concussion of force occurs, innate still needs chiropractors to introduce a force which innate will either accept or reject to correct interference. coaches mentors travelers enuf allready. dont make your goal numbers a day but generations,
iam privaliged to be serving third generation patients my own grand kids included. wes would call that living the principal.
Thank you Jay and welcome to the blog. I hope you will grace us with your wisdom and experience quite often in the future.
Jay, I remember one of the first times we met. It was at a Living Principles banquet. Rather than sit with friends and other chiropractors you chose to sit with a group of Cleveland, KC students and encourage them. You were an example to me of what we should do for the students!
Oh Jay, how I love you! You were one of the brightest stars I came to know at Living Principles. You, like Wes and Eileen, have such an enormous heart. You inspired me more than anyone else I learned from at LP, and given how many amazing presenters I heard and became close to, that’s saying a lot (Thom Gelardi, Scott Grossman, Tom Petrisko, Fred Schofield, John DeMartini, Will Tickel, Chuck Ribley, Reggie Gold, Rose Panico, Joe Strauss, Jim Sigafoose, Fred Barge and more)!
Thank you for your never-ending inspiration to so many of us. Your willingness to give has always been and remains a light to me. I’ll never forget your comment, “Medicine makes you feel like you can fly, then steals the sky. Chiropractic teaches you that you were born to fly, then shows you how high the sky really is!” I’m still flying Jay and haven’t reached the top!
My father, John Henard, is a 61 Palmer grad and I spent many a childhood weekend at Dr. Trouts seminars in Pittsburg. He’s 82 and still has office hours 3 days a week and stays pretty busy! I’m convinced that’s where I learned the true principles of Chiropractic and I myself have been in practice since 1994. Who knows…you might have been one of the speakers there!
I am developing a photographic “wall of giants” in my home where I can honor, and remind myself, of those who have had a great, and positive, influence upon me. I took to the internet to find a picture of Wes Trout, hopefully with his wife Eileen (sp?). I’m saddened to find virtually nothing online about this great man, really, this power couple. Wes and Eileen had such a HUGE influence on so many of us. I’m confident that many well known names in, and out, of chiropractic, like Fred Schofield, David Melendez, and John DeMartini, to name a few, would credit these two with helping to make them the powerhouses they developed into and remain today. I certainly make that claim.
The first thing about these two was their pure and big heartedness. While they certainly understood the ins-and-outs of business, they never forgot that, in the end, it’s all about people. They LOVED people, in a way that I only saw once or twice before I met them and have only scarcely seen since.
Secondly, these two were not afraid of work, getting dirty, climbing down into the trenches. Wes would often hold up his hands to show all of us how swollen, chronically so, his pisiforms were. They were big, red and puffy.
Thirdly, they really wanted to make a positive difference in the world and sought to inspire within others a deep desire to do the same. This is where Living Principles, as an organization, really shined. They took me from being career-oriented to being cause-oriented.
I was a fledgling chiropractic student at Cleveland-LA in 1986 when I began being tutored by Wes and Eileen. I have built two world-renowned practices based upon what they taught me. While the practices were financially rewarding, my biggest reward was seeing the changes in those whom I served. This was, and remains, the legacy of the Trouts. As I now lead an organization promoting chiropractic healing the world over I hope to carry on that legacy and continue to inspire others to make the “above-down, inside-out” difference they not only can, but were born to make in their lifetime.
I love these two dearly and will always count them among the most important people I have ever had the privilege of getting to know and be mentored by.
Thank you Joe for providing a space here to share this tribute.
Much love to you and all who may someday read this.