Show Your Legacy
Recognizing the past, present and future of Life University’s alumni and colleagues continues to be one of the school’s most important ways to honor its community. In doing so, LIFE has decided to build a “living” marker to recognize LIFE families, as well as chiropractors, that have dedicated their lives to the profession and the University. The Generations wall project will serve as a beacon to inspire other families to come to LIFE.
The wall, which will stretch about 90 feet in length and be located along the campus’ main walkway in front of the Learning Resource Center, will help LIFE welcome future students, campus visitors and dignitaries, while at the same time recognizing the importance of passing on the practice of Chiropractic and the significance of a LIFE education.
“As LIFE is the thought leader for the chiropractic profession, it only makes sense for us to be the campus that has a recognition structure for the legacies of chiropractic families with LIFE connections,” says Greg Harris, LIFE’s vice president for university advancement.“ It’s also just as important to be able to recognize families who believe in a LIFE education by having more than one graduate from the institution.”
Harris says the project idea, which is quite unique to a university campus, came from a conversation he had in 2011 with University President Dr. Guy Riekeman. They anticipate unveiling the final project the first week of October during Fall CE.
“There’s almost no place that recognizes chiropractic lineage. Where you find one chiropractor in a family, you usually find several,” Harris says. “At the same time, we also want to recognize families with multiple LIFE graduates who may or may not be chiropractors.”
The $250,000 construction project, which is largely funded with the help of 1996 LIFE graduate Amie Bend, D.C., and her husband Rich Giuli, will feature interconnecting glass panels rising up from a bed of river rock. A continuous cascade of water will flow down the glass panels and into the rock pools. In front of the water will be suspended bronze nameplates that will be engraved with the family’s last name and the first chiropractor and LIFE graduates in the family. Future chiropractors and LIFE graduates can be added at any time.
The funds generated by the plates will support the campaign to build the William M. Harris Center for Clinical Education. Harris said they have raised a little over $5.6 million for the $7 million project to date and he anticipates LIFE raising an extra $600,000 or more toward the $1.4 million balance.
Donors Make It Possible
This Generations project is made possible largely due to the support of a handful of LIFE alumni and donors who have made gift commitments to cover the cost of the wall.
Dr. Bend, a third-generation chiropractor, and her husband Rich Giuli are the lead contributors.
“Any project that you raise money for needs a lead donor, and we are blessed to have Amie and Rich step up and do that,” Harris says about the support LIFE has received from Amie and Rich. “They are young leaders that will serve as a good example for others to follow.”
Amie says her family chose to be a part of Generations because it is a “great” way to celebrate the legacy of chiropractic families and LIFE graduates.
“This is so important to our family and for the profession,” Amie says. “It’s a good idea to celebrate generations in a family.”
Amie says she and Rich also wanted to leave something behind that will forever stand as a symbol of the University’s lineage throughout the nation and world, while at the same time honoring the nostalgia of the field and what LIFE is doing for its students and those that came before.
“People may not remember the adjustments I made, but they will remember this little symbol,” she adds. “Generations are what keep the philosophies alive. I’m so glad my family can be a part of this project, and I encourage other families to participate.”
Amie, who is originally from Michigan where her father Richard Bend is also a chiropractor, is one of four children in the Bend family that have graduated from LIFE.
“Time was great on campus,” Amie says when asked about her experience at the university in the mid-1990s. “LIFE was bustling with students, philosophy sessions were plentiful and well attended, there were parties weekly at the Tree House (now the Ian Grassam House), and everyone supported each other
Amie’s parents, Richard and Barbara Bend, did not attend LIFE but they too have been heavily involved in the University’s growth and are contributors to the Generations project. Amie says they were associated with LIFE during its early years. Her mother was a member of Ladies for LIFE and a volunteer with Run for LIFE, and during the University’s Dynamic Essentials meetings that Richard Bend attended, Barbara Bend helped with the children’s program.
Her father, with the help of many current and former LIFE professors and supporters, also helped recruit students to the University, and, Amie says he would attend classes to talk with students about the profession.
“Both of my parents were very hands-on with the University’s growth,” Amie says. Family members practicing Chiropractic in Amie’s family date back before her father, though.
In researching her family’s chiropractic history, Amie learned that 13 people practiced Chiropractic dating back to the 1920s. It’s said that her grandfather was a blind chiropractor and another family member once owned and operated the first chiropractic magazine, The Chiropractic Home.
Like the generations before her, Amie says she knew at a young age that she wanted to be a chiropractor.
“My father showed by example the chiropractic lifestyle, and I just never considered any other field,” she says. Today, Amie lives in California with her husband and their two children and owns and operates Bend Chiropractic Inc., which she opened in 1998 in Arroyo Grande, Calif.
Her husband is not a chiropractor but like his wife respects and understands the need to recognize lineage like what will be depicted in the Generations wall.
“Generational knowledge makes a huge difference in the upfront experience, morals and values, knowledge and historic and philosophical understanding,” Rich says. “And it is even more important for Chiropractic because it’s about a philosophical approach to health.”
Rich is a second-generation software engineer who attended California Polytechnic State University and has been programming computers since he was 14 years old. He previously worked at Stanford Research Institute – now SRI International – before joining Apple- owned Siri Inc., where he is a software development engineer.
How to make a donation
To honor your family and be a part of this project, complete the plate form here and send to LIFE along with your payment to:
Life University
Office of University Advancement
1269 Barclay Circle
Marietta, GA 30060
The initial family nameplate is $2,500. Additional names may be added at $500/ name on a second plate. These names would be added to a second or more nameplate and placed below the first nameplate.
Eligible families for the project must a) have multiple family members who are LIFE graduates, b) have at least one family chiropractor that is a LIFE graduate or c) be a chiropractic family that has had some connection to LIFE or been influential to Chiropractic.