Dr. Glenn Hultgren, a longtime Colorado chiropractor and founder of the Christian Chiropractors Association (CCA), went home to be with the Lord on Feb. 5, 2019.
Dr. Hultgren graduated from high school in New Salem, N.D., attended the University of Jamestown (North Dakota) for his pre-med studies and then went to Davenport, Iowa, for four years, graduating from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1955.
In 1953, while still a chiropractic student, Glenn formed the Christian Chiropractors Association, which has sent hundreds of doctors to underdeveloped countries around the world, assisting Christian missionaries and providing health care to thousands. Dr. Hultgren made 18 trips himself into six continents on behalf of the association. The organization still has its international headquarters in Fort Collins.
Dr. Hultgren was actively involved in leadership in his profession. Besides serving as executive secretary of the Christian Chiropractors Association from its formation until April 2009, he also served as president of the Society of Colorado Chiropractors, the Colorado Chiropractic Association, and the Congress of Chiropractic State Associations, and as a member of the Colorado Board of Chiropractic Examiners for six years. He lectured in chiropractic colleges, churches, associations and other groups across the country and around the world.
In the early years of the Christian Chiropractors Association, it was impossible to find a mission organization that would allow a doctor of chiropractic to serve with their organization and use their professional training as part of that mission activity. The professional jealousy (on the part of the established medical personnel) was so strong in those years that some were prevented from practicing chiropractic.
In forging new ground, now 66 years later, it is impossible to find enough DCs to fill all of the requests that come from individual missionaries and mission societies for both short-term and resident missionary status. Dr. Hultgren wrote a book of the first 50 years of the Christian Chiropractors Association. The book is available by contacting the Christian Chiropractors Association Home Office.
Dr. Hultgren was also a Bible teacher and taught Bible study groups in many churches in the area. He served as a member of the Gideons for more than 30 years. Memorial gifts may be made to the Christian Chiropractors Association via the CCA website: www.christianchiropractors.org.
Editor's Note: This celebration of Dr. Hultgren's chiropractic life was submitted by Robert Hultgren, one of Dr. Glenn's four children.