Jerry Zelm was born and raised in a village in the central part of Wisconsin. His parents owned and operated a small cheese factory where he and his three brothers often worked when they weren’t in school. He also had a baby sister. Sadly, his father contracted spinal meningitis and after a year of sickness died at the age of 41, leaving his mother to care for the family and try to run the cheese factory. Friends and neighbors all helped out, and with God’s grace, the family made it through a very difficult time. Eventually Jerry’s mother remarried and they moved to Cambridge, Wisconsin, where Jerry began high school.
Jerry became very active in music, both instrumental and vocal, and thought that someday he might pursue a musical career. After high school he spent the summer on a cruise ship that sailed around the Great Lakes. Many of the crew members were college students who participated in putting on musical shows for the passengers. Jerry fit in well and became one of the leading vocalists on the ship.
That Fall Jerry began his first year at Milton College, followed by a year off when he joined the National Guard. After one more year at Milton he transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater for two more years before he ran out of money. He decided to take a job with Union Carbide who sent him to New Jersey as a sales representative. After six months of calling on stores to check their Prestone and Eveready inventories, Jerry decided that corporate sales was not for him, and took a position with a local real estate agency, becoming their rental agent. Jerry was quite successful at this, but after three years he longed to return to the Midwest. He also decided to follow in the steps of his two older brothers and enrolled in Palmer Chiropractic College.
In those days government educational loans weren’t available. So Jerry knew that if he wanted to get a degree he would have to work his way through school. He took a 2nd shift job at a grocery distribution plant, working from 4-12 midnight. However, after three weeks of work, sleep and school, Jerry found that he didn’t have enough time for studying. So he borrowed $50 from his New Jersey friends and bought a mop, bucket, and some cleaning materials and started knocking on doors. Within two weeks he had enough accounts to pay his way through school, working about 20 hours per week. This is how Jerry says he turned $50 into a degree.
After three years of Chiropractic College, Jerry met his lifetime mate, Becky, on a blind date arranged by his older brother. Jerry said he prayed for a ‘helpmate’ and God eventually provided.
Following graduation Jerry and Becky set out for Martinsburg, West Virginia, where he filled in for a doctor who was recovering from an illness. After the other doctor returned to his practice, Jerry and Becky decided to stay in Martinsburg and develop their own practice. They developed an extremely successful practice and in a short time built both a new office and house. During this time Jerry cared for hundreds of work-related patients from General Motors, Corning Glass, and the IRS Service Center. He soon developed a keen interest in occupational injuries and eventually went on to receive 360 hours of post-graduate training in this specialty area.
After fourteen years in West Virginia, Jerry and Becky longed to be closer to family in the Midwest. Once again they moved, now with their son, Andrew, and found a city to their liking in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. Jerry developed a new practice and again continued his interest in caring for worker’s injuries. He also found time to revisit his former passion for singing, and began performing throughout Southeastern Wisconsin.
Jerry and his wife are very active in their church. Jerry has also served on six short term missions to other countries as a member of the Christian Chiropractors Association. His first trip was to Jamaica where his team of five chiropractors checked the spines of 1200 school children in 9 days. His next five trips were to Poland where clinics are held in churches. On all of these trips the doctors are provided with interpreters and they bring their own portable adjusting tables to care for hundreds of persons, many who have never experienced Chiropractic care
Today Jerry is semi-retired, in the process of writing two books, and continues to be published in various magazines. He speaks on health related topics and is also an inventor. In 2000 he developed a show chair after caring for a potter who had difficulty finding a comfortable chair when he went on the road to exhibit his work. (See Back 2 Health™ show chair) Jerry’s chair is now being used by artists in states from Minnesota to Florida to California. General Motors even bought a dozen for their auto shows. Jerry is a busy, enthusiastic person who loves to share his knowledge about health, wellness and prosperity. He believes that “we live in the greatest country in the world…but we need to take advantage of the many opportunities that are out there.”
