Dr Mary Ann Chance
A library was established on 20 September 2008 to honour the memory of prominent chiropractor and stalwart Baha’i, Mary Ann Chance.
On the same day as a memorial service held for Dr Chance, members of the Wagga Baha’i community opened the library, which contains the extensive collection of Dr Chance, her late parents and other members of her family.
A leading member of the chiropractic profession in Australia, Dr Chance, 70, passed away suddenly on 12 June 2008.
Heart-felt eulogies at her funeral described her dedicated service to her profession, the community of Wagga Wagga, her family and to the Baha’i Faith.
Dr Chance was a long time worker for world peace. In a speech to a Rotary Club just before her death, she said that as a small child she had vowed to work for world peace and understanding and it had remained her passion for more than 60 years.
“I truly believe that if good people everywhere earnestly strive to build the foundations of understanding , good will and a cooperative spirit amongst their fellows—and learn to regard the human race as one people, rather than ‘us’ and ‘others’—world peace is not only possible, but inevitable,” she said.
Among the 200 mourners at her funeral were leaders of the chiropractic profession, including Dennis Richards, national president of the Australian Chiropractors’ Association.
“The service was a very beautiful and moving one, reflecting MAC (as she was affectionately known), and was strongly influenced by her Baha’i Faith,” Dr Richards later wrote in an obituary published on the front page of “The Australian Chiropractor”.
Dr Richards said Dr Chance advanced the profession in Australia with “energy, intelligence and charm”.
For her “multi-faceted” service, which included terms as federal executive secretary of the Australian Chiropractors’ Association and as editor of its journal, Dr Chance was recognised at home and abroad, Dr Richards said.
It was a measure of Dr Chance that although very few members were given the association’s highest recognition, the Meritorious Service Award, she received it three times, he said.
Dr Dana Lawrence, a former editor of JMPT, a major international chiropractic publication, said Dr Chance was “irreplaceable”.
“I looked to Mary Ann as the best of all editors, someone to emulate and from whom I learned a great deal, both about editing and our profession, and, more importantly, about life, spirituality and the world,” Dr Lawrence said.
Service
At Dr Chance’s funeral, chiropractic historian and fellow Baha’i Stanley Bolton, described her family’s long service to the profession, firstly by her grandfather, who was professor of neurology at the Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa in the United States.
Dr Bolton said that her father, Hugh Chance was a prominent lawyer who defended the profession against attacks before being appointed executive director of the International Chiropractors’ Association.
Mr Chance, who first encountered the Baha’i Faith in Australia while a US serviceman during World War 2, later served from 1963-93 as one of the nine members of the Universal House of Justice, the international governing body of the Baha’i Faith.
Mr Chance and his family, including Mary Ann, became Baha’is after a spiritual search prompted by wanting to do something to help prevent a world war ever happening again.
In an article headline “Community grieves loss” in Wagga Wagga’s newspaper “The Daily Advertiser”, Dr Chance was described as a “well-respected member of the Wagga community”.
“Dr Chance had many roles in the community, including the secretary of the 2AAA FM radio station,” the article said. She also served the community as a member of the Lions Club.
Dr Chance is survived by her husband Dr Rolf Peters, three of her four children, three step-children and five grandchildren.