Community Profile: Chiropractor Warren Kragt

- NOTE: Due to a trial this week, officers from the Ritzville Police Department had to postpone interviews for our Police Profile Series. In its place this week, we offer a profile on Dr. Warren Kragt, a community leader, chiropractor and businessman.

Ritzville - Dr. Warren Kragt has been a part of the Ritzville community for a long time. Kragt, originally from Colfax, came to Ritzville in 1986 to fill a void in the community.

"We had had chiropractors come and go," Kragt said. "So I came and made a commitment to be here full time."

Thirty-four years later, Kragt is still practicing with no plans of retirement in sight.

"I'm going to work as long as I can because I like to do it," Kragt said. "If that's another 10 years, great ... Chiropractors usually keep working until they can't work anymore."

Kragt comes from a family of chiropractors and knew from a young age that he was going to follow in his family's footsteps.

"My dad was a chiropractor," Kragt said. "I'm actually the seventh one in my family. My son is the ninth. We all graduated from [the] Palmer [College of Chiropractic]. I grew up seeing my dad see patients and helping them and I said, 'Hey, that's what I want to do.'"

When Kragt graduated high school in Colfax, he headed to Spokane Falls Community College to complete his prerequisites so he could get accepted into Palmer. He earned his associate degree from SFCC and transferred to Palmer in 1980.

Being from Colfax, Kragt knew he enjoyed life in a small city. While attending Palmer in Davenport, Iowa, he experienced a larger city, but always knew he would be returning home to Washington.

After graduating from Palmer with a doctorate in chiropractic in 1884, Kragt worked in Spokane as an associate doctor. He knew he wanted to start his own practice so he and his father started looking for local areas that needed chiropractic services where he could make his home. Ritzville immediately made sense.

"My dad and I knew there was no chiropractor in Ritzville in 1986," Kragt said. "So he said that would be a good fit and I agreed. I've been here ever since."

Kragt made his interest in the area known.

"We met with the chamber board in early 1986," Kragt said. "They were more than welcome to the idea and anxious to have a chiropractor in the area.

Kragt met his wife in 1981 while he was attending Palmer. Or so he thought. It turns out he had run into her in the past.

"It's a cute story," Kragt said. "She was actually in a church in the late 60s when my dad was going to chiropractic college. We actually met there. So we have pictures of us together in the late 60s."

While a small town like Ritzville didn't faze Kragt at all, he says his wife took a little longer to adjust.

"I don't miss [a big city]," Kragt said. "My wife enjoys going to Spokane a lot more often than I do ... She's from Davenport, Iowa. She knew if she started dating me she'd be moving to the State of Washington."

Over the past 30 plus years, Kragt has involved himself in the Ritzville community. One example is when he ran for public office and was elected to the Ritzville School Board in 2004.

Kragt was part of the board that formed the Lind-Ritzville school co-op.

"At the time, the athletic co-op was already formed, but the educational co-op was not.," Kragt said. "When I was on the board that was a major accomplishment we got done."

Today, Kragt is still pleased to have played a role in that.

"It was the efficiency improvement that made me want to do it," Kragt said. "For example, say you have six kids in a Lind biology class and there's 10 in Ritzville. There's no reason you can't put six and 10 together and have 16, and have one teacher instead of two."

While he enjoyed his time on the school board, Kragt says that first and foremost he is a chiropractor. He says that over the years, he has treated patients as old as 105-years old and as young as a few-days old.

Kragt's office is located at 116 E Main Ave in Ritzville.