Lessons from My 98-year-old Dad: Share Your Family Stories

by Marilynn Chadwick

"Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong."

1 Corinthians 16:3 NIV

Daddy is one of the few remaining World War II era submarine veterans, and the last man still alive from his submarine, the USS Besugo. “Guess I’ll have to turn out the lights,” he smiles. He and my mom vividly remembered the war—they didn’t take our freedoms for granted. So, growing up, neither did we.

One of the ways they helped us appreciate our heritage was to tell lots of stories—especially about our family. I grew up hearing about Daddy’s submarine adventures in the South China Sea. About rations and blackouts, and brave young friends who lost their lives in the war.

Mom and Dad were also proud of our family’s long history in this country dating back to before the Revolutionary War. Captain Simon Hunt, from Daddy’s mother’s side, was one of the original 80 minutemen who fought the British in the famous battle on the Old North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts. It was on that bridge that the “shot heard round the world” signaled the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Our youngest, Michael Hunt Chadwick, loved hearing his stories about the Hunt family and his namesake.

Education was a given in our home. Mom and Dad were both college graduates back in the day where that was not common. Mom had been the valedictorian of her small country high school and Dad was a campus leader and played basketball at his high school, finishing early to go into the navy. He qualified for submarine school and left for his tour of duty, then returned after World War II to go to college at Virginia Tech on the GI Bill.

Mom’s mother, my Grandmother Eunice, taught first grade for about 50 years. I found her fascinating. One of eight children, her parents had died when she was very young, back in the late 1800s. She left home at an early age and somehow managed to go to college and become a teacher. Then she hopped on a cross-country train going west and taught school in various places along the way. My dad’s mother, Grandmother Lois, was another special role model for me, and I adored her. Like my Grandmother Eunice, she also attended college and played on the very first women’s basketball team at William & Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia.

But it was an episode at a recent family Christmas gathering and our grandchildren’s fascination with one of Daddy’s stories that sparked our interest in putting some of his memories into writing. I’m hearing some of my dad’s stories, especially about his time on the submarine, for the very first time. Tomorrow, you’ll read about one of those adventures.

Lessons from My 98-year-old Dad: The Roots of My Raising Run Deep

by Marilynn Chadwick

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”

Galatians 5:1

Daddy was always proud of his family. Not only his parents and siblings, but also his grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. He often shared stories from his growing up years and said the way he felt about his family reminded him of the old country music song by Merle Haggard, “The Roots of My Raising Run Deep.”

Growing up, I was incredibly fortunate to know my dad’s parents, my grandparents, along with a wonderful collection of aunts, uncles, and cousins. Daddy often talked about his grandparents, with whom his family had shared farmland. I grew up hearing about “Mama Hunt” and “Papa Hunt” who had come from Massachusetts by way of Minnesota, to launch their sawmill business among the hardwoods of eastern Virginia.

As a boy, Daddy spent a lot of time talking with Mama Hunt during the years leading up to World War II. She was quite interested in international politics and world affairs. She stayed up to date on the unrest brewing over in Europe through the radio broadcasts by the famed H. V. Kaltenborn.

Dad was a young teen when World War II broke out, and the United States declared war after the shocking attack at Pearl Harbor in 1941. Dad’s entire family became involved in the war effort, along with families all over our nation. His older cousins served in North Africa. A favorite cousin was a nurse in a medic tent on the battlefields of north Africa. His aunts and uncles were invested in the farming efforts, victory gardens, rations, and blackouts. He talks about how the country united. As he put it, “We were all in.”

Shortly before his eighteenth birthday, Dad entered the Navy. Japan had just surrendered, but the violent aftermath of World War II continued, erupting into the Korean War, China’s Civil War, and what became known as the Cold War. After reporting to Pearl Harbor, Dad ended up in China during the turbulence leading up to the takeover by Communist Mao Tse Tung.

Dad always said that any sacrifices made by his family were to “protect our freedom” and fight against the totalitarian regimes in Germany, Japan, and the Axis forces, and other threats to our democracy. “After those difficult years of the Great Depression, the war effort united us as a family and as a nation,” he said. “Even as a youth, I knew that our freedom, our family, and our faith were well worth the fight.

Lessons from My 98-year-old Dad: Keep Calm and Carry On

by Marilynn Chadwick

“Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him’.”

Genesis 2:18

During our growing up years, Mom was more than just Dad’s companion. She was what the Bible refers to in Genesis 2:18 as his “helper.” The original word in Hebrew is ezer, which means a strong, often heroic, source of support. Mom was both strong and kind and she was Daddy’s rock.

Mom stopped teaching school when the kids came—family was everything to her. She especially loved Dad’s parents and his three sisters and their families. Dad’s job required quite a bit of travel, but Mom never complained. She kept life going for her three daughters. But invariably, most of our life crises seemed to hit when Daddy was away. Like the time I tried to do a cannonball dive into three feet of water and didn’t tuck quite fast enough, hitting my head on the bottom of the swimming pool. After Mom and I took a fast trip to the emergency room and 27 stitches later, Daddy finally made it home.

Recently, when I asked Daddy to describe my mom’s strength, he pointed back to that incident. “I never worried when I was traveling,” he said. “Even when you cracked your head open, I could always count on your mom to handle things. She was always so calm.”

Daddy’s right. Mom honored him through her strong resolve and her ability to keep the family on track. The popular World War II expression “Keep Calm and Carry On” was originally created to inspire the Brits to keep up their courage during the war. And I think it also describes my mom quite well.

Mom and Dad suffered two especially hard losses as a young couple. When I was two, Mom delivered a near term baby girl who died shortly after she was born. Today’s neonatal technology could easily have saved the baby. I have no memories of this incident.

Tragically, the very same thing happened again when I was five. This one I vividly remember. There were two of us girls now. My sister Susan and me. Mom went into premature labor again and delivered a baby—another nearly full-term baby girl, who died soon after birth. Mom, just 28 at the time, somehow managed to keep life moving forward. She had a quiet, but deep faith. I’m sure it was her faith that gave her the strength to persevere. She and Daddy kept hope alive, and two years later welcomed my youngest sister, Janice, whose name means “God’s gracious gift,” into our family.

When I look back at those times in my mother’s life, I don’t know how she kept going. I’m amazed at how Mom and Dad refused to allow those terrible losses to overwhelm our lives as children. They didn’t retreat to fear or hold us back from an active and happy childhood. They bravely kept moving forward—for us. Evidence, again, of their courageous and enduring faith.

For more inspiration and to learn about honor within marriage, click here to download a free copy of Eight Great Ways to Honor Your Husband by Marilynn Chadwick and

Eight Great Ways to Honor Your Wife by David Chadwick.