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.

Lessons from My 98-year-old Dad: Honor Your Wedding Vows

by Marilynn Chadwick

“Let marriage be held in honor among all…”

Hebrews 13:4a

When people meet my 98-year-old dad, they often ask me, “What’s his secret?” “How does he look so young and stay so sharp?” Daddy would be the first to tell you that part of his secret is that he had a great wife. When my mom went home to be with the Lord three years ago, she and my dad had been married just shy of 70 years.

My mother was bedridden for the last ten of those years. A ruptured appendix and complications from subsequent surgeries robbed the once robust grandmother of her ability to walk. Some of her ability to think and talk also faded. But enough of her brilliant mind remained, so that conversation was possible, though difficult. Daddy insisted upon caring for her at home with the help of nurses’ aides to help him with wheelchair transfers and daily care.

If you asked them, Mom and Dad would each say they “married up.” Mom would always tell us three girls how lucky she was to find Daddy. And Dad said he was just glad his “turn in line” with the other young men who wanted to date Mom finally came. To which Mom would answer back, “Well I was hoping you would ask me out!” One afternoon, near the end of her life, Daddy looked at my mom, lying in the bed after he had just brushed her hair, and said to me, “Doesn’t she look pretty?”

Few can imagine the daunting challenges Mom and Dad faced on a daily basis just so she could live at home. Daddy did the grocery shopping, the cooking, the cleaning, the laundry. There were medical procedures he performed each day. Catheters, baths, diapers. There were occasional trips to the emergency room and hospitalization because of infections.

In good times and in hard times, Mom and Dad honored their wedding vows. That, just by itself, is a beautiful legacy which they passed on to David and me, to our children, and their children. But there is so much more.

Sometimes when we’re in the middle of daily life, we don’t realize the truly heroic nature of the people right in front of us. It all seems so normal at the time. As I reflect, I feel enormous gratitude for my parents’ sacrifices that paved the way for the life I have today. And especially for my faith, my family, and my freedom.

Daddy and I are working together to collect and preserve these and other memories. We’re also including important life lessons he learned as a World War II era submarine sailor. My dad especially wants to pass on this legacy to his great grandchildren, and as he puts it, “anyone else who will listen.” So, over the next two weeks, I’ll be sharing life lessons I’ve learned from my dad.

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.