117 Interesting and Influential Family Members From 1900 to 1945 1016-1840  1840-1900  1900-1945  1945-Present
Surname Family Tree Diagrams Surname Facts Historical Statistics Recent Statistics Famous Family Members to 1840 to 1900 to 1945 to Present Family Trees: Chaffe, Chaffey, Chaffee, Chafy, Chafe Chaffe/Chaffey Lineage in England from 1016 Chaffee/Chafee Lineage in America from 1637 Chafe Lineage in Canada from 1705	Chaff - 2 Chafy - 2 Chafe - 25 Chaffe - 4 Chafey - 1 Chafee - 5 Chaffey - 28 Chaffee - 39 Chaif - 1 Shared - 10

James Warren Chafe: (1900-1984) Born in Springfield, Manitoba.  Son of James Warren Chafe (1862-1922) from Quidi Vidi, Newfoundland, Jim Chafe lived most of his life in Winnipeg.  His accomplishments were numerous, and he was, often at the same time, an actor, athlete, author, broadcaster, educator, musician and playwright.  As a young man he learned to play six musical instruments including the trombone.  In the 1920s he acted with traveling theatre companies in Canada and the USA and, as a left handed pitcher with a devastating roundhouse curve, set a baseball strikeout record that remained unsurpassed for over 30 years.  In the Depression years he turned his interests to education and found it to be his calling.  Over these years he taught high school, taught abroad in New Zealand and later in Germany, became a school principal, and later a prolific broadcaster and playwright with the CBC and local radio stations.  He acted with the Manitoba Theatre Company.  Over 100 stories from Canadian political and social history were written for radio.  And, in his “spare” time in his words, he wrote seven successful Canadian history books.  One book was a high school textbook for many years in Ontario and the Prairie Provinces.  After taking up jogging at age 65, he produced three (unpublished) novels set in western Canada.  His autobiography “When We Were Young, Winnipeg and I,” was published as a series of 40 articles in a Winnipeg seniors’ newspaper in the early 1980's.

Clarence Church Chaffee: (1901-1986)  Born in Williamstown, Berkshire County, Massachusetts or New York, NY.  He was the son of Jonathan Irwin Chaffee (b.1861) and Betsy Wright Marvel of Seekonk, Massachusetts.  Clarence ("Chafe") Chaffee arrived at Williams College Massachusetts in 1937 to coach soccer and tennis.  He began the squash program in 1938 and coached Williams' first intercollegiate squash team in 1939.  He continued teaching and playing the game until his retirement in 1970, setting a standard for sportsmanship and excellence of play.  In 1973 Chaffee Tennis House on the campus was built.  To honor his contribution to the game of college squash, Chaffee was inducted into the National Intercollegiate Squash Racquets Association (NISRA) Hall of Fame in 1990.  Colleagues called him one of the finest all-around racquets athletes and coaches.  He amassed more than 50 national senior titles in singles and doubles.  The Clarence Church C. Memorial Scholarship was established in 1987 and is given annually to the player who best combines and displays a high standard of tennis coupled with the highest levels of sportsmanship.  He married Frances Burton and died 13 December 1986, in North Adams, MA

Edwin George Chafe: (1904-?)  Born in Petty Harbour Newfoundland, Edwin moved to Montreal and later to Sherbrooke, Quebec.  He was a Sergeant in the 27th Armoured Regiment, Sherbrooke Fusilier's.  He participated in the landing in Normandy on June 6, 1944.  One the first day he was involved in battles with the 21st SS Panzer Division who were stationed in the village of Buron.  This formation was made up of teenagers from the Hitler Jugend and led by Standartenführer Kurt Meyer.  The SS smashed the Canadian line and took prisoners.  On June 7 at L’Ancienne Abbaye, Ardenne, the Germans shot many Canadian prisoners, six from the 27th Armoured.  Both sides believed that the enemy was executing prisoners and later evidence against Kurt Meyer lead to his sentencing for being the senior officer in charge.  Kurt Meyer's 12th SS had been a division of 20,000 men with 150 tanks on D-Day.  On August 25th it had less than 300 men, no tanks or artillery.  At the much publicized trial, the verdict handed out was commuted to life imprisonment, to the outrage of many Canadians who followed the post war war crimes.  Meyer was transferred to a prison in West Germany.  Edwin George Chafe was a witness to this events whose regiment engaged the Panzer Division throughout the battles at Normandy.

Dr. Eugene B. Chaffee: (1905-1992)  Attended Boise Junior College, Idaho from 1923 and 1924.  Dr. Eugene Chaffee's father was Pastor Elmer Chaffee, grandson of Fernando Henry Chaffee and great grandson of Eber Kize.  He did not get a degree at the college but was active in student affairs, Voorhees Hall and the school newspaper.  In 1932, Dr. Eugene Chaffee and seven other instructors became the first faculty of the newly created Boise Junior College.  In 1936, Chaffee served as the first president of the college.  For 31 years he led the college and guided it's expansion and evolution into Boise State University.  He became one of Idaho’s best-known educators and brought national recognition to the college for its exceptional programs.  In 1940, Albertson College awarded him an honorary doctorate of arts and letters.  Nine professors and President Chaffee joined the military during WWII.  The University of Idaho awarded him an honorary doctorate of law in 1964.  In 1976, he received the Boise State University Silver Medallion, the institution’s highest award.  Chaffee Hall on the university campus was rededicated to him in 1995. 

Chaffee, Missouri and the Chaffee Real Estate Company: (1906)  It is most likely that the town of Chaffee, Missouri (population 3,044) was named in honor of General Adna Chaffee who served during the Spanish-American War.  It is also possible that the town was named for a Mr. Chaffee who was reported to be a prominent real estate agent located in the Chemical Building in St. Louis.  Regardless, the Chaffee Real Estate Company was instrumental in founding Chaffee, based on plans Benjamin Franklin Yoakum, President of the Frisco Railroad in 1900, and spurred on by a bridge competed in 1905  (3959 ft long) across the Mississippi at Thebes.  By 1905, Yoakum had consolidated the operations of his existing railroad sufficiently to begin construction of a line to the Gulf of Mexico.  A line was needed between St. Louis to Memphis.  In this gap was positioned the site of Chaffee. The Chaffee Real Estate Company bought the land for the city and had it developed for the railway.  The Frisco Railroad was given 150 acres.  The most influential men connected with the development were James W. Black, Mr. Parker, H.W. Beardsley, Ike Cook and James Cook of St Louis; and Judge Wright and George Murray of Effingham, Illinois.  The site was developed on land known as the "Old Cox Farm".  The town was incorporated in 1906.  A quote from the real estate firm's brochure stated "When Southeast Missouri is fully developed there will be no richer nor more prosperous section on this continent, and Chaffee will be its commercial metropolis."  Railroad construction men moved into Chaffee in 1905, and by the end of the year the railroad facilities built included an office building for railroad officials, a substantial passenger station and a roundhouse that could accommodate 30 locomotives.  In addition, a freight yard, water works system, car repair shop, powerhouse and a large machine shop building were in place at Chaffee within little more than a year of the time tracks were first laid.  By December, 40 buildings were built or under construction.  One of the cities main streets was named Yoakum.  The building boom continued into 1908-1909; the Astoria Hotel ("one of the most modern hotels in Southeast Missouri"), a ball park, a planing mill, five store buildings, a restaurant, an elevator, an "electric theater" and numerous cottages and boarding houses.  However in 1913 due massive debts, Mississippi river flooding and a recession, the railroad went into bankruptcy.  The Frisco was repurchased many times over the years and as of 1980, merged into the Burlington Northern Railroad.  The First National Bank of Chaffee was chartered in 1911, issued $392,320 in bank notes and went into receivership in 1931.  The backing for the currency was the amount of the bonds on deposit.  In the US, from 1863 to 1935, issuing local bank notes was a common practice - until there was a common central US currency in 1929.  President William McKinley (1897-1901) is pictured on the $10 First National Bank of Chaffee note and the signatures are those of the President and Cashier of the bank.

Albert H. Chafe: (1909-1941)  Born in Newfoundland.  At 0030 June 29 1941 a torpedo launched by U-651 sunk the S.S. Grayburn at position 50.223ºN 41.767ºW, south of Iceland.  Thirty five of the crew were lost including fireman Albert H. Chafe.  The ship master John William Sygrove and 16 survivors from the Grayburn were picked up by corvette HMS Violet and transferred to the British rescue ship Zaafaran.  Later that day, the U-boat was sunk by depth charges from the British destroyers HMS Malcolm and HMS Scimitar, the British corvettes HMS Arabis and HMS Violet and the British minesweeper HMS Speedwell.  There were 45 survivors and no casualties.  The 6,342 ton British registered steam freighter Grayburn was part of convoy BHX-133, and was carrying steel and trucks.  The ships voyage originated in Balitmore and then departed Halifax on June 16 and arrived in Liverpool.  U-651 (Type V11C) was launched Dec 21 1940 under Commander Peter Lohmeyer.  Earlier on 24th Lohmeyer sank the 5,297 ton British Brockley Hill in the same convoy.

William Benjamin Chaffey:  (1914- )  Born in California.  Grandson of William Benjamin Chaffey (1856-1926).  Edwards and Chaffey Wines are situated 7 km north of the McLaren Vale Township, New South Wales and 8 km from the coast (35.173ºS 138.555ºE).  Seaview Winery was owned and operated by William Benjamin and friend Henry Edwards.  The valley has been used for wine maturation for more than 140 years.  Its history dates back to 1850 when Englishman, George Pitches Manning, purchased 65 hectares of land, cleared the property, planted wheat and named it “Hope Farm”. Noting the potential for grape vines, he planted some muscatel and built a small pug cellar.  Within five years, Manning’s wines were gaining recognition in the growing Adelaide market and, in 1855, he built a larger winery, planted more varieties and doubled in size of his vineyard.  The property changed hands several times and around 1948, was purchased by Chaffey and Edwards.  William Benjamin was a graduate of Adelaide's Roseworthy Agricultural College.  Edwards was an experienced viticulturist.  They changed the name of the property to “Seaview” to reflect the seascapes of St. Vincent’s Gulf that could be glimpsed from the hills on the property.  They increased the vineyard plantings with additional cabernet sauvignon and shiraz and planted riesling, malbec, palomino and sauvignon blanc.  In 1954 they began bottling on a large scale and by 1957 had established a thriving cellar door trade.  In 1951, Edwards and Chaffey introduced Seaview Cabernet Sauvignon which had distinction of being on of Australia’s first varietally-labelled table wines.  Exemplifying the generous flavours associated with McLaren Vale, Seaview Cabernet Sauvignon has earned a reputation for quality, consistency and value.  The Section 353 wines are named after the lot number of the original McLaren Vale vineyard, and includes Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Chardonnay varieties. The company is now a subsidiary of Southcorp, Australia's largest producer of wines contributing approximately 30% of the domestic market.

Davis Elliott Chaffee: (1915-1942)  Born in Hartland Township, Ohio and enlisted in the Navy, January 1941.  He was appointed Ensign September 1941, and naval aviator October 1941.  While serving with Bomber Squadron 5 (VB5) based on the Yorktown (CV5), he was killed in action during the Battle of the Coral Sea May 8, 1942, 600 miles northeast of Australia (16.267ºS 162.333ºE).  This was the first major sea battle between Japanese and United States naval forces in WWII.  It was also the first battle in history where two naval forces fought using only aircraft and without opposing ships ever seeing each other.  Davis was flying a TBD Devastator Torpedo Bomber which required a crew of three and launched one Mk-XIII torpedo.  The Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo-bomber was the first low-wing, all metal monoplane to see service with the US Navy.  Unfortunately, given the design of the torpedoes used, attacks had to be made at a maximum speed of only about 110 MPH, and at an altitude of no more than 100 feet. This made the Devastator and easy target for both enemy fighters or anti-aircraft gunners.  Davis participated in the air-sea battles on May 7th and 8th.  At 11:50 on May 7th, the Japanese light carrier Shoho was attacked and sunk by 22 TBD Devastator torpedo bombers, 18 F4F Wildcat fighters and 53 SBD Dauntless scout bombers from the Lexington and the Yorktown.  The Shoho was sunk by thirteen bombs and seven torpedoes.  This was the first loss of a significant ship by the Imperial Navy in WWII.  At 10:58 on May 8th, 39 planes from the Yorktown and later 21 planes from the Lexington severely damaged the flight deck, fuel storage tanks and engine repair shop of the Japanese carrier Shokaku.  The Yorktown scored two bomb hits and the Lexington, one.  The airplanes of Lieutenant John J. (Jo Jo) Powers and Ensign Davis E. Chaffee were the only ones that did not return from the attack on the Shokaku.  The Shokaku was not sunk.  She eventually sank in the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944.  At 20:00 on May 8th, the Lexington was scuttled by the US destroyer Phelps after being attacked by 69 planes from the Shokaku and Zuikaku.  The Yorktown was badly damaged during Battle of Midway in June 1942 and two days later was sunk by a Japanese submarine.  Davis was posthumously awarded a Navy Cross for his courage in participating in attacks on the Japanese carriers (source: DANFS, Vol. 2, 1963, reprint 1969, page 65).  Two years after Davis' death, the Destroyer Escort USS Chaffee DE-230, was commissioned.  The Chaffee was sponsored by Mrs. L.C. Chaffee.

Don Chaffey: (1917-1990)  Born in Hastings, East Sussex, England.  Beginning in an assistants post at Britain's Gainsborough Studios in 1944, Don Chaffey was promoted to head of the studio's art direction department within two years.  Chaffey made his directorial bow with the award-winning The Mysterious Poacher (1950).  On the strength of this one film, he was tagged as a family and children's director, despite occasionally delving into much more mature films as A Question of Adultery (1958), The Man Upstairs (1958), and A Matter of Who (1961).  Hired by Walt Disney to direct 1961's Greyfriars Bobby (1960), Chaffey remained a Disney regular into the 1970s, helming the made-for-TV The Prince and the Pauper (1962) and Horse Without a Head (1962), and the theatrical features Three Lives of Thomasina (1963) and Pete's Dragon (1977).  Chaffey worked with stop-motion wizard Ray Harryhausen as the director for Jason and the Argonauts (1963) and One Million Years B.C. (1967).  Credited with over 64 movie, TV movies and TV series including: The Avengers (1961) TV series, The Prisoner (1967), Charlie's Angels (1976) TV series, Fantasy Island (1978) TV series, T.J. Hooker (1982) TV series, Mission: Impossible (1988) TV Series.  Don Chaffey's last projects included the TV movies Casino (1980) and International Airport (1985).  He was also a the producer for Lies My Father Told Me (1960) and a writer for The Crooked Road (1965).  Don Chaffey died in Kawau Island, New Zealand.  Not related to Don, but heavily involved in the Hollywood film industry was Mary Chaffee.  She was a script supervisor for 40 TV shows and B-Western movies from 1948 to 1958.  These included the TV Series Gunsmoke (1955) and Have Gun - Will Travel (1957).  Joan Chaffee was a Goldwyn Girl dancer in the 1944 movie Up in Arms staring Dinah Shore and Danny Kaye in his first movie.  She was also a WWII Pinup celebrity.

Charles Donald Chaffey: (1918-1988)  Attended school in Vancouver, BC.  Grandson of Charles Francis Chaffey.  Charles left second year Engineering at University of British Columbia to take a Chartered Accountant's course before joining the RCNVR at HMCS Discovery as an Ordinary Seaman in October 1940.  As an officer candidate, he went overseas to Raleigh for his first assignment on the Hunt class destroyer HMS Pytchley.  In March 1941 he was assigned to ML-209 operating out of St. Christopher for training as part of the 6th MGB Flotilla and later assigned to MTB-232 in the 21st MTB Flotilla.  For the attack on Dieppe, he served in ML-309 which did rescue work off the coast during the action.  After Dieppe, he took command of MTB-232 until January 1943.  He was the CO of MTB-465 in March 1944 as part of the 29th Canadian HMCMTB Flotilla for operations in the English Channel on D-Day.  The MTB flotillas fought German E-boats (torpedo boats) and flak ships, disrupted enemy coastal convoys, cleared mines, and landed supplies for agents on German-occupied islands.  On May 16, 1944, along with 5 other MTB's, his crew participated in a hazardous mine intelligence gathering mission to the coast of France.  They proceeded to the planned D-Day beaches, and protected soldiers who were assigned to lift sample mines from the German beach defence.  They managed to complete their mission undetected and return safely.  What was learned from dismantling these mines enabled the Allies to avoid considerable casualties on D-Day.  On D-Day, the MTB's protected the flanks of the landing beaches and attempted to block enemy harbours.  Charles received his MID (Mentioned-in-Despatches, a military gallantry award for Canadian Volunteers) for his actions in MTB-465 during the invasion of Normandy.  His nickname was "Chuff Chuff".  Charles later moved to Montreal.

John Lester Hubbard Chafee: (1922-1999)  Born in Providence, Rhode Island.  John came from a family long prominent in politics.  He appears to be related to Zechariah Chafee or Chaffee (b.1859) in Providence, RI.  Two relatives on his mother’s side had served as governors of Rhode Island, great grandfather, Henry Lippitt (1875-77) and great uncle, Charles Warren Lippitt (1895-97).  Another great-uncle, Henry Frederick Lippitt (1911-17), had been a US Senator from Rhode Island.  Uncle Zechariah Chafee, Jr. was a noted Harvard law professor.  He obtained his early education in Providence, and Deerfield Academy, MA.  After graduating from Deerfield in 1940, he entered Yale University, but left to enlist in the US Marine Corps.  He served as a private, landing with the first assault troops at Guadalcanal.  In 1943, he attended Officers Candidate School and was commissioned as second lieutenant.  He went to Guam and served with the 6th Marine Division in the battle of Okinawa in 1945.  Chafee returned to Yale in 1946 and graduated with a B.A. in 1947.  He continued his studies at Harvard Law School and graduated in 1950.  He was a lawyer in Providence when the Korean War broke out.  He was recalled to active duty in 1951 and served as a Rifle Company commander with the 1st Marine Division.  In 1953 he was released from the Marines and returned to civilian life.  Starting in 1952, Chafee helped as a campaign manager for the Republican party.  In 1956, Chafee won the endorsement for Rhode Island House of Representatives and went on to win in the general election.  He was re-elected in 1958 and 1960.  In 1958, he was chosen by the Republican members of the House to be the House Minority leader (1959-62).  Chafee was elected for a third term in 1960.  In 1962, Chafee officially declared his candidacy for state governor, and won by only 398 votes.  He was Governor of Rhode Island from 1963 to 1968 and during his three terms he signed anti-discrimination legislation in housing and employment, established a health care plan for the state's elderly, supported the construction of Interstate 95, acquisition of land for state woodlands and waterfront parks, and the expansion of the state vocational training program.  Chafee met defeat in 1968 and decided to enter federal politics.  He was appointed Secretary of the Navy from 1969 until 1972.  In May 1969 he succeeded in overruling the court martial of Commander Lloyd Bucher of the USS Pueblo, who had been captured, along with his crew, by the North Koreans in 1968.  He oversaw the reduction of Navy personnel in Vietnam (by 96%).  Chafee approved the F-14 carrier-based fighter jet, the SSN-688 class nuclear submarine, the P-3C anti-submarine aircraft, the S-3A carrier-based ASW aircraft, and the Spruance Class antisubmarine destroyers. He appointed the first Black admiral of the US Navy, as well as permitted women to enrol in Officer Training and a oversaw recruitment of a substantial number of minority race officers.  Chafee resigned in 1972 to run for the U.S. Senate.  He lost and returned to private law practice.  In 1976 he won the Senate seat.  He became Rhode Island's first Republican senator in forty-six years.  He was re-elected in 1982, 1988, and 1994. Considered one of the Senate's most liberal Republicans, Chafee earned high praise from both the American Civil Liberties Union and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce during his tenure.  He assisted passage of numerous environmental laws, including the Superfund Toxic Waste Cleanup Program (1980), the Clean Air Act (1986), the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act (1990), and the Safe Drinking Water Act (1995).  From 1994 he chaired the Senate Environmental, was a senior member of the Public Works Committee, served on the Finance and Intelligence committees and the Joint Committee on Taxation.  Chafee's liberal leanings were reflected in his efforts to expand Medicaid to include maternal care, child health programs, and community health centers for the uninsured and the disabled.  President Clinton said that Chafee "embodied the decent center which has carried America from triumph to triumph for over 200 years".  The Chafee Social Science Building named in his honour is located on the University of Rhode Island Campus was built in 1972.  A statue in his honour is located in Colt State Park, Bristol RI.  At 329 acres, the John H. Chafee National Wildlife Refuge, near Wakefield, RI provides habitat for the largest black duck population in Rhode Island.  The park name was changed from the Pettaquamscutt Cove National Wildlife Refuge in 1999.  The John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor is a region of 250,000 acres between Worcester, MA and Providence, RI created to promote the area's cultural, historical, business and environmental assets.  In 2000 Chafee was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Helen Chaffey Bowring: (1927- )  Helen grew up in Mildura, Victoria, Australia where she has lived most of her life.  Both the Bowring and Chaffey families were instrumental in the establishment of Mildura and other Murray River communities.  She was affected by polio at the age of nine-months, but remarkably, she lives independently and has a very active career and livelihood, despite being in a wheelchair much of her life.  After attending Mildura High School she went to Melbourne University, earning a Degree in Art, followed by a Diploma of Education with specialties in teaching English and Latin.  She returned to Mildura to begin a 33-year teaching career at Mildura High School.  Helen was an enthusiastic Girl Guide when she was young and now belongs to the Trefoil Guild for ex-Guides.  She assists with Vision Australia, an organization that helps people with vision impairment, by reading newspapers over a special radio station.  She is a member of the Mildura Historical Society and serves at the society’s Carnegie Center.

Dr. John Taft Chaffey: ( 1927- )   Born in Los Angeles and raised in Palm Springs CA in a house built for his family by George Chaffey (1848-1932).  John was drafted at age 18 and after his WWII military service, he attended college on the GI Bill, taught science and biology in high school and went on to medical school at McGill University in Montreal (1964).  He later specialized in radiation oncology at Yale and formed a new department at Harvard called the Joint Center for Radiation Therapy (JCRT), covering five hospitals in the Harvard medical area.  Over thirty years JCRT grew to include six satellite departments and twenty-six physicians, and had trained over a hundred radiation oncologists.  Dr. Chaffey retired to Bend, Oregon.

Dr. Wallace L. Chafe: (1927- )  Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Wallace's distant family was from Newfoundland who moved to Boston sometime before the 1890's.  Wallace received his BA (1950), his MA in Linguistics (1956) and his PhD (1958) from Yale University.  From 1958 to 1959 he was an Assistant Professor of Modern Languages at the University of Buffalo.  He worked at the Smithsonian Institution 1959-1962 as a Linguist.  He was a Professor of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley from 1962-1986, and at the University of California, Santa Barbara from 1986-1991, and since then Professor Emeritus.  His major research is on native languages - especially those of the Iroquoian and Caddoan families.  His research involves understanding language from a functional and cognitive perspective.  He has studied the differences between speaking and writing, applications of linguistics to literature, and the functions of prosody.  Among his many writings have been the books Meaning and the Structure of Language (1970) and Discourse, Consciousness, and Time (1994). 

Dr. Paul Chaffee: (1928-1990)  Born in Port Huron, Michigan.  Paul earned a DVM from Michigan State University School of Veterinary Medicine.  He practiced veterinary medicine for two years in Chicago before establishing his own veterinary hospital in California.  He then became the Veterinarian for Roeding Park Zoo in Fresno and a few years later became its Director.  He oversaw the development of a small collection of wildlife into a medium-sized facility with significant programs in education and conservation.  In 1985 the zoo changed its name to the Fresno Zoological Gardens.  Chaffee established new programs of nutrition, quarantine, education, and treatment were established to meet the growing professional standards of the zoo.  He traveled to acquire giraffes and elephants, and building relationships with other zoos for animal exchanges and breeding programs.  Chaffee raised baby apes and tigers in their own home and worked so blind people could “see” the animals.  He was President of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians.  In 1990, Paul was the recipient of American Zoo and Aquarium Association highest honor, the R. Marlin Perkins Award.  In 1990 the Chaffee Zoological Gardens was renamed after him.

Nancy Ann Chaffee: (1929-2002)  Born in Ventura, California.  In the late 1940s, she played on the men's tennis team at the University of Southern California as the school did not have a women's team at the time.  Nancy ranked # 4 in world in women's hard court tennis in 1953-1956 winning 14 national titles. She was a three-time national indoor champion and two-time winner of the national junior championship.  She was the first unseeded woman to ever reach the semi-finals of the U.S. Open.  She married a professional baseball player, Ralph Kiner of the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Kiner told broadcasting friend, Lindsey Nelson, about his wife "When I married Nancy, I vowed I'd beat her at tennis someday. After six months, she beat me 6-2. After a year, she beat me 6-4. After we were married a year and a half, I pushed her to 7-5. Then it happened she had a bad day and I had a good one, and I beat her 17-15".  At this point in the story, Kiner was asked if his wife had been sick on that day. "Of course not!" he said.  Then he added, "Well - she was eight months pregnant."  Chaffee married long-time ABC and CBS sports caster Jack Whitaker in 1991.

Dr. Steven H. Chaffee: (1935-2001)  Born in South Gate, California.  Steven was a highly regarded communication scholar and professor of International Communication.  He earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Redlands and his master's in journalism at the University of California-Los Angeles.  He worked as a journalist at several Los Angeles-area newspapers before becoming a communication scholar.  After earning his doctorate from Stanford University in 1965, Chaffee worked as a professor at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison until 1981, when he returned to Stanford to teach in the Department of Communication.  He served as director of the Institute for Communication Research from 1981 to 1985 and again from 1994 to 1996.  His research focused primarily on the role of politics in mass communication.  He was one of the foremost scholars of political communication, of how people used and responded to mass media for political information and how the mass media exerted political influence.  Chaffee wrote 13 books and more than 100 articles and book chapters in his lifetime.  He retired from the department in 1999 after having served as chairman two times.  One of Chaffee's projects was a study of Kids Voting USA, an effort to encourage schoolchildren to participate in elections.  His research indicated that children's civic enthusiasm made their parents more likely to vote.

Roger Bruce Chaffee: (1935-1967)  Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Roger's father, Don Chaffee, was a barnstorming pilot who flew a Waco 10 biplane.  He presented shows at fairgrounds, transported passengers and parachute jumpers.  Later, Don worked for Army Ordnance in Greenville and in 1942 was transferred to the Grand Rapids where he served as Chief Inspector of Army Ordnance.  Roger enjoyed his first airplane ride at age seven.  In 1953 Roger Chaffee graduated from Central High School in Grand Rapids.  Chaffee was offered a Naval ROTC scholarship and in September 1953, he began the fall semester at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.  He started flying in 1957 and in that year he completed his Naval training and was awarded a degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Purdue University.  He married Martha Horn in 1957.  In 1958 he started aircraft carrier training.  He worked extensively in photo reconnaissance.  In 1962 Roger started his Master's degree in Reliability Engineering at the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson AFB.  While doing his studies, Chaffee participated in astronaut candidate testing.  Over this career he logged more than 2,300 hours flying time, including more than 2,000 hours in jet aircraft.  In 1963 Chaffee learned that he was one of 14 candidates for the third wave of astronauts, this time for the NASA Lunar Program.  Training included geography and mineralogy field trips to the Grand Canyon, Alaska, Iceland and Hawaii; crater studies in Arizona; surveying in New Mexico's and survival training in Panama and Nevada.  His training also included knowledge of spacecraft equipment and systems, spacecraft simulators, egress procedures, rescue techniques, G forces launch and re-entry conditioning and Extravehicular Activity techniques.  He gained valuable experiences by serving as one of the capsule communicators (Capcom) for the Gemini 4 mission in June 1965.  He flew a chase plane to take pictures of the launch of an unmanned Saturn 1B rocket.  In 1966 Chaffee was named as Pilot, along with Gus Grissom as Commander and Ed White as Senior Pilot of the Apollo 1.  The purpose of Apollo I was to test and evaluate all major spacecraft systems as well as the ground tracking and control facilities.  In 1967 he started the final round of pre-flight Apollo testing.  Astronauts Chaffee, Grissom and White entered the Command Module for the plugs-out test on January 27, 1967 at Pad 34, Kennedy Space Center, Florida.  Chaffee took the pilot's couch on the right side of the spacecraft.  His primary duty was to maintain communications with the Blockhouse as the test proceeded.  The test was extensive and would drag on for hours so that the spacecraft could be evaluated, system by system and procedure by procedure.  However a fire swept through the Apollo Command Module.  Roger Chaffee chose to remain in his seat, attempting to transmit emergency messages while the fire raged throughout the Apollo spacecraft.  As a result of the incident, major modifications were made to Apollo.  These included a new hatch design; a change in the launch pad spacecraft cabin atmosphere from 100% oxygen to a mixture of 60/40% oxygen/nitrogen mix; better protection for wiring and oxygen tubing; and new materials to reduce flammability.  He was buried in Section 3, Lot 2502-F, Grid Q-15/16 of Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, near the grave of Grissom and other astronauts. The Apollo/Saturn 204 mission was officially assigned the name "Apollo 1" in honor of Grissom, White, and Chaffee.  The first Saturn V launch (un-crewed) in November 1967 was designated Apollo 4 (no missions were ever designated Apollo 2 or 3). 

Susan Chaffey: (1935- )   Born in Los Angeles, CA.  Susan grew up in the Pasadena area of Southern California where she attended local public schools.  She graduated from the University of Redlands with a Degree is Sociology.  She later earned a Master of Arts Degree in Special Education at Sonoma State University.   She married right after college in Redlands and worked for the San Bernardino County in Juvenile Probation.  She and her husband then moved to Santa Rosa in Northern California.  Susan became a credentialed special education teacher and founded an agency that served infants and preschoolers who have developmental special needs.  She also taught courses at Santa Rosa Junior College and Sonoma State University.  She and her husband Martin Powell are authors of A Chaffey Family, which extensively covers the history of a major branch of the Chaffey family in England, Canada, United States, Australia and New Zealand.  They have also contributed in making the public aware of the history of Chaffey Garcia House, owned by Susan's ancestor, George Chaffey (1848-1932).

 Camp/Fort Chaffee: (1941- ) Built in 1941 and located in Arkansas, south west of Fort Smith.  The camp was named after Major General Adna R. Chaffee Jr.  From 1942 to 1946 Camp Chaffee was the training center for the 6th, 14th and 16th Armored Divisions for World War II.  From 1943-1946 3,000 German prisoners of war encamped at Camp Chaffee.  From 1948 to 1957 was the home for the 5th Armored Division.  In 1956 the camp was re-designated Fort Chaffee.  On March 25, 1958 the media photographed the most famous hair cut in history at building #803 in Fort Chaffee, as Elvis Presley was inducted into the US Army.  He spent four days at the Fort.  In 1975 Fort Chaffee was home to 50,809 Southeast Asian refugees and later to 25,390 Caribbean refugees (1980-1982).  Movie set for A Soldier's Story (1983) and Biloxi Blues (1987).  It served as the Joint Readiness Training Center for light combat forces from 1987 to 1993.  More than 50,000 Army National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers train there annually. The Fort Chaffee Military Reservation (35.3093ºN 94.3236ºW) is 100 square miles (71,359 acres) in area.  In 2004, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Base Realignment and Closure Program allocated 7,000 acres of the Fort property for the Chaffee Crossing residential, commercial and industrial development.

Frederic H. Chaffee:  (1941- )  Born to an Army family in West Point, NY.  His father, Frederic Henry Chaffee, was from Faribault, MN.  His great-grandfather was Henry Chaffee born in 1826, Becket, MA.  Fred received his B.A. in Physics from Dartmouth College (1963) and later his PhD in Astronomy from the University of Arizona (1968).  He worked as an astronomer for the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory at Mt. Hopkins Arizona from 1968-1996.  In 1996, he was appointed the first Director of the W.M. Keck Observatory located on the 13,796 summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii (19.828ºN 155.478ºW).  The observatory, built in 1993 by Caltech and the University of California, operates the world's largest optical and infrared telescopes.  Each telescope's primary mirror is four times larger than Hubble's, obtaining images four times sharper than Hubble in the near infrared.  Key research of the observatory includes the observation of the Shoemaker-Levy comet crashing into Jupiter, using gravitational lenses to discover galaxies at the most distant edge of the universe, using supernovaes to determine the expansion rate of the universe, observation of a supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way, searching for atomic gases in the regions of space between galaxies, helping to solve the riddle of gamma ray bursts, and discovering planets outside the solar system and close observations of our planets and their moons.

Winnie Chafe: From Glace Bay, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.  Winnie Chafe is a highly respected figure within Cape Breton Island’s musical culture.  Winnie has successfully played in the international fiddling stage since the 1950's.  The first woman to become an International Fiddling Champion.  She has been featured on numerous national radio and television programs including her lead role in the CBC television program Ceilidh in the 1970's.  She has toured the world and teaches her unique style of Scottish violin to up and coming prodigies in Cape Breton.  She has performed for royalty and has received two honorary doctorates in recognition of her contribution to the legacy of Cape Breton’s music.  Her daughter Patricia Chafe is a classically trained pianist, composer and music arranger who also specializes in Scottish music.

Dr. William Henry Chafe: (1942- )  Born in Boston, Massachusetts.  He was raised in Cambridge and then went to Harvard College, graduating in 1962.  In 1965, he was a student in the graduate program in American history at Columbia University where he received his Ph.D. in 1971.  He taught for one year at Vassar College, and then began his career at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.  Dr. Chafe has written two books on the history of post-World War II America, and a biography of the liberal crusader Allard Lowenstein.  The author of eight books overall, he has received the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award (1981) for Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina and the Black Struggle for Freedom (1980); the Sidney Hillman book award (1994) for Never Stop Running; Allard Lowenstein and the Struggle to Save American Liberalism (1993).  Co-director of the Duke Oral History Program, and its Center for the Study of Civil Rights and Race Relations.  His other books include: Unfinished Journey: America since World War II; History of Our Time: Readings on Postwar America;  Achievement of American Liberalism: The New Deal and Its Legacies;  Paradox of Change: American Women in the 20th Century;  Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell about Life in the Segregated South;  The Road to Equality: American Women Since 1962, Vol. 10;  Women and Equality: Changing Patterns in American Culture;  America since 1945; American Woman: Her Changing Social, Economic and Political Roles, 1920-1970.  From 1990 to 1995 Chafe chaired the Duke University Department of History.  In 1995 he became Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and in 1997 as Dean of Trinity College.

USS George Chaffey: (1942-1972)  A WWII Liberty Ship (EC2-S-C1 Type) hull 671, one of a fleet of 2,751 similar cargo ships and named after George Chaffey of California.  She was built in two months and launched in October by the California Shipbuilding Corp., Terminal Island.  The design for Liberty Ships was originally from Britain; all welded, 440 feet long, and oil burning.  Britain provided the design to the US as part of the "Lend-Lease" plan allowing the USA to build ships to counteract the U-boat losses in the Atlantic.  Early on, each ship took about 230 days to build, but the average eventually dropped to 42 days, with the record being set by the USS Robert E. Peary, which was launched 4 days and 15 1/2 hours after the keel was laid.  The ships were 441 feet long and 56 feet wide, with a speed of 11 knots.  Her five holds could carry over 9,000 tons of cargo, plus airplanes, tanks, and locomotives lashed to its deck.  A Liberty ship could carry 2,840 jeeps, 440 tanks, or 230 million rounds of rifle ammunition.  The US deployed ships were named after prominent deceased Americans.  Sixty ships were built by the US for Britain, while Canada built 354 more.  Their anticipated life span was only five years, and so great was the expected casualty rate that the U.S. Navy considered one safe voyage per ship a full quota.  By the end of the war, Liberty Ships had carried about 75% of all the cargo that went to support the American war effort.  In 1955 the Chaffey was converted to a US Navy Auxiliary and then laid up Mobile AL.  It has been estimated that as late as 1960 Liberty Ships made up around 40% of the world general cargo fleet.  In 1972 she was scrapped in Panama City.

US M24 Chaffee Light Tank: (1943-1960)  Christened in honor of General Adna R Chaffee Jr.  Design of the M24 was begun in mid-1943 in order to replace the M5A1 light tank, which suffered from insufficient armament, lack of room in the turret and over-heating of the engine.  A small number entered service in time to be used in Europe, seeing action at the crossing of the Rhine and the later stages of the campaign against Germany.  The tank was used in the Battle of the Bulge in January 1945.  The M24 Chaffee, arguably the best light tank of World War II, was a fast light armoured vehicle with the ability to deliver relatively large calibre direct fire with the excellent 75 mm M6 gun.  4415 tanks were produced by Cadillac and Massey-Harris during 1943-45.  The first reached Europe in late 1944, where they proved very effective and highly reliable.  However, at the outset of the Korean War American forces equipped with the with M24 Chaffee's performed poorly against the enemy's T-34/85s, and these US units were soon augmented with M26 Pershing's and M46 Patton's, along with M4A3E8 Sherman's with the long 76mm gun.  However in spite of these deficiencies, the M24 fought in a number of significant delaying actions, often as dug-in artillery, allowing many of the beleaguered ground forces to withdraw during the retreat down the Korean peninsula to Pusan.  It remained in American service until 1953, by which time it was totally replaced by the M41 Bulldog.  After 1945 the M24 Chaffee was used by many American allies.  The French army used them in Indo-China, including at the battle of Dien Bien Phu.  Though obsolete by the mid-1960's, it remains in service in some countries.  In Taiwan the platform has been re-equipped with a 90mm gun.  Crew of 5, weight 30,500 lb, max speed 35 mph, range 175 miles.  About 5,000 were built for WWII.

Kenneth C. Chafe: (1943-1982)  Kenneth perished onboard the Ocean Ranger, 166 miles east of St. John's, Newfoundland, Feb. 15, 1982.  All 84 crew members, including 56 Newfoundland residents, were lost.  It was built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Japan and first operated in the Bering Sea off Alaska in 1976.  From there the rig was moved to New Jersey, then Ireland and in November 1980 arrived on the Grand Banks.  The Ocean Ranger was then the world's largest semi-submersible oil rig.  It was touted to be unsinkable and designed to drill in seas too treacherous for others.  It was built to withstand 110-foot waves and 100 mile-an-hour winds.  Like the Titanic, the Ocean Ranger challenged the sea in one of the most dangerous areas on earth – the North Atlantic.  The crew lived on the rig for two months at a time, pumping oil from the seabed, 220 feet down.  Tragically, as in the case of the Titanic (which sank 400 miles to the north), the Ocean Ranger succumbed to a combination of design problems, lack of safety equipment, a human error, and the awesome might of the ocean.  Weather that night was hurricane force winds up to 90 knots and high seas up to 75-100 feet  At 6:45PM a large wave broke a porthole in the ballast control room.  The seawater short-circuited the control panel and caused several sea valves to open, allowing seawater to enter the forward tanks.  This created a list in the Ocean Ranger.  The crew left the rig by 1:30AM but were lost in the cold stormy seas after numerous rescue attempts.  The rig began to list and sank by 3:55AM.  The disaster could been prevented by having a better design, the crew having proper safety training and the rig equipped with better survival equipment.  A plaque was placed in St. George's Anglican Church in Petty Harbour that reads "The hanging cross in this Chancel is placed to the glory of God in the loving remembrance of Kenneth George Chafe, age 39 years, who lost his life in the Ocean Ranger Disaster, Feb.16.1982, by his parents Victor & Ivy & Family."

USS Chaffee DE-230: (1944-1948)  Rudderow Class, Destroyer Escort, was commissioned May 1944 in Charleston Navy Yard, two years after the date of Ensign David E. Chaffee's death as a result of enemy action in the Battle of the Coral Sea.  The other pilot who died that day along with Davis, Lieutenant John J. (Jo Jo) Powers, had the USS John J. Powers (DE-528) commissioned after him as well.  The Chaffee was sponsored by Mrs. L.C. Chaffee. Destroyer Escorts were named to honor US Naval heroes.  She was 306 feet long with a speed 24 knots.  The Chaffee began her major role in the liberation of the Philippines when she sailed from Hollandia 17 December 1944 to escort landing craft to Leyte.  Assigned to patrol in Lingayen Gulf, Chaffee underwent a unique experience 23 January, when a Japanese aerial torpedo passed through her bow without exploding, or causing any injuries to her crew.  The Japanese Betty bomber had launched the torpedo so close to the Chaffee that it did not have a chance to arm.  The Chaffee continued to escort convoys in the Philippines, as well as conduct patrols, in support of the Mindanao operation until April 1945.  Chaffee escorted convoys between Morotai and Hollandia and the Philippines and aided in the establishment of the base in Subic Bay.  She escorted a troop ship to Okinawa in September, then returned to Philippine operation until January 1946.  She arrived at San Francisco in February, where she was decommissioned in April 1946.  She was sold in 1948 to the California Maritime Academy as a training vessel.

Dr. Ellen-Earle Chaffee: (1944- )  Born in Detroit, Michigan.  Ellen was a High School English Teacher in Moorhead, Minnesota and Hinsdale, Illinois, 1966-70.  She was Associate Dean of Students, Assistant Professor, North Dakota State University, 1971-77.  She earned a Ph.D. in higher education administration and policy analysis at Stanford University.  She is presently President of Valley City State University, North Dakota.  From 1993 until 2002, she was also president of Mayville State University, a unique dual arrangement that won the administrative leadership award from the American Association of University Administrators.  The universities were among the first in the nation to integrate information technologies into the teaching and learning processes, in part by providing notebook computers to all students and faculty with network access to everyone in class and throughout the campus.  During her presidency, the university has been featured in three national studies of instructional innovation and national feature stories (New York Times and Computerworld), won five national awards, and received a number of highly competitive federal and foundation grants.  Computerworld named Ellen one of its Premier 100 IT Leaders.  Dr. Chaffee has been national president of two major higher education associations and served nine years on the national accrediting board for pharmacy education.  Her previous positions were in research, state system academic affairs, student affairs, and equal opportunity.  She has written five books and many articles on strategic management, quality, innovation, and leadership.

1016-1840  1840-1900  1900-1945  1945-Present

 

December 26, 2005