Kenneth W. Chapman

Last 30 years at Tenino WA. Have lived the following places in WA. Coulee dam NRA, Evans, Kettle Falls, Spokane, Richland, Forks, Port Angeles, Lake Dawn (Olympic NP). California- Redding, Whiskeytown NRA. Montana- Glacier NP. Utah-SLC. I also lived on the road as a long haul truck driver.

Lots of work. Lots of moving for first 20 yrs. Lived in great places. Married, had kids. Enjoy being a dad. Really enjoy being a Grandfather.

I attended Spokane Falls CC and played basketball both years. Attended U of Utah. Turned out for basketball and was one of the last two cut off of the Judkins - Chambers & Vranes team.

Worked in Petroleum and Trucking. Became a Federal Law Enf Officer and worked as a mechanic and truck driver in my off hours. Went into Law Enf for the state of Wa. for several agencies and a bunch of different positions. Retired from state after 31+ years.

I played basketball for years and coached for a decade. I could still dunk the ball in my 50s. I started to ref basketball and was an official for 20 yrs until COVID shut it down. I'm retired from that too.

One daughter lives within 10 minutes of my house and her boys go to school in Tenino. The other daughter lives in Olympia, has one boy in school and a very busy 3 yr old. Very blessed to have both daughters nearby with their families. I spend a lot of time being a helpful grandpa.

Our son spent most of his short life in Childrens Hospital in Seattle. We stayed at the McDonalds House some but most of the time we were at "Kids Bowling for Kids" House. A short film was made about our son and my wife to air on the Childrens Miracle Network telethon during April '88 to raise funds for the hospital, a planned expansion at the "Kids Bowling for Kids" house and various children health charities.

Colin passed away a month before the telethon. We discussed what to do and decided to go forward with Colin's story. Even with his passing, the short video would help others. It was the right thing to do. The video was edited to add an In Memoriam at the end.

We appeared live on the telethon with our daughters after the first airing and we were interviewed by Artie Johnson (of Laugh-in). The Colin Story was used again on the annual telethon for four more years.

We separately discussed raising funds directly for building an attached playground at the "Kids Bowling for Kids" house in Colin's honor. The administrators agreed and we were able to raise the funds and build "Colin's playground" when the expansion was done at "Kids bowling for kids" We were there for the playground opening. A plaque was placed in Colin's honor.

I spent 30 yrs as a volunteer in the Juvenile Criminal Justus system for youth offender cases. We heard cases referred by the prosecutor to our diversion program panel for first or second time offenders that would plead guilty and wanted to avoid incarceration.

Took care of my father for the last four years of his life- he passed away in 2010.

We hosted 10 foreign exchange students through the years and both of my daughters were also exchange students during their junior years in high school. Kate went to Germany and Megan went to Norway. We now have 5 of our former exchange students we have remained close to and visit regularly, mostly in Denmark and Germany.

I became a dog person. We've had English Springer Spaniels since '98 and they are great. Layla is my current springer.

Grandkids light me up. Stuff that as a parent I would have said "Knock it off" cracks me up as grandpa. It's ok for the three year old to water all the dandelions in the lawn when he helps you water the flower beds.

I still enjoy cars. I have a vintage Porsche project and a Boxster I enjoy. I started doing a resto-mod with my oldest grandson on a MG Midget barn find that is older than his mom. The MG should be done next spring.
I have a couple race cars. One is a VW I have raced off and on since '94 at a racetrack here by Tenino. The other is a Triumph Spitfire SCCA track car that is similar to the Spitfire I had back in the mid '70s

I live with Big trees, a creek that sometimes salmon swim up. Baby bunnies in the yard, deer everyday. Elk, bears, a horse farm across the road. Mt Rainier is about 50 miles due east. The Pacific Ocean is 90 mins away. Sometimes eagles sit in my big fir tree. Great neighbors. Calm. Cool sea breezes. Northern lights.

Build a T-Bucket Hot Rod from scratch. (I'm just starting on it, got a fiberglass T body recently)

I just did a major bucket list item. I went to Midland Texas to a special event for Jim Hall and Chaparral race cars. The cars were the most advanced and revolutionary race cars of the '60s and '70s. Wings on race cars? Automatic transaxle? Sucker car? Underbody venturis? Composite chassis? All Jim Hall stuff. He is 88 years old now. Famous driver, engineer, builder team leader. Jim spoke and answered questions from the group. It was amazing. I helped get the famous 2J Sucker car out of the garage before it was fired up and driven around the museum. I was pushing on a car worth 12 -15 million. WOW. I'm still a big Chaparral fan.

I want to make a long road trip to North Dakota, Illinois, Ohio and Virginia to find more family history and see where we came from.

Smart neat funny classmates. Hair. Lots of hair. Nixon. Really cheap gas. Cool Cars.

Fiddler on the roof. How to succeed in business. Hello Dolly.

Steve Cole going to the "Sin Bin" to smoke between classes.

Mini-Course week.

Big twelve's, Three a day football practices. "Skyline eagles, Skyline eagles, You can go to H***. Yes, we hate you..." "East High Ugh, What is it good for absolutely nothing".
Jon McIver discovering his car keys worked on my car too.

Great Music. Shaft and Zappa during assemblies. Stravinsky in orchestra.

Driving too fast on Drivers Ed course and getting chewed out by Merrill Croft. Drivers Ed training films "When will they learn, Ralph".

Senior Sluff Day announced over the PA.

Classmates going skiing up at Alta during the last week of school.

Having my daughters point out to me in the yearbook the lack of sports and recognition for young women. Title IX was surely needed.

How many really smart, kind, honorable and good people I went to school with, both male and female. Thank you all.

Teachers that expected a lot from students and cared how we were going to turn out.

More Great Music. Listening to Led Zep as a team pre-basketball warmups.

The Skyline Eagle up on the tall brick chimney.

The H/H painted and the lights on.