Honoring David Chamberlain: Minister, Builder, Outdoorsman, Pioneer, Professional (2014)

Interview with John Chamberlain by Kate WhiteJohn Chamberlain is Vice President of KnowWho.com, the leading provider of profiles and contacts for all US elected officials and their staff. He is a community leader, entrepreneur, nationally ranked athlete, author, speaker, and has played the violin for 49 years. He specializes in problem-solving with early-stage companies, helping them to find venture capital, build their teams, and put in place a strategy for success. He is the son of David Chamberlain, and recently joined the APPPAH Board of Directors.Your father's contributions to the field of pre and perinatal psychology and health are tremendous. We are curious to know about your father from your perspective. I also know that you have recently joined the Board of Directors for APPPAH. things would you like our membership to know about your father?Yes. I am on the Board so I guess it's a little bit of a legacy. Most of my experience with my dad was that he was a person who carefully nurtured. He carefully considered things. He always was a great reader and a learner, and as he came across the discoveries, he was able to share them with us in a transparent way that didn't compromise his work with his clients. You know it's funny, I was watching Britain's Got Talent videos and this one kid got up there and they asked him, what are you going to And he said, 'You will have a surprise tonight because my parents are in the audience, and he pointed them out. The boy said, father works in a biscuit factory. They asked the boy, What does your dad do? And he looked over at his dad in the audience and said, What do you do Dad? I think all children have that moment when somebody says, What does your dad do? And they realize that they don't know. I think that is the feeling I experienced with David. I did not know exactly what he did because he was so careful with his client information. As a result, we didn't know any details for a long time growing up. We just saw him at the church, of course. I watched him preach. My favorite part of church was when he would go to the back of the sanctuary, raise up his arms in his robe, and he give these amazing benedictions.So he would bless the congregation?Yes, he would bless the congregation for the week ahead. They were just completely unscripted as far as I was concerned. He just had this ability to speak to the congregation. Obviously he wasn't standing at a lectern at that moment, and you just got the full-on presence of him giving a blessing. I honestly I think part of the reason that was so powerful for me was because we didn't pray aloud at our dinner table.There was a very winsome moment during the last month of his life when we were sitting at the dinner table. Night after night, I would wheel him to the table in his wheelchair where we would feed him because he was having difficulty holding the spoon. Every night, Donna would ask him to pray, and every night he would decline, and I would say a prayer. Then one night she said to him again, David, would you like to say a prayer? He said the most beautiful prayer. The tears were just streaming down our faces as he spoke. He mentioned how the food had been cautiously prepared with love. He knew and appreciated that Donna was preparing foods to heal him. She did this until the moment of his transition. It took us a couple of minutes to recover because we weren't expecting it. He just had these moments of lucidity in his final days. There were times in his final months when he would snap into a mental clarity that he had his whole life.His ability to listen to what was going on around him and gather new insight from that information, and then translate it into words that you and I could understand and are meaningful to us, was one of his gifts as a as a pioneer and a researcher. It's that sacred ground that all researchers hope to tread across, which is that you've now discovered something new, whatever you are seeking. …