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  Gary L. Chamberlain, 1938 - 2018Sep 10, 2018 10:52 PM PDT | url
 
My dad passed away today. Just weeks ago he celebrated his 80th birthday, which he was not displeased about. I wish he could have been around another ten years+++, but at least the end came as a slight surprise—not a huge one, he had been battling an old lymphoma turned aggressive for months now—while he was in full possession of his considerable faculties, and able to cab it around to the various pokings and proddings lavished upon him by his attentive physicians. In our last phone conversation, he was chipper and upbeat.
 
A professor of theology, he *just* finished writing his latest book on the importance of water, and making sure we safeguard it and ensure that future generations will have it here on Earth—he titled it "Because Water is Life." He believed access to clean water should be codified into law as a human right, something many countries are now doing.
 
He cared about everyone. He taught high school. He marched with Dr. King. He taught college. He protested nuclear proliferation at military bases. He's been traveling around the world, researching and writing and speaking about the importance of water in societies for well over a decade. He wrote books and essays on ethics and social justice. He created an internship program to take university students to Belize (which he first visited as a Jesuit scholastic in the early '60s—that was before he met my mom, mind you : ) to help at schools and soup kitchens, the YWCA, and more. He's the best person I've ever known.
 
He also just put the finishing touches on a little autobiography he'd been writing for the family. A couple photos he included from his early years: another birthday, and then as the proud owner of his first car, a '49 Chevy, which he finished saving up for and bought in '54, six months before he was old enough to drive—he let his mom use it in the mean time:
 
Image Image
 
Love ya, dad.
 
Gary L. Chamberlain, 1938 - 2018
 
 
 
 
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