Robert L. Chism

Robert L. Chism (age 95) was born on July 6, 1922 to John William Chism (age 55) and Sarah Louise Lallemand Chism (age 40) in Memphis, TN. He passed to his rest peacefully at home on Tuesday, June 26, 2018, at 12:40 A.M. He had been declining in health since the first of the year. He is survived by his wife of 72 years, Mattie L. Chism (Loma Linda, CA), and his only son, Steve Chism (Memphis, TN).

Robert was known to his family as “Bobby” and to friends mostly as Bob. He was the 11th of 12 children. His father outlived three wives. There were three sets of children.

First and Second Set:

1. James Clemon Chism (1892-1925) 6. William Tilden Chism (1901-1951)

2. Mary Lou Chism (1894-1958) 7. Callie Ora Chism Gwynn (1903-1976)

3. Un-named infant (1896- ) 8. Charlie W. Chism (1905-1981)

4. Fannie Drew Chism Cubbins (1898-1968) 9. Claudia Dee Chism Shaw (1910-1985)

5. Sally Margeurete Chism Keck(1900-1990)

Bob’s father (John William) and third wife (Sarah) had three children: Bob was the 11th of 12 children and had outlived all his siblings.

10. John W. Chism (1917-1989)

11. Robert L. Chism (1922-2018)

12. Jeanne Louise Chism Creech (1925-1992)

Bob is also survived by the following nieces and nephews and their children.

1. Billy Lee Chism (son of Bob’s brother J. W. Chism), his wife (Donna) and daughter (Deanna).

2. Karen Lee Freeman (daughter of Bob’s sister Jeanne Chism Creech), and her husband (Bob) and their children (Simon, Sarah, Nathan, Hannah and Lydia and their families).

3. Walter Randell Creech (son of Bob’s sister Jeanne Chism Creech), his wife (Jennifer) and their children (Katelyn Lee, Colin Thomas and Camden Randle and their families).

Bob’s earlier years were spent in Memphis, TN. Then his family moved to Kerrville, TN (outside Memphis) where he lived until age 14 when the family moved back to Memphis to Niese St. opposite the home where Mattie (his future wife) lived. She was 12 years old and became best friends with his sister (Jeanne).

He was deployed outside the continental US on 19 March 1945. He was stationed in England. Their crew was sent on a bombing mission over Germany. Their plane was shot down on this first mission. There was engine trouble and fire in the cockpit. The pilot and co-pilot tried to fix the problem to get out of Germany. When the pilot realized they could not make it out of Germany, he ordered the crew to bail out. They were very low to the ground by this time. Eight crew members jumped from the plane but four members were killed. Bob was captured two days later and was a prisoner of war for about six weeks in Stalag 7-A near Moosberg, Germany. The prisoners of Stalag 7-A were liberated on April 29, 1945, by Tom Gibbons, who was ordered by General Patton, to intercept SS troops who had been ordered by Hitler to kill all the POW’s in Stalag 7-A. Bob met Tom Gibbons (his liberator) about 60 years later at a POW meeting at the Jerry Pettis Memorial VA Hospital. He was one of many who loved and respected Tom, who is still alive and lives in Palm Springs.

It was after the war had ended and Bob returned home on a 90-day leave before he was officially discharge that he and Mattie began to date. He was still grieving for the loss of the four crewmen who were killed when they parachuted from their B-17. He was searching for answers as to why his life was spared—what was his mission in life going to be? They visited many different churches and finally found the Bible-based church that brought them comfort and hope. They were baptized into the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 13, 1946, and married on May 12, 1946. They celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary on May 12, 2018. They were devoted sweethearts from the beginning to the end. Every night, he would tell her, “I love you, love you, love you ad infinitum. You will always be my sweetheart.” The last words he spoke to her were “you’re still my pretty girl.”

Bob attended Southern Missionary College (now Adventist University) in Collegedale, TN. From 1946-1949. He was an ordained Seventh-Day Adventist Minister. He served the church first in the following Seventh-Day Conferences:

6/1/1949 – 7/1/1956: Alabama-Mississippi Seventh-Day Adventist Conference – Meridian, MS:

He served the following churches:

Assistant Pastor in Birmingham, Ala.; Pastor in Brookhaven, McComb, and Natchez, MS; Athens Ala.

7/1/1956 – 12/04/1957: U.S. Navy Chaplin at San Diego Naval Air Station

12/05/1957– /28/1967: Southeastern California Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists – Riverside, CA

12/05/1957 – 12/31/1958: Assistant Chaplin at Paradise Valley Hospital, National City, CA:

1/01/1959 – 12/31/1962: Pastor—Encinitas, CA

1/01/1963 – 2/28/1966: Pastor – Indio, CA

3/01/1966 – 2/28/1967: Student (for Master’s Degree) Andrews University – Berrien Springs, MI

3/01/1967 – 9/30/1978: General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists – 1975 to 1978:

4/01/1975 – 6/30/1987: Pastor – Grangeville and Kamiah, Idaho

Retired July 1, 1987

1987 – 2002: Yucaipa, CA.

2002 – 6/26/2018 Loma Linda, CA