Dr. Jerry Bob Chambers, a retired DISD drafting instructor, was dedicated to teaching students civil rights history by personal experience.
His hands-on projects with students ranged from restoring and researching cemeteries to attending the 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama.
In March 2015, despite battling the late stages of pancreatic cancer, he led a student tour to Montgomery & Selma, Alabama for the "Selma 50" march, but was too ill to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the 50th anniversary of the "Bloody Sunday" march to Selma.
Dr. Chambers was born in Rogers, Texas and grew up in Itasca, where he graduated from Jeanette Sanford High School in 1956. He attended Jarvis Christian College in Hawkins before receiving a bachelor’s degree from what is now Mississippi Valley State University in 1962. He earned a master’s degree from East Texas State University, now Texas A&M University Commerce, in 1975. He received an honorary doctorate in 2012.
In 1964, Dr. Chambers began his teaching career at Booker T. Washington High School. In 1969, he transferred to Lincoln High School, where he continued as a drafting instructor and worked with vocational education and special projects.
Dr. Chambers started one project after a lunchtime walk through the weed-infested cemetery adjacent to Lincoln. The cemetery held a lot of unknown history so Dr. Chambers created his Lost Souls project, uncovering the histories of two cemeteries at the site, which received a historical marker as the L. Butler Nelson Memorial Park. He also got Dallas’ Rochester Park renamed for William Blair Jr., a native son and Negro Baseball League pitcher.
Dr. Chambers retired in 2005, but by 2008 he had begun planning a student trip to the 2009 Barack Obama inauguration. That excursion became the vision for trips to follow: The Trails of the Freedom Riders in 2013, Experience the White House in 2014 and finally the Selma 50 march in 2015.
in 2014, he and students visited the very rooms where Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act and the Voter Registration Act — with Dr. Martin Luther King looking over his shoulder.
Despite a January 2015 terminal diagnosis, he was determined to make the Selma 50 trip for the students. Although he knew that his cancer had metastasized, he refused treatment until after that trip.
He said, "I'm not going to let it stop us. It’s in God’s hands. What we are going to do is get those kids to Selma and get them across that bridge.”
Dr. Chambers nearly collapsed in Montgomery Alabama March 7 and that Sunday morning, March 8, he was too ill to cross the bridge, even in a wheelchair.
“I’m tired, and I’ve gone as far as I can go. I want to go back home, but make sure you get the kids across that bridge.”
Too sick to make a bus trip home to Dallas, Dr. Chambers arranged for a friend to drive him back to Dallas where he passed away on Saturday April 4, 2015, the 47th anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination. He, at 78, passed away of pancreatic cancer at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
A memorial service was held at Lincoln High School on Thursday April 09 at 6:30 pm and funeral services were held at 11 a.m. Friday April 10, 2015 at Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church, 1819 Washington Ave...both in Dallas, Texas. He was buried on April 10, 2015 in the Luke Tipton Cemetery in his beloved Itasca.
Dr. Jerry Chambers is survived by two daughters, Princess Chambers Hughes of Hillsboro and DeShon Chambers Gill of Hillsboro; a son, Jerry Bob Foutz of Longview; a brother, Johnny Lee Chambers of Itasca; five grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
A video of his memorial service on April 9th (the day before his funeral) at Lincoln High School, conducted by his former students, is located here:
https://youtu.be/MjqYZr4owVo
His hands-on projects with students ranged from restoring and researching cemeteries to attending the 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama.
In March 2015, despite battling the late stages of pancreatic cancer, he led a student tour to Montgomery & Selma, Alabama for the "Selma 50" march, but was too ill to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the 50th anniversary of the "Bloody Sunday" march to Selma.
Dr. Chambers was born in Rogers, Texas and grew up in Itasca, where he graduated from Jeanette Sanford High School in 1956. He attended Jarvis Christian College in Hawkins before receiving a bachelor’s degree from what is now Mississippi Valley State University in 1962. He earned a master’s degree from East Texas State University, now Texas A&M University Commerce, in 1975. He received an honorary doctorate in 2012.
In 1964, Dr. Chambers began his teaching career at Booker T. Washington High School. In 1969, he transferred to Lincoln High School, where he continued as a drafting instructor and worked with vocational education and special projects.
Dr. Chambers started one project after a lunchtime walk through the weed-infested cemetery adjacent to Lincoln. The cemetery held a lot of unknown history so Dr. Chambers created his Lost Souls project, uncovering the histories of two cemeteries at the site, which received a historical marker as the L. Butler Nelson Memorial Park. He also got Dallas’ Rochester Park renamed for William Blair Jr., a native son and Negro Baseball League pitcher.
Dr. Chambers retired in 2005, but by 2008 he had begun planning a student trip to the 2009 Barack Obama inauguration. That excursion became the vision for trips to follow: The Trails of the Freedom Riders in 2013, Experience the White House in 2014 and finally the Selma 50 march in 2015.
in 2014, he and students visited the very rooms where Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act and the Voter Registration Act — with Dr. Martin Luther King looking over his shoulder.
Despite a January 2015 terminal diagnosis, he was determined to make the Selma 50 trip for the students. Although he knew that his cancer had metastasized, he refused treatment until after that trip.
He said, "I'm not going to let it stop us. It’s in God’s hands. What we are going to do is get those kids to Selma and get them across that bridge.”
Dr. Chambers nearly collapsed in Montgomery Alabama March 7 and that Sunday morning, March 8, he was too ill to cross the bridge, even in a wheelchair.
“I’m tired, and I’ve gone as far as I can go. I want to go back home, but make sure you get the kids across that bridge.”
Too sick to make a bus trip home to Dallas, Dr. Chambers arranged for a friend to drive him back to Dallas where he passed away on Saturday April 4, 2015, the 47th anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination. He, at 78, passed away of pancreatic cancer at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
A memorial service was held at Lincoln High School on Thursday April 09 at 6:30 pm and funeral services were held at 11 a.m. Friday April 10, 2015 at Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church, 1819 Washington Ave...both in Dallas, Texas. He was buried on April 10, 2015 in the Luke Tipton Cemetery in his beloved Itasca.
Dr. Jerry Chambers is survived by two daughters, Princess Chambers Hughes of Hillsboro and DeShon Chambers Gill of Hillsboro; a son, Jerry Bob Foutz of Longview; a brother, Johnny Lee Chambers of Itasca; five grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
A video of his memorial service on April 9th (the day before his funeral) at Lincoln High School, conducted by his former students, is located here:
https://youtu.be/MjqYZr4owVo
Dr. Jerry Bob Chambers, a retired DISD drafting instructor, was dedicated to teaching students civil rights history by personal experience.
His hands-on projects with students ranged from restoring and researching cemeteries to attending the 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama.
In March 2015, despite battling the late stages of pancreatic cancer, he led a student tour to Montgomery & Selma, Alabama for the "Selma 50" march, but was too ill to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the 50th anniversary of the "Bloody Sunday" march to Selma.
Dr. Chambers was born in Rogers, Texas and grew up in Itasca, where he graduated from Jeanette Sanford High School in 1956. He attended Jarvis Christian College in Hawkins before receiving a bachelor’s degree from what is now Mississippi Valley State University in 1962. He earned a master’s degree from East Texas State University, now Texas A&M University Commerce, in 1975. He received an honorary doctorate in 2012.
In 1964, Dr. Chambers began his teaching career at Booker T. Washington High School. In 1969, he transferred to Lincoln High School, where he continued as a drafting instructor and worked with vocational education and special projects.
Dr. Chambers started one project after a lunchtime walk through the weed-infested cemetery adjacent to Lincoln. The cemetery held a lot of unknown history so Dr. Chambers created his Lost Souls project, uncovering the histories of two cemeteries at the site, which received a historical marker as the L. Butler Nelson Memorial Park. He also got Dallas’ Rochester Park renamed for William Blair Jr., a native son and Negro Baseball League pitcher.
Dr. Chambers retired in 2005, but by 2008 he had begun planning a student trip to the 2009 Barack Obama inauguration. That excursion became the vision for trips to follow: The Trails of the Freedom Riders in 2013, Experience the White House in 2014 and finally the Selma 50 march in 2015.
in 2014, he and students visited the very rooms where Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act and the Voter Registration Act — with Dr. Martin Luther King looking over his shoulder.
Despite a January 2015 terminal diagnosis, he was determined to make the Selma 50 trip for the students. Although he knew that his cancer had metastasized, he refused treatment until after that trip.
He said, "I'm not going to let it stop us. It’s in God’s hands. What we are going to do is get those kids to Selma and get them across that bridge.”
Dr. Chambers nearly collapsed in Montgomery Alabama March 7 and that Sunday morning, March 8, he was too ill to cross the bridge, even in a wheelchair.
“I’m tired, and I’ve gone as far as I can go. I want to go back home, but make sure you get the kids across that bridge.”
Too sick to make a bus trip home to Dallas, Dr. Chambers arranged for a friend to drive him back to Dallas where he passed away on Saturday April 4, 2015, the 47th anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination. He, at 78, passed away of pancreatic cancer at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
A memorial service was held at Lincoln High School on Thursday April 09 at 6:30 pm and funeral services were held at 11 a.m. Friday April 10, 2015 at Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church, 1819 Washington Ave...both in Dallas, Texas. He was buried on April 10, 2015 in the Luke Tipton Cemetery in his beloved Itasca.
Dr. Jerry Chambers is survived by two daughters, Princess Chambers Hughes of Hillsboro and DeShon Chambers Gill of Hillsboro; a son, Jerry Bob Foutz of Longview; a brother, Johnny Lee Chambers of Itasca; five grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
A video of his memorial service on April 9th (the day before his funeral) at Lincoln High School, conducted by his former students, is located here:
https://youtu.be/MjqYZr4owVo
His hands-on projects with students ranged from restoring and researching cemeteries to attending the 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama.
In March 2015, despite battling the late stages of pancreatic cancer, he led a student tour to Montgomery & Selma, Alabama for the "Selma 50" march, but was too ill to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the 50th anniversary of the "Bloody Sunday" march to Selma.
Dr. Chambers was born in Rogers, Texas and grew up in Itasca, where he graduated from Jeanette Sanford High School in 1956. He attended Jarvis Christian College in Hawkins before receiving a bachelor’s degree from what is now Mississippi Valley State University in 1962. He earned a master’s degree from East Texas State University, now Texas A&M University Commerce, in 1975. He received an honorary doctorate in 2012.
In 1964, Dr. Chambers began his teaching career at Booker T. Washington High School. In 1969, he transferred to Lincoln High School, where he continued as a drafting instructor and worked with vocational education and special projects.
Dr. Chambers started one project after a lunchtime walk through the weed-infested cemetery adjacent to Lincoln. The cemetery held a lot of unknown history so Dr. Chambers created his Lost Souls project, uncovering the histories of two cemeteries at the site, which received a historical marker as the L. Butler Nelson Memorial Park. He also got Dallas’ Rochester Park renamed for William Blair Jr., a native son and Negro Baseball League pitcher.
Dr. Chambers retired in 2005, but by 2008 he had begun planning a student trip to the 2009 Barack Obama inauguration. That excursion became the vision for trips to follow: The Trails of the Freedom Riders in 2013, Experience the White House in 2014 and finally the Selma 50 march in 2015.
in 2014, he and students visited the very rooms where Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act and the Voter Registration Act — with Dr. Martin Luther King looking over his shoulder.
Despite a January 2015 terminal diagnosis, he was determined to make the Selma 50 trip for the students. Although he knew that his cancer had metastasized, he refused treatment until after that trip.
He said, "I'm not going to let it stop us. It’s in God’s hands. What we are going to do is get those kids to Selma and get them across that bridge.”
Dr. Chambers nearly collapsed in Montgomery Alabama March 7 and that Sunday morning, March 8, he was too ill to cross the bridge, even in a wheelchair.
“I’m tired, and I’ve gone as far as I can go. I want to go back home, but make sure you get the kids across that bridge.”
Too sick to make a bus trip home to Dallas, Dr. Chambers arranged for a friend to drive him back to Dallas where he passed away on Saturday April 4, 2015, the 47th anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination. He, at 78, passed away of pancreatic cancer at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
A memorial service was held at Lincoln High School on Thursday April 09 at 6:30 pm and funeral services were held at 11 a.m. Friday April 10, 2015 at Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church, 1819 Washington Ave...both in Dallas, Texas. He was buried on April 10, 2015 in the Luke Tipton Cemetery in his beloved Itasca.
Dr. Jerry Chambers is survived by two daughters, Princess Chambers Hughes of Hillsboro and DeShon Chambers Gill of Hillsboro; a son, Jerry Bob Foutz of Longview; a brother, Johnny Lee Chambers of Itasca; five grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
A video of his memorial service on April 9th (the day before his funeral) at Lincoln High School, conducted by his former students, is located here:
https://youtu.be/MjqYZr4owVo
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