Milton J. Chamberlain

Milton J. Chamberlain died Monday, March 9, 2009 in Manhattan, Kansas. He was 85 years old. He was born October 14, 1923 in Newaygo, Michigan. His mother, Jennie Endsley, was a nurse. His father, Jay A. Chamberlain, was a baker. After graduating from Newaygo High School, Milton attended the University of Michigan. To his delight, he became a trombonist with the Michigan Marching Band. He later attended the United States Military Academy. After graduating from West Point, he joined the Army Air Force as a pilot. In 1947, he married Glen Hedler, also of Newaygo, whom he had known since he was five years old. Over the next three years, Milton and Glen traveled the United States with the Air Force. Their first daughter, Tenney, was born in 1948 in San Antonio, Texas. Their second daughter, Glen, was born in 1950 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Milton resigned his commission from the Air Force in 1950 to manage the Ford dealership in Newaygo. In 1954, he entered the University of Michigan Law School, graduating as a patent attorney in 1956, a career that allowed him to combine his love for engineering and law. He went to work for Vapor Heating Corporation in Chicago and was admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court in 1957. Milton's and Glen's son, Jay, was born in 1959. Later that year, the family moved to Topeka where Milton began work at Seymour Foods, Inc. Milton loved his job and retired as president of the company in 1983. Milton and Glen later lived in Salmon (Idaho), Holton (Kansas), and Buffalo (Wyoming). They returned to Kansas in 2000. Milton J. Chamberlain led a life filled with a curiosity for all things new, loyalty to friends and family, and hours of story telling and laughter. This kind and generous person will be lovingly remembered by all. He is survived by Glen, his best friend for 80 years and wife of 61 years; their three children; their six grandchildren, and their devoted dog Stryka.