Jean Chadwick

Mom was born about 5 years after the stock market crash that marked the depression and was named Opal Jean Smith. Mom was one of two girls, Jean and Gerri, and four boys, Johnnie, Wayne, Randolph, and Wendle, born to her parents Johnny Smith and Flora I.D. Cook where they lived in Niceville, Florida. Mom helped raise her brothers and sisters while she grew to be a teenager. Jean was working a job at the theater and met my future Dad, Elmer Chadwick, or “Chad”, when she sold him tickets to the show. At that time, and as  their romance came together, her parents were not supportive of a marriage between Chad and Jean. Jean worked pretty hard helping raise the children and she would be a good hand that would leave the Family after marriage. Jean and Chad would need to cross the state line to be married in Meridian Mississippi. Their marriage would last 72 years. As Chad was in the Air Force at that time during the Korean War, Jean prepared herself to leave the life she had at home and start a pattern that would continue throughout her life, to gain education and grow. Jean traveled by bus to Beaumont, Texas, to attend business school, not knowing where she might stay. She was befriended by Jane Landry who worked at a local bank and let Jean stay with her during the business school time. They became lifelong friends. When Chad was discharged from the Air Force, they started their lives together in the Beaumont, Texas, with Jean working and Chad going to school in Lamar University where he would graduate with an engineering degree and work designing airplanes. Jean became a mother in 1956 with her only son, Michael. Jean and Chad moved to Fort Worth, Texas, kept a neat house, cooked, cleaned, raised a boy, guided his education as a teacher would, and took him to Church every Sunday. In a time where higher education was not encouraged for women, Jean attended the University of Texas at Arlington during her middle age. Jean would earn a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degrees in History and English. Her thesis compared the sociology, historical achievements, and significant character traits of the United States Presidents and placed them into groups and their significance in history. Jean earned her teaching certificate and began teaching in the Fort Worth school districts. During the summer months, Jean took post graduate classes at the University of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Jean was able to take several high school aged student groups to London, England, for students seeking college credits through Cambridge University. Chad and Jean moved back to Niceville from Fort Worth in 1980 where she continued teaching school and helped her Mother during her last years. While living in Niceville, she planned and orchestrated Niceville High School get together luncheons for multiple years that brought people together in all walks of life. Jean also found her teaching skills could help others grow. Jean volunteered in her Church to teach English as a second language. She helped many new and future Americans learn the English language better. In the process Jean was preparing those adult students for higher education necessary to raise their Families in America. Many countries and backgrounds were represented and the impact and success in life on those families has spread to future generations. Jean’s husband Chad passed in 2023 after a brief 6 month stay in hospitals and health care. As Jean’s only son, I spoke with my Mom frequently. After my Dad died, I called my Mom every day, not so much to talk, but to listen to her and what was happening in her life. You may questioned that I called every day, but as many of you know, Jean was a talker. Jean was able to stay in her own home up until the last 7 months of her life when she needed intensive care from a broken hip. Jean had many friends visit and minister to her before she died comfortably and peacefully with her Family and Friends about her.

Jean is preceded in death by her husband, Elmer Chadwick; her parents; and siblings, Gerri, Johnnie, Wayne, Randolph, and Wendle. Survivors include her son, Michael Chadwick; brother, Herman Randolph Smith; and many nieces and nephews of the Smith Brothers and Sisters are living today.

Funeral services will be held at Heritage Gardens Funeral Home (2201 Partin Dr. N. Niceville, FL 32578) on Saturday, December 6, 2025, at 11:00 AM with a visitation for family and friends an hour prior. Interment to be held afterward at Union Hill Church of Christ Cemetery (377 Union Ln, Wing, AL 36483) at 1:00 PM.

Any donations should go to your respective Churches to support the needy and to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Funeral services will be held at Heritage Gardens Funeral Home (2201 Partin Dr. N. Niceville, FL 32578) on Saturday, December 6, 2025, at 11:00 AM with a visitation for family and friends an hour prior. Interment to be held afterward at Union Hill Church of Christ Cemetery (377 Union Ln, Wing, AL 36483) at 1:00 PM.

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