George Maynard Chute [50214] ¹⁰

  General Notes:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~chute/gp0.htm#head1


How They Met
At the University of Michigan. One of Marjorie's friends in Stockwell Hall was Marion Price, who was dating and would later marry George's younger brother Bob. Bob & Marion planned to drive Marjorie home for the holidays; she agreed to join them at a concert before leaving Ann Arbor. Also attending the concert was Bob's older brother, George (with another young lady as his date). However, he couldn't help but take notice of the unattached young woman who was attending the concert with all of her textbooks and a slide rule, and he asked Bob who she was. Over the holidays, he called her for a date; she agreed, and that, as they say, was that.

Notes on George Maynard Chute, III:

Naval Occupation: Electronic technician's mate, non commissioned officer, USS New Mexico, 1945-46. He tells of boarding a ship in San Diego that was so overcrowded with additional men being shipped to Hawaii to join the New Mexico (being repaired after the bombing and fire described below), that he spent his first weeks aboard ship sleeping under a torpedo (one assumes unarmed) - and of clunking his head the first few times he sat up quickly. After a stopover in Hawaii to board his ship, they continued west towards Japan, with all expectation of being part of the invasion force. However, in the meanwhile the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Enola Gay had beaten them to Japan with the known results. By the time they arrived, they were no longer part of an invasion force, but a silent harbor witness to the surrender of Japan.
He also tells of arriving in Tokyo Bay and asking where Mount Fuji was - all he saw was a cloudy shoreline. A shipmate standing behind him took his head and tilted it backward, and he then realized that Mount Fuji was in fact towering overhead - he hadn't been looking up far enough to see it. He described the sight as "awesome." The photo is of that moment: the U.S.S. New Mexico in Tokyo Bay, August 1945, with Mount Fuji towering over them.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph
"While approaching her berth in Hagushi anchorage just after sunset 12 May, New Mexico was attacked by two suicides; one plunged into her, the other managed to hit her with his bomb. She was set on fire, and 54 of her men were killed, with 119 wounded. Swift action extinguished the fires within half an hour, and on 28 May she departed for repairs at Leyte, followed by rehearsals for the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands. Word of the war's end reached her at Saipan 15 August, and next day she sailed for Okinawa to join the occupation force. She entered Sagami Wan 27 August to support the airborne occupation of Atsugi Airfield, then next day passed into Tokyo Bay to witness the surrender 2 September."
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_New_Mexico
After returning stateside, he worked as an engineer, focusing on both aeronautics and civil & industrial sectors, and he and mom raised their family in Pelham, Westchester County, New York. Later he worked as a consultant before retiring to a seaside home in Newport, Rhode Island.
Possibly the world's most bizarre sense of humor; tells terrible puns with a straight face; he and his brother Bob developed a "talent" of being able to lean far right and then far left in perfect unison without losing their balance; they are very entertaining at family picnics. Favorite pet: a golden retriever named "Charlie". Loves singing in the church choir; after retirement he and Marjorie traveled to the Yukon, Alaska, South America and his travel itineraries are legendary in their precision. As a boy, would take week long bicycle camping trips around Michigan; was an Eagle Scout. His campfire skills (later used to great effect in the family fireplace) are so complicated and spectacular, one hates to set a match to the final result. When the children were young, he invented an ongoing fairy tale/bedtime story in which all three children were royalty, and in which all household messages were passed from Jeeves the Butler to the "Royal Guards". The long line of echoing messages and subsequent replies, passed through the Royal Guards, went on for 10 minutes, much to the delight of his children, not knowing it was a ploy which gave him time to think up the next plot line.



Type: Interview
Title: Biographical Data
Date: 11/17/00
INTE George M Chute III
INTV Jacqueline Chute
LOCA Telephone conversation

  Noted events in his life were:

• Education: University of Michigan.

• Occupation: Industrial Engineer, Industrial Marketing Consultant.

• Religion: Presbyterian, Methodist.

• Residence, 1960-1988, Pelham, Westchester County, New York, USA.

• Residence, 1990-2001. Newport, Rhode Island, USA

• Residence, 2001-2006, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

• Residence, 2006 -, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA.

George married Marjorie Anna Pino [52013] [MRIN: 551613142], daughter of Austin Lester Pino [55316] and Adelaide Eugenie Armstrong [55317], on 18 Jun 1949 in Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan, USA. (Marjorie Anna Pino [52013] was born on 28 Aug 1926 in Lansing, Ingham County, Michigan, USA.)