Margaret Lee Chadwick

Margaret Lee Chadwick ( Lee; April 26, 1893 – May 2, 1984) was a nonfiction writer and founder and headmistress of the K-12 Chadwick School, located on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles County, California, United States.

Early life and education Chadwick, born in Spanish Fork, Utah, was the daughter of Anna Myrtilla (Wray) and Theodore Lee, a Utah Presbyterian minister, and one of eight children. In 1910, she enrolled at Wooster College in Ohio, and then transferred to Stanford University on a scholarship.

After college graduation, Chadwick accepted a teaching position in the now defunct city of Metropolis, near Elko, Nevada. After a year, she traveled to China, where her brother Paul Lee was stationed. He introduced her to Naval Officer Joseph Chadwick, who was also stationed there. and relocated to California. They had three children, Theodora, also a graduate of Stanford, Joseph Jr., who also joined the Navy, and David, a pediatrician engaged in research and lecturing The other two were Mark and Jean Roessler, whose parents Fred and Edna, early residents on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Her husband, Lt. Commander Joseph Chadwick, helped run the school.

In October 2018, her youngest son, David Chadwick, 13 months before his 2020 death, was given the 2019 Distinguished Alumnus Award from Chadwick School, from which he graduated in 1942.

Chadwick-Ansel Adams connection Thirteen pictures by Ansel Adams, which were on display during a January 2011 exhibition at the Palos Verdes Library, came about in 1941 after Chadwick hired Adams to do a three-day photo shoot for her school's fifth-anniversary promotional catalog. In 1942, Adams returned to the campus to shoot a tennis exhibition featuring professional tennis star Jack Kramer. Negatives for some of those prints are in the official Adams archive at the University of Arizona's Center for Creative Photography.

Adams also took a portrait of Chadwick and her husband, in uniform after he was called back to duty during World War II. The photo once decorated the archives office in the school's library. The couple originally met Adams during an annual ski trip to Yosemite on which Commander Chadwick would take the then small student body.

Personal life Her husband died at age 77 on August 13, 1970. Chadwick, called "Aunt Maggie" by her students, died at 91 on May 2, 1984. She was portrayed by Priscilla Pointer in 1981 film Mommie Dearest.