Whaleyville correspondent

Watching his son graduate from Old Dominion University last month was a particularly satisfying moment for Ted &uot;Buck&uot; Chaney of Whaleyville.

&uot;My son, to me, means everything. I was raised up the hard way and never had the opportunity that he has. I am so very proud that my family and I had the initiative and the money to put him through college, so he wouldn’t have to grow up like I did.&uot; said Chaney who watched his son from the bleacher seats during the three-hour ceremony this past December.

The light of his life is his son, Theodore Chaney III, who at 23 is Chaney’s only son to graduate from college. Chaney gradated with honors from the Phi Alpha Theta Historical Honors Society, majoring in history and minoring in political science. His plan is to obtain a Master’s degree at Old Dominion University and eventually a doctorate in order to teach history at the college level.

Chaney’s mother, Maryann, echoed her husband’s sentiment: &uot;It’s been a short three years because he has done it on his own. We are really very proud of him.&uot;

His sister, Michele, and brother, Michael, were on hand to videotape and photograph the ceremony of their little brother, agreed.

Chaney attended Robertson elementary school, John F. Kennedy middle school and Lakeland High School, from which he graduated in 1997.

Chaney knew he wanted to go on to college while in his junior year at Lakeland, but was not sure what he was going to major in until he went to Paul D. Camp Community College in Suffolk to fulfill his lower division requirements. There he fell in love with teaching and history.

When asked who inspired him to want to be a history teacher, Chaney said, &uot;It was Professor Booth-Pharr. He had a lot of charisma and passion when he taught and that’s what inspired me to pursue my career in teaching history at the college level.&uot;

Given the chance to say something to others from Whaleyville, and the rest of Suffolk, Chaney said, &uot;Find something you want to do and just go for it!&uot;