Last Sunday First Baptist DC held a memorial service for Chip Hailey, long-time church member and A/V engineer, and a fixture in the Falls Church public access TV community. I briefly trained under Chip while the church was searching for new talent to manage the sanctuary A/V system. (Though I never became A/V tech, as my church time is mostly taken by choir duties — and it’s logistically difficult to juggle singing with sound room.)

During the memorial I was especially struck by this story from Chip’s childhood:

Chip was born with cerebral palsy. As one of the first poster children for the ailment, Chip attended a special event at the White House where he sat on Margaret Truman’s lap. His newly polished shoes left stains on Miss Truman’s dress; Chip made his “mark on the Truman Administration,” as he later joked with friends.

It was a very DC story. (The Trumans attended at First Baptist DC through the course of Harry Truman’s presidency, and Rev. Dr. Edward Pruden delivered the invocation at the Truman inauguration.)

More obituaries for Chip from Falls Church City TV, Falls Church News press, and Falls Church Times; and a memorial page on Facebook.