Huskers Honor Two Centenarians

Their backgrounds and life stories strikingly contrast.
 
John Boosalis, a Minnesota native, served in World War II, when he survived a plane crash in the South Pacific and, weeks later, read his own obituary. He moved to Lincoln in 1961 and became part owner of the Knolls Country Club, and has held Nebraska football season tickets since 1965.
 
Thelma Chase, born and raised in Maywood, Nebraska, married a high school football, basketball and track coach. When her husband died in 1993, she spent the next 25 years living alone in a cabin on Lake McConaughy near Ogallala, baking, gardening and canning tomatoes. Today, she lives in Lincoln, goes to the gym three times a week and, until last week, had never attended a Nebraska football game.
 
Yet Boosalis and Chase share one notable trait. They're both centenarians, and proud, longtime Nebraska football fans.
 
Boosalis turned 100 in March. Chase reached 106 with a birthday last week. On Friday, the two were guests of the Nebraska football program and attended the end of practice at Memorial Stadium, where they met coach Scott Frost and other members of the team and Athletic Department.
 
Boosalis, Chase and members of their family will also attend Nebraska's Homecoming game Saturday against Northwestern as guests of the Athletic Department. Boosalis will serve as the honorary POW/MIA Chair Sentinal in the northwest corner of the stadium and receive special recognition during the game.
 
"This means a great deal. Trust me," said Boosalis, an MIA combat veteran. "Not only for me, but for what it stands for. That's the big thing."
 
During his recognition, the HuskerVision video screens will show a picture of Boosalis and his four brothers – Nicholas, Mike, Bill and George – who all served in and survived World War II.
 
Gregg Boosalis, John's son, had looked into nominating both his father and uncle, Mike, to together be the POW/MIA Chair Sentinal a couple of years ago, but it never came to fruition. At the time, Mike was 99 and John was 97.
 
Mike, whose wife, Helen, was the mayor of Lincoln from 1975-1983 and ran for Governor, was a plant biology professor at Nebraska for more than 40 years. He died a month shy of turning 100.
 
When John turned 100, Gregg became determined to have his father sit in the POW/MIA chair.
 
"This year, I just said we had to do this," said Gregg, who credited Regent Tim Clare and Nebraska Associate Athletic Director for Football Matt Davison for their help in honoring John.
 
"He's a big Husker fan. Always has been," Gregg said. "He has not lost any of his mental capacities at all. He loves football, big into Royals baseball, does a crossword puzzle every day. That's what keeps him sharp."
 
John, who went years without sharing details of what he and his crew experienced during World War II, today is happy to share his story, but only if asked.
 
"I feel this way: You have to be careful, because you may talk to somebody who had it a lot worse than you did," John said. "That would be embarrassing. I don't mind talking about anything, but I don't try to go around and wave a flag. I don't think that's right."
 
His story, at the very least, is remarkable.


 
An Aviation Radioman with the Navy, John and his crew were flying a torpedo bomber that experienced engine failure and crashed into the South Pacific in March 1943, while on anti-sub patrol. They spent two days on a life raft with limited food or water, and finally reached land, where they spent the next 28 days on an island in a British-French island chain called Erromango.
 
Natives found the airmen about a week after they hit shore, and took the crew to their village and fed them. They also told the crew about an Australian rancher who lived on the other side of the island, and a couple of days later, they took the Americans to him. The rancher, who had encountered other air crews who had washed ashore during the war, fed and cared for them.
 
Four weeks after the crash, a boat bringing supplies to the island radioed back and said they had discovered the crew. A seaplane then picked them up and returned them to their squadron.
 
John returned to discover his empty locker and learned his squadron had shipped his belongings back to the United States. In reading his mail, John also learned his family had already given him a military funeral.
 
Imagine their shock and joy when, some three weeks later, they received a telegram saying he was indeed alive and well. John, though, resumed duty with the other airmen. Months later, he finally returned home, on leave. That's when he met and married his wife, Catherine.
 
Shortly thereafter, with all that he had been through, John received orders for officers training and was commissioned as a Navy ensign and continued onto flight school in Pensacola, Florida, until 1945.  At the time, pilot trainees weren't allowed to be married, but Catherine still joined John in Florida.
 
"When I had the weekends off, she wore her engagement ring," John said. "During the week when she was working, she put her wedding ring on. Then after I got out of the service, we got married a second time for the records, just in case they inquired about it."
 
They were married 69 years.
 
Today, John lives at Knolls Retirement in Lincoln with a room that overlooks the first tee of the former golf course he helped purchase nearly 60 years ago. While he still has Nebraska football season tickets, he's not been regularly attending games for the last six seasons. Saturday, he'll sit in a combination of the POW/MIA chair and a suite for his family.


 
Wish Come True
 
To celebrate her birthday, Thelma Chase attended her first Nebraska football game last week, with members of her family, including her son, Bob, and his wife, Stephanie, with whom she now lives.
 
"We came an hour early and stayed the whole game, and she loved everything," Bob Chase said. "She loved the balloons and hot dogs flying, the band. Clapped for everything. Epitome of a Husker fan.
 
"Tough game, but it didn't faze her at all. She loved it."
 
A local television station featured Thelma and the story of her first game, when Thelma shared her wish of some day meeting Frost. Her grandson, Joe Julefs, from Bridgeport, had competed in the discus in Junior Olympics with Frost, then at Wood River.
 
"She's always thought of Scott as an extra grandson," Bob said, "somebody she knew about and could follow."
 
Members of the Nebraska Athletic Department learned of Thelma's wish and made it come true Friday, when Frost crouched down to visit with Thelma as she sat in a folding chair. Frost remembered the Junior Olympics competition. He also asked Thelma if she had any brothers who served in the war. Three in fact, including an older brother who served in World War I. The two younger brothers were in World War II, and all three survived, although one came home disabled.
 
Thelma, at age 6, was trapped in a blizzard, in a car with no heat, and as a result developed Rheumatic Fever, which caused her to lose her hearing. She'd legally deaf, but otherwise, Thelma has no physical setbacks.
 
In fact, Bob and Stephanie own and operate a gym called Pure Barre, which focuses on isometric training -- bending and stretching and creating pliable muscles – and Thelma participates three days a week, for 10-15 minutes. She also walks twice a day for 20 minutes without stopping. Hence, Thelma walked into Memorial Stadium for her first football game, by herself.
 
"Being active is so important," Bob said, "and that's a Husker philosophy."
 
Reach Brian at brosenthal@huskers.com or follow him on Twitter @GBRosenthal.