Fr. Jim Chambers, S.J.

By Fr. John Locke, S.J.
(From the Nepal Region’s 50th Anniversary Book, 2001)

Fr. Jim Chambers was born in Chicago in 1924. He finished his entire training in the U.S. and came to Nepal after tertianship. He took up residence at Jawalakhel where he remained for the rest of his days in Nepal. He was a teacher in the primary school, hostel prefect for most of the junior boys, and their games prefect.

When the primary boarders moved to Godavari at the end of 1969, Jim remained at Jawalakhel as vice principal for the primary section. Throughout most of this period he was active in the Boy Scouts, acting as the scout master for the boys at Jawalakhel and cooperating with the Nepal Boy Scout movement in its early days. His contribution to the Boy Scouts of Nepal was immense.

Generations of Jawalakhel students, both boarders and day scholars, were formed by Jim, and all remember him fondly. He returned to the U.S. in May of 1983 to assume pastoral work in a variety of places. He is now living at St. Ignatius Prep Jesuit Residence in Chicago and is a Cook County Hospital chaplain.