Avid reader, jazz lover, golfer, advocate for social justice
Chip Atwood. (Courtesy photo)
Norman “Chip” Atwood Jr., 82, of Harvard, died May 26, and his family and friends mourn the passing of one of the kindest, smartest, and most patient men they’ve ever known.
Chip was born July 3, 1940, in the coal-mining town of Charleston, West Virginia. At 15, he accepted a full scholarship to Deerfield Academy. His father hailed from Brockton, and Massachusetts ended up feeling like home to Chip, too. After graduation in 1958, he attended Cornell before earning a bachelor’s degree in math from Boston University in 1969. He earned his master’s degree in philosophy and mathematics from Boston University in 1972. (He was so proud when his grandson Kai decided to attend his alma mater.) In 1981, he received a special management degree from Harvard University. He began his career at ADP in 1968, leaving in 1984 to work with the Intelligence Systems Group at Digital Equipment Corp., retiring from Digital in 2001.
Chip moved to Harvard in 1969 and met Nancy in 1979. They married in 1980, and to accommodate his new family, Chip designed a home on Old Littleton Road, where they moved in 1984.
In retirement, Chip followed his insatiable curiosity and many passions. Those included reading (especially science fiction), listening to jazz, spending time with his family, working on his N-scale train collection, watching movies and Formula 1 racing, and golfing. For years, Chip volunteered at the Digital Seniors Classic in Concord. He relished being the one to announce the winner on the 18th hole. Deeply influenced by the racism he saw growing up, Chip was a passionate advocate for democratic rights and social justice.
Chip was so shy that when Nancy first tried to integrate him into her large family gatherings, he sometimes responded like a cat on a ceiling. After his eldest grandchild, Zane, turned 2, something magical happened. Chip grew to love the holidays and soon started decorating the Christmas tree for the first time and peeling the endless potatoes for Thanksgiving. Then he started adding his own touches to celebrations, like creating a Thanksgiving whiskey tasting. From his infancy to the beginning of COVID-19, Chip spent every birthday in the company of his cousins in Lakeville. That tradition—and the annual Maine vacations with his children, grandchildren, and extended family—meant the world to him.
After Chip planned their honeymoon from inn to inn in New England, he revealed a secret to Nancy—the inns were located on a trajectory shaped like a heart. That pretty much says it all.
Chip leaves his wife, Nancy (Shaughnessy); his stepdaughter, Karyn White Doherty and husband, John; his son, Joseph Atwood and wife Mindy; his grandchildren, Zane, Kindred, Rachel, Catrin, and Kai; his beloved nieces and nephews; his sister-in-law, Diane Shaughnessy Moy; and his brother- and sister-in-law Jimmy and Mary Moy, with whom he was very close. He was predeceased by his father, Norman Atwood Sr., mother Anne (Johnson), brother Timothy, and stepdaughter Christine “Cissy” White. He leaves his neighbor, Becky Phillips, who for the past two years was a caretaker, good friend, and trusted companion.
At Chip’s request, the family will hold a small private ceremony.
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