Malcolm W. Chase

Funeral services for Captain Malcolm W. Chase, USN, Ret., age 84 of Cookeville, will be held Wednesday, March 29, 2023, at 1:00 pm in the Cookeville Chapel of Hooper Huddleston & Horner Funeral Home. Pastor Frank Rodgers will officiate. Interment with military honors will follow in Cookeville City Cemetery.

His family will receive friends Tuesday from 5pm until 8pm and again Wednesday from 11am until service time at the funeral home.

Captain Chase died Wednesday March 22, 2023, at his residence. He was born February 23, 1939, in Rutland, Vermont to the late Warren E. Chase and Catherine Fairbanks Chase.

Upon graduation from Rutland High School, he entered the United States Naval Academy and was graduated with honors with the class of 1961. Upon receiving his commission as an ensign, he reported to the destroyer USS Davis for an 18-month tour in the Gunnery Department. His next assignments were to the Destroyer School and to duty as Engineer Officer of USS Mitscher.

In 1964, Captain Chase entered the Surface Nuclear Power Program with training in Bainbridge, Maryland, and West Milton, New York, followed by duty on the pre-commissioning crew of USS Schofield as Engineer Officer, and Operation Officer of USS Lynde McCormick. In 1968, he reported to USS Bainbridge for duty as Main Propulsion Assistant. Following a two-year tour at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, where he earned a Master of Science degree in Operations Research, Captain Chase served on the USS King as Executive Officer, until her decommissioning for modernization.

A short tour on the staff of Commander Naval Force, United States Pacific Fleet was followed by duty as Executive Officer of USS California from February, 1976 to July, 1978. After serving as the Senior Member, COMMNAVAIRPAC/COMNAVSURFPAC Nuclear Propulsion Mobile Training Team, Captain Chase reported to USS Barry as Commanding Officer.

Captain Chase assumed command of USS Arkansas from December 10, 1982, through December, 1985. During the final five years of his Naval career, he served as Assistant Secretary of Research and Development at the Pentagon. His 30-year career in the Navy ended upon his retirement in 1991.

Captain Chase was awarded two Navy Commendation Medals and was entitled to wear numerous campaign and expeditionary medals. He was a Vietnam War veteran and among other exploits captained the first nuclear powered ship to traverse the Suez Canal.

He and his wife Lorna have lived in Cookeville since October of 1991. They were founding members of Calvary Christian Church in 1995 and were current members of Double Springs Community Church. He and Lorna operated a thriving antique dishware business from 1986-2009.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a brother, Douglas W. Chase.

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Lorna Brown Chase; daughter, Catherine Elizabeth Scharwark, of Moreno Valley, CA; son, Richard Brian Chase, of Cookeville; grandchildren, Thomas P. (Peggy) Scharwark, Jr. and John Malcolm Scharwark; great grandchildren Peggy Sue Scharwark, Penny Lane Scharwark, and Vinny Graciano; and by sisters, Sibyl Valente, of Rutland, VT and Miriam Stringham, of Springfield, VT. He was a proud father and adored his cats and grandcats.

Gavin Goodsey, Michael Rabius, Brad Jarvis, John Malcolm Scharwark, William Chase and Greg Chase will serve as pallbearers.