William H. Chrisman

William H. Chrisman, 74William H. Chrisman, 74, of Paradise Valley and Christmas Cove, Maine, died peacefully Jan. 29.He was born June 28, 1932 in Evanston, Ill. to Roswell Herring Chrisman and Virginia Haynes Chrisman and grew up in Winnetka, Ill.Mr. Chrisman attended the New Trier High School and Choate School in Wallingford, Conn. and graduated from Harvard College in 1955.While at Choate, he made history in 1951 as captain of the cross-country team, whose faster members joined hands with its slower members so that they could cross the finish line together in victory, winning the New England Championship. A Hollywood movie was made about that historic finish.He entered the U.S. Army at Fort Sill, Okla., followed by shipment to West Germany where he served as an artillery officer with the Second Armored Division.After the army, Mr. Chrisman began his career in advertising agencies: Leo Burnett in Chicago and Lennan & Newell in New York.He later moved to the Clairol Division of Bristol-Myers, where he developed and marketed 12 hair products, among them the Frost and Tip Kit, which became the Cosmetics Fair magazine product of the year for 1968.After his career at Clairol, he planned, designed, built, and operated Big Surf, the world's first authentic water surfing facility located in Tempe, for which he won the Builders of Greater Arizona award in 1971. Mr. Chrisman rode the first wave himself.In 1987, Mr. Chrisman started Real Estate Valuation Consultants, from which he recently retired.Mr. Chrisman had a love of Harvard that was demonstrated by his annual attendance at The Game (against Yale), and also by continuing involvement in the affairs of the college.Recently, he sponsored the student-driven Living Wage Campaign at Harvard to raise salaries of service workers there.Not long after he graduated from college, Mr. Chrisman sought out high school students of excellent character and leadership ability in low-income neighborhoods in Chicago and New York and mentored them to achieve full scholarships from Harvard.Mr. Chrisman was a fourth-generation Western Iowa Hill Country farm operator.In recent years, he honored farm families through his Iowa Girls Scholarship Program for outstanding farmers' daughters.He found talented girls from small Iowa towns and mentored them to obtain full scholarships from the college of their choice.He was proud of their admittance to such places as Vanderbilt, Harvard, and Notre Dame.He taught Sunday school for 18 years at the Paradise Valley United Methodist Church and volunteered at the André House Hospitality Center for the Homeless in Phoenix and the Bath Area Soup Kitchen in Maine.Though he has traveled much of the world, Mr. Chrisman loved America and made sure he saw most of it.Mr. Chrisman is survived by his wife Margaret "Maggie" Chrisman, his daughters Katherine Chrisman and Emily Stocking, his sons-in-law William Tucker and Randal Stocking, stepchildren Amelia Cramer, Janet Grossman and Peter Craig, their spouses Amy Cramer and Douglas Grossman, and nine grandchildren.Mr. Chrisman said, "Upon my stone I have asked for this, in addition to my name and dates: 'He had a great time.'"A memorial service was held Feb. 17 at the Paradise Valley United Methodist Church, 4455 E. Lincoln Drive.