By Bish Curtin

Ed Note: Bish, author of this article and Ranch librarian for 15 years, came to HCYR in December 1980  to work as a houseparent, just months before Chad’s arrival.

Before we had the term "attention deficit disorder", we called it hyperactive.  For eight years in the 1980s, a boy named Chad helped write the book on this pattern of behaviors, whatever its name.  And forever more, those of us who worked with him through to his graduation from high school in 1988 will associate the name Chad with images of this difficult but special child.  He was certainly unpredictable.

Comments from staff about Chad include "endearing smile", "fun loving", and "smart".  They also include "nearly impossible to keep track of", "scattered", and "mischievous".   To be sure, a person could have him in sight, have him right under foot, and he could slip away and get into some kind of trouble.

Chad Preston first came to the Ranch in early 1981, a small wiry 10-year-old boy.  His grandmother, who had custody of him because of his parents’ drug-use, became ill and could no longer take care of him.  He remembers being angry about having to be at the Ranch.

"I didn’t think it was fair," Chad recalls now.  "I hadn’t done anything to get into trouble, so I didn’t understand why I had to be there."

Somewhere along the way, Chad discovered a dream that stuck — to become a Navy SEAL.

Chad reminisces, "I remember clearly the day I decided I wanted to become a SEAL.  I think I was about 15 years old.  We had a houseparent named Walter who had been in the military.  I really liked him.  I asked Walter what it took to make it through SEAL training.  He asked me how bad I wanted it.  I told him ‘pretty bad.’  Then he told me there were two things I would need to succeed. First, I’d have to make a commitment to myself.  Second, I would have to give it my all or die trying."

The prognosis for Chad working in a highly disciplined system did not seem good.  I can still remember quietly shaking my head.  There was no way he would ever make it through boot camp!  It just didn’t seem possible.  His attention would wander.  He’d blow up at his C.O.  He wouldn’t be able to follow orders.

How wonderful it is to be wrong!  To learn the lesson to never doubt a child’s dream of what he feels called to do with his life.

The signs were really there all along. Stacks of scuba diving magazines.  Drawing sea creatures and fish in art class.  And if, on the one hand, he seemed scattered, Chad could also show great determination when it came to doing something he wanted to do.

"I remember I wanted a pair of fancy swim-fins that cost $60," he says.  "It was my birthday and I had ten dollars.  I wanted those fins bad.  I went around to the staff and managed to convince a bunch of them to loan me the money and by the end of that weekend I had enough.  The next Monday I bought those fins."

Says HCYR Director Gary Priour, "I remember seeing Chad at his cabin dressed in swim gear, a mask, snorkel and fins, not even near the water.   ‘Oh well,’ I thought, ‘as long as he doesn’t dive off the roof.’ "

In 1988 Chad graduated from Ingram High School.  He went directly into the Navy.  By 1989, he had made it through all of his training and was a SEAL.   We got word when he went to the Middle East on an advance team in Desert Storm.

Recalls Chad, "Walter was right.  It was really hard.  I had my moments, but I loved it."

In June of 1991 he married Amy.  They live in San Diego.  She is the women’s softball coach for Grossmont College.  They have two sons, Brandon, age nine and Caleb, age three.  Amy is pregnant with their third child, and they are in the process of adopting a little girl for whom they’ve been foster parents.  Yes, the Prestons are also foster parents, and have taken in several foster children along the way.

Chad now works in heating and air conditioning.  He is currently studying to be licensed so he can open his own company.  No doubt, he’ll do what it takes to succeed.

"You know, I was still angry when I graduated from the Ranch.   There were so many things I felt I didn’t get to do that ‘normal’ kids did.  I realize now that I had a great childhood there.  I went on the summer trips, got to travel all over the United States.  I got to fish a lot and go skateboarding and I got to meet some really great kids and adults.

"I really feel," Chad continues, "that I am who I am today because of Gary," he says.  "He stuck with me through all that trouble. When I was recently sad over the adoption of one of our foster children by another couple, he’s the one I called.

"If I could talk to the kids at HCYR now, there is so much I’d try to tell them.  Education, education, education.  I can’t say enough about that.  I’d tell them to stop and listen.  Think everything through.  Quick judgments can affect your whole life.  And, there are people who have a lot more experience than you do.  You can save yourself a lot of trouble if you listen to them.  Childhood is an important building block, the base upon which you build your adult life.  If you grow up too quickly, you can wind up failing at being an adult."