We've all read the heart-warming story about Joba Chamberlain and his father. No need to repeat that here. But missing throughout the whole story is his mother. Finally, the Lincoln Journal-Star tells us the story of Jackie Standley.
Jackie is 43. She has brown hair, a small silver hoop on an eyebrow, brown eyes that are slightly bulged. She has round cheeks. She has muscular arms, which rip out carpet and nails and renovate apartments for a brother. She has legs that shake a bit, from medicine and nerves.
She has two cats, Butch and Alley (because she found it in an alley) lying on the floor.
She has two grown children who don’t talk to her anymore.
One is Joba Chamberlain.
I read this story, and I'm not sure what the purpose is. Is she jealous? Does she want to re-establish a relationship with Joba?
Certainly, Standley has had a rough life. She had children young, She made mistakes. And eventually, Harlan Chamberlain took over as Joba's primary parent.
But she feels Harlan has let reporters believe a myth.
“Me and my son have had a good relationship. We lived within a mile of each other for his whole life. … Once I gave him his last name, it’s like he took total power. It was like, he starts staying there more. I got to the point where I was not going to fight with him over it. Joba was getting to school, getting good grades. He was doing sports, which is what he wanted.
“I don’t know why Harlan is doing all this. I’ve called, tried to ask him, and he don’t want to speak to me, which is weird, because Harlan raised me.”
Joba often praises his dad. He told a reporter from this paper in 2005: “He’s my stepping stone and building block for everything I’ve done in my life.
“He’s not only my dad, he’s my best friend.”
Harlan and other family members declined to be quoted in this story. So did Joba’s sister. Joba did not return interview requests left with his father and on his cell phone.
Read the article for yourself, and draw your own conclusions, if you will.