Significant Journey

Alumna writes her memoir

Judy de Chantal (back) sits for a photo with her family. de Chantal recently published a memoir in which she tells of her journey away from God and back, and around the world.

"That guy is shooting at us!" Judy (Williams) de Chantal ('62) recounts a run-in with the Turkish military over a parking violation in an excerpt from her new book, “Significant Journey.”  The book is an autobiography of her one-year journey through Europe and Asia in 1972, chronicling not only her travels, but also a significant spiritual journey as she calls herself a “prodigal daughter.”
 
Judy’s journey started when she decided to take a year off from her work as a school nurse in the Tacoma, Wash., area to join friends traveling throughout Europe.  A Canadian friend, Ilana, invited her to come to Europe with her where they could travel during the summer and then work at a ski resort during the winter.  Prior to leaving the U.S., de Chantal visited her parents who sent her on her way with a little Bible with a note inscribed in the front cover: “We will be praying that God will keep you safe on this journey and guide you back home soon.”  Even then, de Chantal knew the words, “…and guide you back home soon” had a deeper meaning than simply bringing her back to her parents.

“I wasn’t anti-Christian in any sense,” she explains.  “In my mind, my stance was simple enough. I would have to bring my life into alignment with my beliefs, and that seemed overwhelming.  I had too much to do and thought I was too busy for that at the time.”

Upon arrival in Europe, de Chantal and Ilana purchased a Volkswagen van which they named “The Belly Button Bomb” and toured through several countries, including Germany, France, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Syria, and Afghanistan, among others.  

Of all of her experiences, one above all stands out as making the most impact on de Chantal’s life. “It is the end of October. The Rome Youth Hostel is on the old 1954 Olympic grounds….1972, and it is the apex of backpack travelers on the road in Europe,” she recalls. Needing help with traveling expenses to Athens, de Chantal and Ilana cautiously accepted a passenger, “This guy is a ‘hippie’, has very long hair and wears big boots with frayed jeans. He is nice looking, but that isn’t a good criterion for picking up a rider. Would this be a safe thing to do?”

The hippie was none other than Alain de Chantal, whom she married after returning to North America.  He has been her faithful traveling companion ever since.

The book continues following de Chantal’s life after her return to the U.S. in 1973.  After working in generously funded public school programs and thereby witnessing the relative opulence and apathy in which the American poor lived in comparison to the countries they had visited in Asia, the de Chantals felt they needed to remove themselves from society and spend a couple of years in the wilderness.  They settled in Tsuniah Lake, British Columbia, Canada.

While waiting for homesteading papers from the Canadian government to be processed, they spent time at Lake Tsuniah helping out at a cattle ranch managed by her aunt and uncle and acting as caretakers at a fly-in fishing resort during the winter.  

de Chantal said that their papers never cleared, but that the experience in Canada was a time to continue to grow in wisdom and experience before finally returning to the U.S. in 1975. de Chantal’s book ends at this point in the story, when the couple settles in Port Townsend, Wash.

Since that chapter in her journey ended, de Chantal has had a full and busy life as a full-time mom homeschooling her daughters through high school, supporting them as they attended college, and seeing them married and settled.  She has also developed her talent as an artist and has sold oil paintings at art shows around the country.  Many of her paintings are on display at the Book and Game Co. on Main Street in Walla Walla, Wash.

After 30 years de Chantal finally made the time to write a book. “Friends and family were always telling me that I had to write a book about it. I planned to write it because I knew that the things that happened to us were not the usual run-of-the-mill travel adventures.”

de Chantal and her husband still live in Port Angeles, Wash., and have two adult daughters, Jacinthe (’00) and  Jonquille (’02).  Though this is her first book publication, she has written many magazine articles. More information about de Chantal’s life and pictures from her European journey can be found by clicking the link below.

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