John Chavez

1938-2017

In the first Back to the Future movie, we learn that the DeLorean time machine requires 1.21 gigawatts of power to operate. That's my memory of John Chavez, rather small sized, but full of a lot of power. After several years of volunteering to interpret in many different contexts, I decided to focus on medical interpreting, hoping to develop a course in healthcare interpreting at my university. Around 1985 when I saw John Chavez was offering a workshop on medical interpreting, I knew this would be my best bet to get professional training from a professional in the field. He did not disappoint. He kicked my rather newly minted PhD bu**, kicked it right into the future. His dedication, knowledge and approach to teaching based on theory and in-the-trenches experience powered up my DeLorean to take me straight to my future in language access. Some 38 years later, and now a CCHI CHI-Spanish interpreter, I still remember vivid details of his interwoven best practices with specific knowledge that led me to where I needed to go. Thank you to John Chavez, forever grateful.

~by Enrica J Ardemagni, PhD, CHI-Spanish (9/2023)