They resided with a large extended family that included Chambers' grandfather, James Hicks, and several aunts, uncles, and cousins.
At that time, John Chambers, Sr., was working as a barber, a trade that he practiced for fifty-one years and taught to his children.
He graduated from Wiley H. Bates Senior High School in 1945, and then from the Hampton Institute in Virginia.
In April 1981, the City Council appointed Alderman Chambers as acting mayor, following the death of Gustav J. Akerland.
When the shop closed, the Capital reported that "John Chambers will retire to a home on Hicks Avenue across from where he was born and down the hill from his church, Mt.