YOUR STORY MATTERS HERE: Chip Humphries

By Tim Wesley

What’s in a name, you ask?

Plenty, if you’re Chip Humphries. 

Or William Henry Humphries IV, as his birth certificate reads. 

Or, as on his business card, Chip Humphries, PhD. 

Or William H. Humphries IV, if you come across his by-line in a scientific journal.  

Or William (Chip) Humphries, if you receive an email from him at work, where the company has reserved both william.humphries and chip.humphries as functional addresses.

Or, if you want to put it all together, Dr. William Henry Humphries IV.

“Which is pretty much the most ostentatious name you could have,” said Chip – we’ll keep it simple – with a laugh.

Given all those variants – heck, he could fill up a branch of the family tree by himself – a man could be forgiven for lapsing into an identity crisis now and then.  But this 38-year-old man of multiple monikers ponders his purpose intentionally and regularly with an age-old question:  Who am I?

“About five years ago, I sat outside alone and asked myself that question,” he said.  “Then I listed some words:  Father.  Husband.  Son.  Christian.  Scientist.  I think about that list a couple times a year, and I ponder how to do all of that in a way that’s positive, loving and pleasing to God.  Sometimes I come up with different answers, and I think you also need other people to be part of helping you figure that out.”

For Chip, figuring it out seemed to start – Where else? – with his name.

Through family history research, he knows his paternal great-great-grandfather, Thomas Humphries, left Staffordshire, England with his wife, Henrietta, in the 1870s.  They settled in Wilkinsburg and begat four children, naming the youngest son William Henry Humphries and calling him Bill.  He then named his only child William Henry Humphries Jr., who followed suit with a William Henry Humphries III, Chip’s father, who was called Hank.  When Hank was young, Bill’s wife, Ethyl, celebrated the three generations being alive and together, which was rare for that time.  Despite a fractured relationship between William Jr. and William III, the name prevailed when Chip came along.

“My father did not want me to be named William IV because he didn’t want me to be burdened with my grandfather’s legacy,” Chip said.  “But my mother had the final say so they named me William Henry Humphries IV.  My mom said I would be known as Chip, the standard English name for the fourth child, and to remind me to be ‘a chip off the old block,’ like my dad.”

Chip credits his dad and stepmother – his birth mom passed away from cancer when he was only three years old – with having a positive influence on his life.

“Together, my father and stepmother did a ton to put my sister and me on a great path,” he said.  “They really sacrificed a lot to allow us to chase our dreams and do our thing.”

After graduating from Avonworth High School, Chip’s dream included pursuing dual majors in chemistry and music at Ohio Northern University.  (When choosing those majors, he didn’t know that his birth mother had been a chemist and played music at her church.)  At Ohio Northern, he met his future wife, Jess, although their relationship took some time to bloom.

“I was in the sorority for the marching band and she was in the fraternity for the marching band, so my wife is a brother and I’m a sister,” he said with a laugh.

They were friends – and even roommates during Chip’s final year – but the sparks didn’t fly at first.

“We laugh about it now, but we have pictures of us standing next to each other not looking happy, maybe because someone didn’t do the dishes or something like that,” he said.

One night Chip’s parents visited to take him out to dinner and his girlfriend wasn’t available to go, so Jess joined them.  That, it turned out, was the spark.  After graduation, Chip moved to Atlanta to pursue a doctorate in chemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology.  A year later, after Jess earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Ohio Northern, she moved to Atlanta and they started dating.  Three years later, in 2009, they married.

While studying for his doctorate, Chip delved into highly specialized and technology-heavy research, focusing on chemical reactions in human cells.  He even built his own microscope, complete with lasers, that was one-of-a-kind at the time. 

Since graduating, he has worked for the past 10 years at B&B Microscopes, where he currently serves as a Senior Imaging and Microscopy Specialist.  In this role, he’s an equipment salesman and provides service, support, and consulting for the company’s products, which range from student microscopes that you might see in college classrooms up to systems that can fill up an entire room.  The products are used mostly in basic research, including for cancer treatments and vaccines.  Chip’s customers include all of the clinical and research facilities in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, which means he’s interacting with nearly every hospital and scientific research entity in those areas.

To be successful, he needs to understand the customers’ highly specialized, scientific needs and translate their requirements into the right mix of technical products and solutions.  And he needs to build honest, trusting relationships.

“I definitely approach the relationships that I am building with customers from a position of love and care,” he said.  “I’m hoping to positively impact their science and livelihood.  And when it comes to sales, especially in Pittsburgh, it’s very relationship-driven.  People get into positions and they may not leave for 30 years, which I think is unique to our area.  So your level of honesty and care has to be at the highest level, and it’s always noticed by other people.  There are a couple customers who I can be fairly direct with in talking about my faith.  I try to think of it as, ‘this is who I am.’  Christian values should shine through in my words and my actions.”

Chip and Jess have attended Dutilh since 2012, although it took a few worship services before they got, um, the point – as in, Jess’s sharp elbow to Chip’s ribs.  They had been to a couple blended services at Dutilh, then checked out some other churches before returning to Dutilh for a contemporary service.  When the praise band leader, Dustin Bush, announced that they needed someone to play bass guitar, Chip felt the playful wrath of his wife’s elbow as Jess shot him a, “You’re doing that, right?” glance.

“I played the tuba in band and didn’t know how to play a bass,” Chip said.  “But for our wedding a few years earlier, we had bought each other a gift, something we would not buy ourselves.  I bought Jess a Coach purse and she bought me a bass guitar because she said no one would ever ask me to come over to their house to play the tuba.  So for three years, the guitar sat in its case, until I felt that sharp elbow.  Two weeks later, I was up there playing on stage.”

The next year, Chip and Jess became parents when Addi (8) arrived on the scene.  Next came Cori (5), followed by Quin (4) and Zach (2).  With four young children and two puppies, the house can be a bit chaotic, but mom and dad still find ways to keep some things simple.

“I don’t always know how we do it, but we’re definitely intentional in talking to our kids about what we expect,” he said.  “We have three questions we ask them pretty regularly:  Is [what you want to do] safe? Is it kind?  And is it the right thing?  It’s just a way to talk to them about stuff, and to make them think about it.”

At Dutilh, Chip values the variety of ways members can get involved and the overlapping circles that often develop.  Through his involvement with the praise band, he joined a young adult Bible study group, and he also participates in the men’s group.

“When you see families or individuals in various roles, it shows how our interactions continue to spread,” he said.  “Leaders inspiring leaders is an effect that I love to watch when these circles overlap.”

Chip also credits the Dutilh mission statement – Love God, Love Others, Love to Serve – with providing guideposts for his family.

 “We actually talk about the church mission in our house a lot,” he said.  “We’re always asking ourselves if something we want to do fits with one of those three ideas.  We are very committed to having those who come into our lives feel loved, and we want to model kindness in all situations to our children.”

And speaking of their children, what about those names, you ask?  Isn’t someone missing? 

Nope, explained Chip:  “Quin’s full name is William Henry Humphries V and his nickname comes from quintet [the name for a group of five musicians].  Now, I’m praying that Quin has a son.  And that he likes the name William Henry.”

If he’s a chip off the old block, he probably will.

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If you or someone you know in the Dutilh family has an interesting story or profession, send us your ideas! We would love to help tell the story. Email: communications@dutilhumc.org.