The death of a former child TV star Lauren Chapin hit Dave Broyles hard this week.
Broyles, who pastors Bethel Tabernacle Church in Ceres and a former pastor of Ceres Christian Church, befriended the Christian actress in the 1990s.
Chapin, who played Kathy “Kitten” Anderson on the 1950’s TV show “Father Knows Best” died Feb. 24 at age 80. Death came in Miami, Florida following her five-year battle with cancer.
“It’s like a part of my childhood is gone,” said Broyles.
The two grew so close that she “adopted” Broyles, four years her senior, as her “big brother.” So close that the actress requested Broyles to officiate at her Celebration of Life service in Southern California, which is being planned for May 25.
The two maintained telephone contact since Broyles is in California and Chapin resided in Florida.
“We talked at least a couple times a month. I got to talk to her the morning of the evening she passed away. She said, ‘I want you to do my funeral and tell everybody what a scallywag I was.’ And then she said I was the best little brother she ever had.”
The “Father Knows Best” TV series ran for six seasons, from October 1954 through May 1960. Reruns aired for another couple of years in primetime on ABC and for decades in syndication.
As a fan of Chapin and the show, Broyles read Chapin’s book, “Father Does Know Best: The Lauren Chapin Story” in 1990. After he penned a letter to Chapin explaining how much he enjoyed the book she gave Broyles a call days later.
“You could have knocked me over with a feather, you know, but she, she was so personable. I mean, she wasn't like high and mighty actress or anything like that. It was like we knew each other all of our life.”
Eventually their friendship led Broyles to invite Chapin to give her Christian testimony at the Ukiah church he was pastoring at the time. After he came to Ceres, she also came to Ceres Christian Church at its Roeding Road campus. When Broyles attended the denomination convention in Orlando, Florida, the two with their families spent the day together at Disney World.
Broyles said the actress faced her illness with courage.
“She was just like a bright star. I mean, she never lost faith. You know, she was a Christian, so, and she never lost faith. She’d been such an inspiration to me. I’d call her to try to encourage her and she’d end up encouraging me. She was just that way.”
Chapin found her way to Christianity after visiting the Eagle’s Nest in Orange led by Gary Greenwald.
Broyles said in her book she mentioned the only reason that she went was because she heard the pastor looked like Omar Sharif and “she wanted to get a good gander of him. And while she was there, the Holy Spirit gripped her heart, and she walked the aisle to see Christ. Her life was never the same after that. She became an evangelist. She preached everywhere.”
Chapin had roles in “A Star Is Born” (1954) with Judy Garland, The Bob Hope Show (1954), The Ed Sullivan Show (1958), “The Amorous Adventures of Don Quixote” and “Sancho Panza” (1976), “Scout’s Honor” “School Bus Diaries” (2016).
Helping her land her most famous TV role was owing to the fact that she bore a strong resemblance to one of star Robert Young’s four daughters, also named Kathy.
Chapin acknowledged that she was molested by her father as a child and like many child stars ran into personal problems. She battled drug abuse, spent time in jail, attempted suicide, suffered eight miscarriages and her marriage crumbled. In a 1989 appearance on “Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee,” Chapin said, “It was very difficult to understand how Kathy Anderson could be loved and protected and Lauren Chapin lived a whole different kind of life. I didn’t understand how God could let me suffer.”
She eventually became sober in 1970 and worked as a Christian minister.
Aside from acting, Chapin worked for a brokerage firm in the 1980s and also later owned two beauty pageant enterprises and was a talent manager for Jennifer Love Hewitt. In 1989, she wrote an autobiography, “Father Does Know Best: The Lauren Chapin Story.” She was a licensed and ordained evangelist and advocate for Israel.
This is not the only celebrity connection Broyles has established. He maintained a friendship with actor Richard “Jaws” Kiel who passed away in 2014. Kiel spoke at the Ceres Christian Church when it was located where the present Ceres Community Center is today.
