The Loss of a Living Legend
The world has lost the last student of Great Grandmaster K.S. Chow and Grandmaster Bill Chun Sr. We lost Sifu Bill Chun Jr. on March 28th.
When O-Sensei Louis Desmarais passed away in the spring of 2011, I had made him a promise. His appetite for martial arts knowledge was voracious, and he often sought out experts and masters to feed his limitless curiosity. My last promise to him was twofold, that I would become a professional educator, and that I would carry the flame of curiosity and continue seeking people out.
Our first step outside, a rarity for anyone in the Independent Karate School, was to a seminar put on by Sifu. It had hardly been six months since O-Sensei passed, and he was – as always – on my mind. There were more than a hundred black belts in attendance, all from different branches of the family tree, of his family tree. Kyoshi and I wanted to learn, so we kept our heads down to learn. Sifu was unlike anyone I had ever seen. I was immediately struck by the juxtaposition of two sides. In one moment, he’d smile through a funny story about his time as a student of Great Grandmaster K.S. Chow, and in the next he would execute a more devastating technique than I could visually track. What looked like one strike was actually four. He would joke about how he would avoid fights as a young man and then demonstrate a strike with his fingertips that would break the hand of most people who might have tried to face him.
During the seminar he introduced a drill with instructions to the room to keep going until he said stop. After a few minutes, he started telling stories of the early days of Kenpo. As a social studies teacher, this was nearly impossible to resist. Here was a primary source of information on the founding of our art, our style. But the IKS trained us well; he didn’t say stop, so we didn’t stop. Eventually he wrapped up an anecdote and pulled us all together.
Afterwards, he approached us. He commented on our discipline, and its rarity in the martial arts. What we didn’t realize at the time was that our discipline would lead to a private lesson a few months later.
Sifu invited us to what we thought would be a small group lesson of master level black belts. In truth, the two of us spent an afternoon alone with him at Shihan Shannon Nadeau’s dojo. We learned so much in those hours that the two of us talked ad nauseum to our classmates in Meijin Nastasia’s Monday Night Class for months after. That afternoon remains one of my fondest memories of my forty years in the martial arts.
Twelve years later, as the worst of the pandemic subsided, we reconnected with Sensei John James, a student of Sifu. He visited the IMAS and watched both a black belt class, and an open class for all ages and ranks. We spoke for some time, and he offered to continue our education in the Chow-Chun ways.
Training began. Before long it started to seep into our execution – blocks became more explosive, hits came out of nowhere, and we began to understand the Fist Law at a deeper level.
Sifu kept tabs on our training. He even called in from California once to comment on our training. While he was on the other side of the country, he felt close by. In June of 2024 we were fortunate enough to host Sifu for a seminar. Again, the social studies teacher in me was so excited. Here in the school was a direct student of the founder! Our students had the opportunity to work with him firsthand.
We didn’t realize that it would be the only time.
Kyoshi and I continue to train with Sensei James, and we continue to learn the lessons Sifu taught. We take our history and community seriously, and no one is more important than our students. The world may be dimmer, but we will carry on the light of knowledge as best we can.
Fair winds and following seas Sifu.
Hanshi Christopher P. Marsh
