FEATURE
Though Fayetteville is far from Apple
Computer's home in Cupertino, California, several Fayettevillians had close ties to company's legendary former CEO
I
FarTree FROM THE BY JAYMIE BAXLEY
n April 1977, a 22-year-old college dropout named Steve Jobs unveiled his latest invention, the Apple II, during the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco. This machine would go on to become the world's first widely-adopted personal computer. Among those early-adopters was James Albert Chestnut, who later founded one of the country's first-ever Apple User Groups right here in Fayetteville. In the days before the internet, these
groups functioned as clubs where Apple enthusiasts could meet to discuss upcom- ing products and exchange technical solutions. Chestnut passed away in April 2002 but is survived by his son Jonathan; a graph-
ic design professor at Fayetteville State University. According to Jonathan, his father developed a friendship with Jobs before realizing who the budding CEO was. "He met Jobs in an elevator at an Apple expo in Boston and just thought he
was another user, so he invited him to a user gathering and Jobs came," Jonathan explained. "They had been at the meeting together for a while before someone re- vealed to dad who Jobs was!" Jonathan is quick to point out that, during Apple's corporate infancy, Jobs wasn't
quite the universally-recognized figure that we remember today. "Steve was just a computer nerd like the rest of them," he said. Jobs and Chestnut remained friends right up until the latter's death, and the
two would meet about once or twice annually. "I was in the room a few times; Jobs and my father talked about a lot of different things — life and such. For the longest time I didn't know it was Jobs because dad just referred to him as 'Steve'," recalled Jonathan.
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