Dan Chase Dan Chase grew up in Wichita, Kansas and joined the United States Air Force in 1963. After completing basic training and Air Police School at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, he was assigned to the 862d Combat Defense Squadron at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. His job was providing security on the Minute Man missile sites. Dan left the Air Force in 1967 and moved to the Baltimore, Maryland where he worked for an Auto Finance Company for 30 Years. He has been interested in art his entire life and majored in art at Kansas State College of Pittsburg. Dan studied woodcarving under several nationally known woodcarvers, and has been teaching woodcarving in the Johnson City area since 1997.