DOTTIE CHAPMAN

Life is more than a trip through time. It is a sacred journey. Dottie Browning Chapman began her journey on Sept. 19, 1940 and concluded it on July 11, 2015. It was a journey on which she blessed many and received many blessings. Dottie was born in Kurthwood, La., the first child of Allen Browning and Dorothy Mae Browning. She lived most of her life in the Leesville area. She attended Leesville public schools. She was a great athlete and in high school played basketball for the Leesville Wampus Cats.
During the summers, she often went to the Leesville Country Club pool, and it was there that she met a young soldier named Hal Chapman, who was from Illinois. Hal was a great diver, and when Dottie was at the pool he did every trick that he knew off the diving board. As a result of his diving prowess and his good looks, he won Dottie over. Hal said that one thing that puzzled him about living in Leesville was that he had never heard of a "wampus cat." He assumed that it was some kind of wild animal that roamed this part of the state, and that he was anxious to see one. He said that it was quite a letdown when he discovered that there was no such animal as a "wampus cat"-that it was some type of fierce cat sort of like a wildcat/bobcat.
Dottie graduated from high school in 1958 and she and Hal married and had four beautiful children. Dottie poured her life into her husband and her children. After Hal's retirement, he and Dottie lived several years in Shirley, Ark. After Hal's death, Dottie moved back to the Leesville area. She was a caregiver for all in her family who needed it. As her own health declined, her family became her caregivers. She completed her journey in Petal, Miss., where she had gone to live with her daughter Sherry and her husband Yuri.
A memorial service for Dottie will be held at The Downtown Event Center, 103 South Third Street, Leesville, on Saturday, July 25, 2015 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Rev. Gil Arthur, Dottie's former pastor, will lead the service. Dottie never wanted a fuss and did not want a funeral service, so the service will be a celebration of her life and friends are asked to bring a covered dish for an old-fashioned, "dinner-on-the-grounds" to celebrate Dottie's homecoming. If you have old photographs of Dottie and Hal, bring those along, too. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Asbury Hospice House through Forrest General Healthcare Foundation at www.forresthealth.org/givingdonations, or the charity of your choice. Interment will be at the Central Louisiana Veterans Cemetery on July 24, 2015 for family only.
Dottie was preceded in death by her husband Hal Chapman, her parents, Allen and Dorothy Mae Browning, and her brother, Buddy Browning. She is survived by two sons and two daughters: Mitchell Chapman and wife Stella of Silsbee, Texas, Michael Chapman of Anacoco, Sherry Rivera and husband Yuri of Petal, MS, and Teri Davis and husband Daniel of Leesville. She is also survived by eight grandchildren: Tiffany Koch and husband, Nathan, Jacob Chapman and wife, Jill, Bradley Bynog, Chad Pruett, Chance Bynog, Amanda Thompson and husband Shawn, Molly Chapman, and Parker Davis. She is also survived by four great-grandchildren, who were her favorites of all.
The Apostle Paul said, "None of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself" (Rom. 14:7). We are grateful that Dottie did not live unto herself. She richly shared her journey with us and blessed us in more ways than we can remember. We are also grateful that she shared her life with the Lord. We claim the promise of His Word that she did not live to herself or die to herself. The Lord was with her at the time of her death and carried her into His presence forever as she concluded her sacred journey!