Ann Chapman

1932 - 2023

Ann Chapman, 91
1932 - 2023
Danvers - Ellen Ann Chapman, 1932-2023
A wise friend and colleague once said to me, "let's make sure we leave people better than how we found them". I remember hearing that, and the first person that popped into my mind was our mom, Ann (Glennie) Chapman.
Ann was born in 1932 to Everett and Irene Glennie in North Andover. They later moved to Exeter New Hampshire where Ann graduated from The Robinson Female Seminary in 1950. She graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1954 with a degree in psychology. Following college, Ann shared an apartment in Boston with classmates from UNH and worked with children with cognitive disabilities. While in Boston, she met a talented young saxophone player in one of Boston's thriving jazz clubs, the lead alto of the Herb Pomeroy Big Band, Dave Chapman. They were soon after married and settled in the Fenway, and later in Swampscott.
While our dad was well known for his musical talent, he took his role as bread winner very seriously. Our mom played the primary role of raising her children, Bill, Doug, and Melissa. She filled our lives with books, music, the arts, and cultural experiences. She encouraged us to compete in sports and was a spectator at most every game. Ann and Dave were practical, very progressive people with friends of all races, ethnicities, and religions. She loved to laugh and was adept at teaching her children to keep things in perspective. She was always the calm in the storm of our crazy house, often managing solo while our dad worked fulltime during the day and played music nights and weekends. That said, Ann worked for Swampscott High School as the manager of the school store, and mentor to the students that ran it. She also enjoyed working at the Swampscott Public Library through the 1980s to the early 2000s. For Bill and Doug's December birthdays, Ann was able to get Garden seats right behind Johnny Pearson and Fred Cusick's broadcast booth where Bill and Doug witnessed The Great Orr's (hockey's greatest player ever) end-to-end rushes that often culminated in highlight reel goals. Ann was an avid Bruins fan in those days, rarely missing televised games with us on Channel 38, seen on the 13-inch black and white with the UHF antenna.
Ann had wonderfully close friends, including the early neighborhood friends "Massey" and "Olson". The three of them constantly sending their kids (who were all good friends) to Paul's Market for a pack of cigarettes. Ann loved their frequent morning coffees filled with laughs, debates, and shared intel about everything happening in Swampscott.
There were the hockey/baseball/football/field hockey friends, the college friends, the Exeter friends (including lifelong friend Janet Bernier), the Swampscott library friends, and the musician friends. And she loved her in-laws, Bill and Ann Macdonald. The three were thick as thieves at every holiday event. And of course, later in life, her beloved friends from yoga that she met at the Marblehead Community Center and her good friends at Brightview in Danvers. She made connections everywhere she went and in her ever-friendly way never failed to put a smile on your face. She was so respectful of everyone, and she got respect in return.
Her greatest joy were her children and her six grandchildren. Bill Chapman and his wife Betsy and their sons Jackie and Eddie, and Eddie's wife Yining. Doug Chapman and his wife Kate and their girls, Emily and Lily. Melissa Chapman Gresh and her husband Gary, and their children, Sally and Henry. She had special books, music, movies, and activities she enjoyed with each of them and attended many plays, concerts, and sporting events. Her first question at every gathering was to ask about the grandkids.
She spent the last few years living at Brightview in Danvers where she became an active member of the community, making connections, enjoying exercise classes, bingo, and her favorite: cocktail-hour at the pub with friends. In her final days, she received care from the most gifted humans on the planet at the Kaplan Hospice in Danvers. We can't heap enough praise on their thoughtfulness and caring in her last days.
Ann was predeceased by her husband Dave in 2010. Along with her children and grandchildren, she also leaves nieces Cindy Woodhouse and Jo Jones of San Diego California and nephew Dave Woodhouse of San Francisco. And extended family, David, Laurie, and David Chapman Jr of Newport News, Virginia, and Bobby and Rhonda Chapman of Rocky Mount, Virginia, and Zach Chapman of Texas.
A celebration of life, hosted by the family will be held at Tedesco Country Club in Marblehead on Sunday November 12, 2:00 to 6:00pm. Friends and family are welcome. If you wish, please send donations to the Swampscott Public Library in memory of Ann Chapman.