A to Z April Challenge: W is for Wilson

“We need to get together more often and not at a funeral.” How many times have you and a cousin said that? Funerals are much like a family reunion. You can learn a lot about a family just by looking at who showed up. Using my grandparents’ guest books and sympathy cards, I’ll be exploring “Who came to the funeral?”

is for Wilson Chapman. He attended the funeral of my maternal grandmother in November 1990. Wilson and his wife Dovie were my parents' good friends. However, the entire Chapman clan had been family friends for decades.

Born Leonard Wilson Chapman in 1927, Wilson’s parents were Bill and Edith Chapman. In 1930, the young Chapmans were living with Bill’s parents on Jouett Street. Bill was a merchant in a retail meat market. My grandmother worked for him off and on over the years.

Chapman's Market on Afton Parkway in 1954
cradock.org

By 1940, the Chapmans had added two more boys and moved to Ericsson Street in the Cradock neighborhood in what is now Portsmouth, Virginia. Wilson went to high school with my mother, graduating a few years ahead of her.

from The Admiral 1945
L. Wilson "Lappy" Chapman
Quote: Friendliness and good sportsmanship
makes a character

Wilson’s senior yearbook records his high school career as one popular young man. He was elected as vice-president of both his freshman and sophomore classes. He was president of the junior class. Wilson was quite the athlete too playing basketball, baseball, and football. One year he was co-captain of the football team. He probably made the perfect sports editor of the school newspaper, The Shipmate.

from The Admiral 1944
Bille Dove Forrest
Quote: She hath a daily beauty in her life

Also on the Shipmate staff was Billie Dove Forrest. “Dovie,” as she was called, held several positions on the staff including circulation manager, layout manager, news editor, and eventually editor. She also enjoyed the Literary Club, Drama Club, and Dance Club.

Wilson and Dovie must have been quite an item in high school. In a gossip column-type feature of the yearbook was this statement: Wilson and Billie Dove have made up again – will it last, who can tell?

It did last actually. They married in 1947 and were never apart. I don’t ever remember seeing one without the other.

Wilson and Dovie are buried together at Greenlawn Memorial Gardens.

L. Wilson Jr. 1927 - 1997
and Billie Dove 1928 - 2000

If you have withstood my wily and whimsical wheedling, then wallow in the wanderlust of more waggish writings and witticisms wafting your way at the A to Z April Challenge.

© 2015, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.