Dwain R Chapman, PhD

"I didn't appreciate how great of a man Dwain was until I was older. I knew him since I was 8 or 9 years old, because they lived across the street from us in Hawthorne Court, while he was attending ISU to get his PhD in Chemistry. I don't ever remember talking to him, but I was friends with his son Steve.

Later we moved from Hawthorne Court and my parents joined the Mormon church of which he was a member. One day he invited me to visit him at his chemistry lab on ISU campus. I remember feeling so important meeting my appointment with him in the lab. He showed me around and showed me a few experiments, but the best part was that he gave me several test tubes with several chemicals in each one. I spent hours in the basement pretending to be a scientist with my test tubes.

My parents got a divorce and my dad quit the Mormon church. I remember Dwain and his two kids Steve and Amy coming to our house to visit. Then my mom moved us kids to Ohio and I heard Dwain got a job in Michigan with Dow Corning. He would bring his kids and come to visit us in Canton, OH sometimes.

One day my mom announced she was going to marry Dwain Chapman and we were moving to MIchigan. I was not happy always hoping my mom would get back with my father. I did not appreciate the fact that Dwain took on five more children in one swell swoop with all the obligations. I pretty much ignored him. I do remember him taking us to trips to Idaho to meet his family.

As I became a teenager and wanted to grow my hair long he was against it, so it became a big deal to get my hair cut. I remember one day he came to the high school and waited out front to take me to the barber, but I saw him and went out another door and got a ride home with someone else. When he finally caught up with me he was fuming and took me to the barber.

He was a kind and patient man, but I tested him over and over. He offered to take on the full obligation of us five by adopting us, but I raised such a row with my dad, they all changed their mind.

I kept ignoring and disrespecting him throughout high school, unless he got into my business. Once he found out I was using marijuana and called all my friends parents to warn them about their sons. That pushed me into corner with him and I fought furiously. I got him so angry once he kicked me in the rear as I was going down to the basement to my room.

My whole family moved to Adrian, MI in 1971 and left me alone at the house for the summer. I moved to Omaha, then back to Midland and married Helen. He gave me a Ford Mustang as a gift and came up to E. Lansing on a Saturday and showed me how to change the brake pads. He forgot to change the rubber gaskets, so the next day the brake fluid ruined the pads and I had to take it to the shop for a complete brake job. Later I traded in the Mustang for a new Vega.

I moved to Alaska and left Helen, then years later moved back to Adrian and lived in Dwain's house again. I met my wife Sue and borrowed Dwain's car whenever I could, never paying rent or gas. He was a generous man. He only was upset with me one time when he heard me trying to get Twila Lou to pray and accept the Lord as her Savior in the kitchen. Not sure why he was upset because he liked watching Billy Graham on TV. At that time he was a leader in the Mormon church and I was amazed at his generosity in helping the poor members of the church.

As he got older he seemed to mellow out even more and began to respect him as an adult. We had differing views on religion, but we still loved and respected each other. He would come visit my family in Iowa, which was always a blessing. The day I heard he had a massive brain hemorrhage I had no idea how serious it was. I called the nurse in his unit and asked when they were going to take him off the oxygen and she said I had no idea how serious this was. One of my greatest regrets in life was not going to his funeral in Michigan. I lived in Iowa and was dealing with serious issues with my own father at the time."