Joseph Locke said he thinks of one word when assessing the impact that his longtime friend Shawn Chapman had on people: “Generosity.”
“He was always willing to do more for everybody else than he was for himself. It didn’t matter if it was a stranger, he would help anybody,” said Locke.
Chapman, owner of Shawn Chapman Funeral Home in Chatsworth, passed away May 22 at the age of 58.
Childhood friend Jerry Reddix said Chapman touched the life of anyone he came in contact with, whether it was through the funeral service or as a member of the community.
“He was just a great friend,” Reddix said. “I’ve known him as long as I can possibly remember and he was one of those friends you could call up in the middle of the night and say ‘Hey, I’m stranded somewhere’ and he would come and get you. He was just that kind of guy.”
Serving others
Graduating from Murray County High School in 1983, Chapman knew early that he was meant to serve others, said his wife Chelsea.
“He got a job at (Jones Funeral Home in Chatsworth) while in high school,” Chelsea Chapman said. “He was actually in the ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) and he really wanted to go into the military until he got a job in the funeral home.”
Shortly after graduation, Chapman joined Love Funeral Home in Dalton.
“They really helped lay the groundwork for him,” Chelsea Chapman said. “(Co-founder) Jack Love really loved him and took him under his wing, and really gave him his blessing when he eventually moved to Chatsworth to be out on his own.”
Mark Joyce, current co-owner of Love Funeral Home and Jack Love’s grandson, said Shawn Chapman was a “humble, caring and kind individual.”
“He fit right in with us,” Joyce said. “And he was definitely an asset.”
Joyce said Chapman received his funeral director and embalming degree from Birmingham, Alabama’s Jefferson State College while employed by the funeral home in Dalton.
“Then, he became a licensed embalmer and funeral director while he was here and he just took off from there,” Joyce said. “He came out of high school with the mind that that’s what he wanted to do. He was always willing to do what needed to be done, no matter what it was.”
Chapman worked at Love Funeral Home for 14 years and became “like family” to the Loves, said Joyce.
“That’s what he was considered,” he said. “Even outside of the business, he was like family to us.”
Branching out
After four years of managing the now-closed Kenemer Brothers Funeral Home in Dalton, Chapman opened up his own funeral home in Chatsworth in 2000, which he “built from the ground up,” said Chelsea Chapman.
Within a few years, Shawn Chapman Funeral Home added a crematory and monument service, now operated by Chapman’s sons Wil, 30, and Bret, 28, who joined the family business “around 12 years ago,” Chelsea Chapman said.
“He devoted his entire life to his kids,” she said. “He did it all. There’s nothing that he didn’t sacrifice for others and for our family. He was so family-oriented and there was just so much love.”
Chelsea Chapman said the phrase “give the shirt off your back” doesn’t “scratch the surface of the way that he showed his love and service for others.”
“You can’t say enough,” she said. “The generosity was on every level; it was constantly putting everybody else first. And that’s how our marriage was. I can bet my soul on the fact that nobody has ever been loved the way that he loved me. He always had unwavering compassion for anyone and devoted his time to the community, his family, his friends and to the people that needed him on the worst day of their life.”
Donna Hayes, secretary for Shawn Chapman Funeral Home, met Shawn Chapman in 2014. She said he was a “good, good man.”
“He was good to everybody and helped everybody,” Hayes said. “I’ve not regretted one moment working for him. There’s been nothing but goodness.”
A life of devotion
Chapman was a motorcycle enthusiast, a hobby he shared with several friends including Reddix and Locke. He also enjoyed hunting and working cattle.
“We’ve been on I don’t know how many vacations and trips together,” Locke said. “And most of the time, motorcycles were involved. He probably owned about six or seven of them. It was just a regular thing for us to hop on a bike, take off and have no plans to go anywhere. We just rode. That was therapy to us.”
Locke said Chapman “meant the world” to him.
“He was one of the best people I’ve ever met in my life,” he said. “He was like a dad to me.”
Shawn and Chelsea Chapman attended Rock Bridge Community Church in Chatsworth. Alfred Turley, pastor of Rock Bridge Community Church’s Chatsworth campus, helped officiate Shawn Chapman’s funeral service the Saturday following his passing. More than 15 motorcyclists led a three-wheeled motorcycle that carried a custom-built funeral coach for Chapman during the procession.
“Over the weekend, I got the chance to see maybe 1,500 people come to visitation and it was obvious Shawn touched so many lives,” Turley said. “One friend told me ‘If Murray County had a celebrity, it was Shawn Chapman.'”
Turley said another person called Chapman “one of the most big-hearted people you will ever meet.”
“A constant thing was you just couldn’t help but love him,” Turley said. “I think he was always just a shining force of joy. He was a very fun-loving person and never met a stranger. And he had just a tremendous impact on our community and on everything he was a part of with the way he loved people.”
“He was immensely generous to social organizations and nonprofits in the community,” Turley said. “What was amazing to me was all of the stories I heard of him being so generous to people through the funeral home, just being there with people in their times of need and caring for them as human beings. He really represented the love of Jesus Christ to people in the community and he had a wide diversity of friends. They saw love and action through Shawn.”
‘Keeping his legacy alive’
Longtime friend Tony Young said Chapman was “one of a kind.”
“He was generous, funny, kind-hearted and always so hard-working,” Young said. “Shawn helped anybody and everybody who needed it; he loved people and life. He will be greatly missed by so many people, not just in Murray (County), but our whole area.”
Chelsea Chapman said her husband’s devotion to the community and “unwavering compassion and love” extended to his marriage as well.
“We had a love that doesn’t exist in a lifetime,” she said. “Like Rev. Turley said during the (funeral) service, we were supposed to have 20 more good years together. But the miracle of it is, most people may live their whole life and never find a love like that.”
Chelsea Chapman said Shawn Chapman Funeral Home will continue to operate as a family business within the community, while honoring her husband’s legacy.
“We are all going to move forward as a family and stay a family business,” she said. “We are still open and focused on keeping his legacy, his compassion and his involvement in this community alive. Our number one focus is staying here for the community and keeping his legacy here.”