MAX CHAPMAN

Max Chapman, age 93, of Donalsonville, GA passed away Sunday, August 6, 2023, at his residence.

Funeral services for Mr. Chapman will be held on Thursday, August 10, 2023, at 2:00 PM at Jakin Baptist Church with Rev. Ricky Whitley and Rev. Chuck Scarborough officiating.  Interment will follow in the Jakin Cemetery with Mike Shiver, Chris Chapman, Steven Chapman, Peri Chapman, Kerry Scarborough, and Mark Shiver serving as active pallbearers.  Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service at 1:00 PM at the church.

Mr. Chapman was born in Sale City, GA on June 28, 1930, to Lonnie C. Chapman and Julia Mae Crosby Chapman. He met Dean Wilkes Chapman in 1952 and they were married the following year.  After graduation from Sale City High School, he joined the U.S. Navy and attended electrical school. He served four years on aircraft carriers and ammunition ships during the Korean War in the Micronesia area.  He received an Honorable Discharge and then joined the Naval Reserves, serving from Warner Robins, Georgia, for four years.  He was called up to active duty 1957-1959. He then moved his family to Moultrie, GA and began a career in maintenance support-electrical and mechanical, until his retirement June 1, 1990, from Great Southern Plywood as Maintenance Superintendent at the ripe old age of 59 ½. 

He and Dean visited all 48 states and then spent any spare time they had fishing, camping, and being active in Jakin Baptist Church, where Max served as a Sunday School teacher and deacon.

Dean passed away in March 2003.

Max married Barbara Giovenvo in 2003.  They traveled to the U.S. Northeast, Maui and Hawaii. They lived about a year in Florida in a retirement village.  They were not happy there, so they returned to Donalsonville.

Mr. Chapman leaves to cherish his memory, his children, Charlene (and her late husband, Bob) McKernan, Wayne (and his wife, Vicki), Dennis (and his wife, Diane), and Toni Chapman. He has 5 grandchildren, Chris Chapman (Molly), Steven Chapman (Caylen), Jennifer Lamar (Chris), Peri Chapman, and Chad McKernan (Erin), as well as a great grandchild, Taylor Revis; and a sister, Dazie Shiver.  Also surviving are his wife, Barbara Chapman and 2 stepchildren, Natasha Wells and Traci Rutland.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Lonnie C. Chapman and Julia Mae Chapman; his first wife and mother of his children, Dean Wilkes Chapman; his siblings, W.L. Chapman, Marie McCook, Everlein Scarborough, Denzil Chapman, and David Chapman; a great grandchild, Tyler Revis; and two stepchildren, Paula Cook and Troy Giovenvo.