Sheila Diane Smith Chapman, Rome, GA went to her Eternal Home on Friday, 3 May 2024 at her residence after a long and hard fought battle. She was surrounded by her loving husband, children and sister. She was the daughter of the late Fahy Edward Smith and Julia Jeannette Atkins Smith. Sheila grew up in Lindale and was a proud Pepperell Dragon graduate of the class of 1971.
Sheila worked many jobs throughout her life, but her favorites were as a wife to James Harvey Chapman, Jr., to whom she married on 21 Aug 1971. As a Mother to her 4 children, Neisha, Sareah, Trey and Jared. But her most favorite job in life was as “Mimi” to Dayton, Narissa, Dallin, Lillie, Kyra, Jubilee, Ashton, Kalibre, Rose and Landon.
She was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints where she became the mother figure to numerous missionaries from all over the world while they served here in Rome. Many of these missionaries still call her and come to visit when in the area. Sheila was very active in her church and was often one of the first people called when a family was in need, food needed to be cooked or a shoulder was needed to cry on or asked for advice. She held many offices in the church, but her favorite was always as a teacher to the children. Church activities were often held at “Chapman Hill”. Many children came to the Church Halloween party, fill up on chili and hotdogs around the bonfire and then go Trick-or-treating in her neighborhood.
One of her favorite places to visit was Cade’s Cove, TN. She and Harvey would regularly wake up in the morning and decide to drive to Cade’s Cove for the day. Over their almost 53 years of marriage the family thinks they took well over 300 trips to Cade’s Cove. While most of us would think that once you’ve seen one bear, deer, or tree in Cade’s Cove, you’ve seen them all. But not in Sheila’s case, in her mind they were all different, every time and she had over 10,000 photos to prove it and that’s before digital came along! If the weather was good, they would load up a couple of sleeping bags, a cooler and of course, a camera in the back of the truck and take off for the weekend. In that packing was always church clothes, because she always enjoyed attending church and didn’t want to miss it just because she was at Cade’s Cove.
She retired as a Customer Service Trainer for CCH Small Business Services where she had traveled all around the country giving seminars on how to use their tax software. While she enjoyed traveling for her job, she always looked forward to returning to her home and family.
Sheila enjoyed what she called “Good Ole Southern Cooking”. She loved cooking for her family, friends and anyone who might drop by. Her door was always open. She loved passing on her love for cooking and eating good food to her children and especially her grandchildren. She spent many hours with a small child standing on a foot stool teaching them how to crack an egg and get most of it in the bowl or how to stir a recipe and keep it in the bowl.
She loved being out in nature whether it be a walk in the woods, a hike up a mountain to a waterfall or even just around her neighborhood. She loved traveling to different parts of the country and always tried to find time to sightsee and to, of course, shop.
Some of her closest friends and family were not big shoppers. They would quickly find a place to sit down because they knew when she shopped, she was known for touching at least one of each item in the store. Her husband Harvey was always glad she only bought a small fraction of what she touched.
Sheila loved most kinds of music, but especially loved Blues and Southern Rock. She was a fan of the Allman Brothers, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Joe Bonamassa were some of her favorites. She was a huge fan of Stevie Nicks and wanted to be her when she grew up. She loved anything with tie-dye and sunflowers. She said sunflowers brought sunshine to the world.
She was preceded in death by her parents, brothers Jerry Joe Smith and Tommy Smith, and also her best friend, Evelyn West, who she always called Weezer.
Sheila is survived by her husband of almost 53 years, James Harvey Chapman, Jr; daughters, Neisha (Dave) White, Idaho Falls, ID and Sareah Chapman, Rome, GA; sons: Trey (LeAnn) Chapman and Jared (Tiffany) Chapman, both of Rome, GA; grandchildren, Dayton (Leisel) White and Narissa White of Littleton, CO, Dallin (Katie) White of Grand Rapids, MI; Lillie Chapman, Jubilee Kirby, Ashton Kirby and Kalibre Kirby, all of Rome, GA, and Kyra Schumacher of Cartersville, GA; great-grandchildren, Rose and Landon White, both of Grand Rapids, MI; her sister, Sherry Padgett, and brother, Jimmy Smith, both of Rome, GA; her siblings of the heart: sisters-in-law, Elaine (Dave) Winslow, Jacksonville, AL, Rhonda (Randy) Thompson, Cedartown, GA, and brothers-in-law: Steve (Vickie) Chapman, Rockmart, GA and Mark Chapman, Centre, AL. She is also survived by many nieces, nephews and countless friends who will miss her so very much.
Visitation for Sheila Diane Smith Chapman will be held on Wednesday, 8 May 2024 from 1:00 until the funeral hour at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 3300 Garden Lakes Pkwy, Rome, GA, 30165. Memorial services will be held at 2:00 at the church.
Donations in Sheila’s name to any cancer research foundation, especially colon cancer would be greatly appreciated.
Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, South Chapel is honored to serve the family of Sheila Diane Smith Chapman.
