Edsel Vincent Chapman Sr.

Edsel Vincent Chapman Sr., 93, of Hickory Ridge, departed this life, on June 17, 2013, in Jacksonville. He was born on July 22, 1919, in Tilton, Arkansas, the son of Dale Stanley and Emma Ethel Rogers Chapman. He and his brothers dropped out of school to support the family after the early death of their father. They worked hard all their lives and were proud veterans of WWII. Edsel was a retired rice farmer who was loved and respected by all who knew him. He was the last of his generation of the Chapman Family. He served as a Deacon and Sunday School Teacher at the Fair Oaks Baptist Church for many years until his health forced him to move to the Little Rock area to be with his children. Mr. Chapman was preceded in death by his parents: Stanley Chapman and Emma Burns, Wife: Josephine Marie Burton Chapman, three brothers and their wives: Hershel and Norman Jean Chapman, Kenneth and Earline Chapman, Fendol and Nina Chapman. Edsel is survived by his children: Edsel Chapman, Jr. and wife Cindy of Jacksonville, Shirley Ballard and husband Rev. Larry Ballard of Little Rock, and Ronald Chapman of Holly Springs, Mississippi, nine grandchildren, and 24 great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be conducted at Noon, Thursday, at the Thompson-Wilson Funeral Home in Wynne. Interment will follow in Johnson Cemetery, also in Wynne. Visitation will be held Thursday from 11 a.m. till service time at the funeral home. 870-238-9400 www.thompsonwilsonfh.com. In lieu of flowers, the family request memorials be made to the Arkansas Hospice Foundation, 14, Parkstone Circle, North Little Rock, Ark. 72116.