Obituary for Josephine Chapman, Belleville, Wayne County, Michigan

Copyright © 1998 by Bryan Taylor. This copy contributed for use in 
the USGenWeb Archives.  

 

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 Publication Date: February 23, 1997
 Source: The Detroit News 
 Page: B2 
 Obituary: Josephine Chapman always wanted to be an attorney, but marriage and children
 intervened. She chose marriage to Edward Chapman and raising her children over law school.
 But after contracting lupus, and with her children almost grown, she decided to pursue the dream,
 becoming an attorney at 47.
 Mrs. Chapman of Belleville died Friday, Feb. 21, 1997 in Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. She
 was 59. 
 "She always wanted to be an attorney," her son, Douglas, said. "She was a remarkably tough
 woman, who was very, very motivated. She was a good role model for women of the '90s who
 are balancing career and family."
 She was born July 22, 1937, in Palermo, Sicily, and came to the United States when she was 10.
 She graduated from Wyandotte High School and attended Wayne State University for two years
 before marrying Edward Chapman Aug. 22, 1958.
 She was active in Democratic Party politics and a member of the Democratic National
 Committee until she contracted lupus in 1972.
 A short time later, she decided to complete her undergraduate studies at Eastern Michigan
 University and go to Thomas Cooley Law School in Lansing.
 She began practicing law in 1984, and was a member of the Michigan Bar Association, Women's
 Trial Lawyer Association and Suburban Bar Association.
 She ran for 34th District Judge twice. The second time, in 1994, she was struck down by another
 bout with lupus and couldn't campaign, but made the ballot, her son said.
 She could never shake the lupus. Twice she was near death, once just before law school final
 exams and once before the Bar examination, Douglas Chapman said. She passed the exams both
 times.
 Visitation will be from 6-9 p.m. today and 1-9 p.m. Monday in the Pawlus Funeral Home, 209
 Main St., Belleville.
 A service will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday in the funeral home, with burial in Hillside Cemetery,
 Belleville. 


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