Southampton-Sussex County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Chappelle, John L., 1947 

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JOHN LITTLETON CHAPPELLE 

FORMER MARINER DIES THURSDAY IN NOTTOWAY RIVER 

JOHN L. CHAPPELLE OF CAPRON SUCCEEDS IN SAVING NIECE BUT IS DROWNED IN ATTEMPT 

   Received too late for publication last week was the distressing information 
that John Littleton Chappelle of Capron, husband of Mrs. Helen Drewry 
Chappelle, had lost his life by drowning on Thursday afternoon, August 14.  He 
was forty-nine years of age.

   Mr. Chappelle, who served with the U.S. Merchant Marine during the recent 
World War and whose service was marked by his having two ships torpedoed under 
him, was swimming in the Nottoway River near Carey’s bridge with a party of 
young people which included his niece, Miss Shirley Drewry of New York  City, 
and her friend, Miss Betty Sue Thompson of Capron.

   From all accounts it appears that Miss Drewry stepped into a deep hole and 
was in danger of drowning when Mr. Chappelle went to her rescue.  After a 
struggle he succeeded in getting his niece into shallow water, and then he in 
turn lost his footing.  The girls managed somehow to haul him into a boat and 
got him to the shore; but not knowing how to administer artificial 
respiration, they summoned aid.  Before the usual restorative methods could be 
applied, however, Mr. Chappelle had succumbed to the effects of his immersion. 
There is some ground for the belief that the victim may have suffered a heart 
attack while in the water, though the official report of his death cites 
drowning as the cause.

   Mr. and Mrs. Chappelle had only recently returned from a stay of several 
weeks in New York City, where he had been undergoing treatment for burns 
incurred during his war service, Miss Drewry coming to Capron with them for a 
visit with her grandparents, Mrs. and Mrs. P.W. Drewry.

   Mr. Chappelle was the son of the late Richard Henry and Ida Rebecca Darden 
Chappelle* of Sussex County.  Besides his wife he is survived by a daughter, 
Mrs. W.E. Edwards of Courtland; a grandson, Warren Chappelle Edwards; three 
brothers, W.L. Chappelle of Jarratt, H.H. Chappelle of Sedley, and B.L. 
Chappelle of Cranford, N.J.; and three sisters, Mrs. W.D. Weeks and Mrs. James 
Redman, both of Crewe, and Mrs. R.J. Dunn of Yale, Va.

   Funeral services for Mrs. Chappelle were held at the grave in the Capron 
cemetery Saturday afternoon at 4:30 o’clock, with Rev. L.D. Stables, pastor of 
the Capron Methodist Church, officiating, assisted by rev. Percy D. White of 
Courtland.  The pallbearers were Richard Dunn, Robert Dunn, Jr., Amos Dunn, 
Carter Burt, Roland Baker, Irving Baker, Peyton W. Smith, and Louis Thompson.


John Littleton CHAPPELLE [CHAPPELL*], retired oil man, 
Merchant Marine veteran of WW-II, 
Sussex Co. native, drowned 14 Aug 1947, Nottoway River, near Carey's Bridge, age 49, 
interred in Capron Cemetery**, 16 Aug 1947, 
"The Tidewater News" (Franklin, VA), Aug. 22, 1947, p. 1 

**Southampton County Historical Society {SCHS} Cemetery Project, 
   Capron list (C-7): 
   http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/cemeteries/capron.txt 

His widow's obit ("Tidewater News," Oct. 28, 1971, II-5) is posted at: 
   http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/obits/c140h1ob.txt 

*His parents - surname spelled CHAPPELL - are buried in Newville Cemetery, 
   Newville, Sussex Co.  Photos of their markers are posted with their 
   Find a Grave Memorials, #19744925 & #19744932. 


Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by 
Mrs. Bruce Saunders (bs4403@verizon.net), 
and re-formatted by File Manager. 

file at: 
http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/obits/c140j1ob.txt