This is a photo of my grandfather Violes Ocar Chapman. He got make usually made out to VO Chapman. He also was called Vike. I think most people called him that.
He was born in a little town called North Keokuk in Lincoln County, OK. In the the year of 1917, November. He was the oldest of two brothers and a sister(who didnt make it to her 10th birthday, she may of died as a child, no one ever spoke of her, her name was Velma.) His brothers were named Arthur and Keith. Born at a time of unrest in OK, as farmers were voicing their discontent with the "talk" of war. His father didn't fight in the 'Great War'. He owned a farm on the outskirts of Stroud. This is where Violes grew up.
This is my grandfather as a young man. This was my grandmother's favorite photo of him. He was tall dark and handsome. He would laugh at this photo cause he said he put shoe polish on his mustache to make it look darker. There are no wedding photos as they were stolen in a house break in, his wedding ring was also stolen at this time.
He came to California to marry his bride, his squaw. Orange County, then up to Brownsville CA for a season. It didnt work out so they moved back to Orange Co and settled in Garden Grove CA. He became a carpenter and helped build a lot of the homes built in that part of the So CA. 60s, 70s and 80s. He was also a hospital chaplain and he so enjoyed doing this. I remeber visiting as a child and he would get up so early and my grandma would get up with him and make him a good hearty breakfast and then after he would leave she would go back to bed. in the 40s he worked for the Long Beach Ship yards. He could not be chosen to fight in WW2 as to a birth defect in his feet. His brothers also had this defect and couldnt serve either. So they were chosen to work in the ship yards.
He got saved in the 50s. His sons were not quite teenagers. He excepted Jesus at the Garden Grove Foursquare Church. And it was a radical salvation. Everytime the church doors were open they were there then he volunteered his family to clean the church on Saturdays. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and I used to love to hear him speak in tongues. He was some of the first people to go and hear Kenneth Copeland and Charles Capps when they would come to town to speak. He became a 'Word'man. I can still see him with his legs crossed sitting on his couch near the window reading his Bible.
He was a family man. He loved his brothers. His middle brother Arthur was put into a mental institution for having a nervous breakdown. This was early in their marriage. So they went back to OK and went and got him and brought him back to CA. The two brothers families never lived further than 4 of 5 miles apart. They spent a lot of time playing Uno, and dominos together.
I spent a good two weeks every summer with my grandparents. Usually around Aug. He took us to places after he was retired. Usually after I arrived he would take me to a toy store and get a toy I could play with while I was there, and then we would go to McDonalds. I had run of the TV during the afternoon, but at night He liked to watch, MASH, The Jeffersons, Maude, Archie Bunker, Matlock, and dont for get Murder She Wrote.
They used to have a poodle named Moose. I remember this wass grandpa's dog. He would sit with him while he watched TV. Then everynight Grandpa would carry him out to the garage. I remember when Moose, the poodles name. Was old and was getting sick. And he took Moose and came home with out him. What a sad day. He came home with water in his eyes and sat in his spot on the couch quietly the rest of the afternoon. Grandma told me to just give him some room.
Grandpa was a spiritual man. He had always called grandma Squaw, being proud of thier American Indian Heritage. At some point he really felt that the Lord told him that his wife is his help mate and the term squaw made it sound like he was over her and that it belittled her. He never called her that again. I do remember him calling her Lover.
One summer they took me to Oklahoma to see the old "homeland''. And meet some new relatives. He stopped at every stateline so I could crawl out the back seat and take a photo of the states sign. He also was always grumbling at the rocks grandma and her mom were constantly collecting and putting in the trunk of the Cad. He grumbled a lot as he drove. And once and a while an @$#%^ would surface and then grandma would slowly say Viiiiike.
He liked to fish st streams and in the ocean. He also liked to go camping. He went with our family several times and the went to Yosemite like every summer for years.
He never really spoke about his parents that I can remember. I do remember him taking me to the old Chapman farm in OK and he walked around the grounds quietly remembering. The old farm house still stood at that time but was leaning to the left rather dramatically. He took me inside and tried to describe what it used to look like. Modest, nothing fancy.
He was a tall man about 6'1". Thin but not skinny. a strong man. Dont get in a hand squeezing match with him. As long as I was around he always drove a Caddy, and to work he drove a 73 Datsun Pickup. He took my and my brother to pick it up. It was yellow. 20 some years later who knew that I would end up driving that old pickup.
The affects of working in the ship yards and as a carpenter, asbestos filled his lungs and at the age of 73 he breathed his last breath. I still miss him. Love you Grandpa!
