ODIS CHAPMAN

The following bio was taken from page 146 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

Although Odis and I, Peggy, grew up within seven miles of each other, we did not meet until after both of us had finished high school. Odis, son of Robert Obie and Frances Hutson Chapman, was reared in the Oak Flat Community. I, the youngest daughter of Ennis E. (Dick) and Katherine Hartt Cates, was reared in the Minden Community. (See Dick Cates story.)

Odis attended Laneville School, where he enjoyed playing basketball on the school team. I attended Minden school through the eighth grade, then graduated at Henderson.

Odis and I were married in the Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church, and our first home was at Oak Flat in the Evelyn Scrubb house. We had lived there only a few months when the short water supply forced us to move. We then lived in a house at my father’s dairy farm, and there is where our son, Kim, was born. Kim enjoyed the dairy and played on his grandfather’s tractors. Later we bought our first house, the Forrest Parker home in the center of Minden. I was the tax collector for Minden Independent School District for several years and operated a beauty shop in my home. Our youngest son, Phillip, was born while we lived there in 1970.

In 1976 we sold our house and built a home on our farm just west of Minden. Our family enjoys country living on the farm where we have cows, horses, a sheep, ducks, chickens, dogs, and cats.

Odis is a sales representative for a church furniture manufacturer in Henderson, and I operate a beauty shop in my home. Our children attended the Henderson schools and we are active members of the Smyrna Missionary Baptist Church, where Odis and I teach a class.

Odis is one of a family of seven children, six of whom are boys. His brothers and sister are: Wayne, Lamar, Leon, Marie, Alvin and Luell. This family made their living mainly from farming, and Mrs. Chapman was a cook at Laneville School for twenty years.

With this big family and my family, we have enjoyed many happy gatherings.

Submitted by Peggy Cates Chapman