Vickie Chapman

Vickie Chapman
April 1, 1943 - January 2, 2016

My mother, my biggest fan, my critic, even sometimes my nemesis, the most interesting and strongest woman I have ever known, the very definition of a survivor has passed away.

She was born Betty Louise Owens in Columbia, South Carolina and raised in an orphanage from age 5 to 19. At 19, she swore to everyone that she was going to leave that place behind and change her name and no one would ever find her. And they didn't...for forty years.  And with that, Victoria Lynn was born.

Vickie made her way to California by sheer grit and determination. She had two sons, Earl and Ward, with her first husband. From California, they all made their way to Utah where she absolutely fell in love with the seasons and beauty of her new home state. Shortly after, she became a single mother doing whatever she had to do to take care of her little boys, with no real resources to help.

While in Utah, she began employment at Cottonwood Hospital and, eventually met and fell in love with a much younger man. They gave birth to a daughter.

Everyone will miss her vibrant, yet blunt, personality. We all remember her stating that God made her fat because she was a go-go dancer. Though she stopped dancing long before her daughter was born, she was found many a times in her house, music blaring, dancing around with herself, her children, and more recently her grandson. She had the biggest heart of anyone and was far more unselfish and devoted to her children than most coming from a similar background. She could also spot a good deal from a mile away and took great pleasure in telling everyone she knew how good of a deal she received. Every time you are shopping a sale at Dillard's department store, think of her.

She is preceded in death by her son, Howard Earl Wheeler. She is survived by her husband, Steve Chapman, her son, Ward Wheeler, her daughter, Stevie (Luis Alves) Chapman, her grandson, Galileu Alves, and her soon-to-be-born granddaughter, Viviana Alves. She is also survived by a multitude of friends that she met while working at Cottonwood Hospital. Two, in particular, became her somewhat adopted daughters: Camille Snow and Chris Rhodes.

She was a bold woman who empowered all the girls in her life to be strong-willed young women. I promise, mama, I will teach your granddaughter to be as strong as you were. She will come to know you through me and love the memories that I share with her about my mother; the orphan, the go-go dancer, the fighter, the motherless mother, the one and only, Vickie Chapman.

At the deceased request, there will be no services.