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In memory of

Dallas Raymond Chapman

Benicia, CA, USA

July 19, 1951 - February 14, 2021

Jul 19, 1951 - Feb 14, 2021

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On Sunday, February 14, 2021, Dallas Raymond Chapman, passed away unexpectedly at 69 years of age at Kaiser Hospital, Vallejo, California. While he left us far too soon, his passing on Valentine’s Day should remind us that Dallas was a true lover of his family and of life. Dallas was not a religious person; however, he shared that his personal experience of God’s love had taken away his fear of death.

A voracious reader, Dallas loved non-fiction, learning about history (particularly military history and western civilization), science, and nature; Dallas also enjoyed comedies, mysteries, thrillers, and westerns. His memory was prodigious and before there was Google, Dallas was the one to call for bits of trivia or historical facts. He loved cooking and baking, music of all kinds, films, nature, and animals, and dreamed of spending his last days in a cabin in the mountains, deep in a forest near a pristine lake; reading, listening to music, making home-made meals, and watching the natural world unfold.

Dallas’s fondest memories were of his son James’s birth; being a father was the thing of which he was the proudest. He also loved to reminisce about the many adventures he and his six siblings had growing up in the Feather River Canyon, creatively coming up with ‘scrapes and escapes,’ the times he was in Venezuela with his brother James and his father Alex (and his many other escapades with James), his years working as an emergency medical dispatcher and an emergency medical technician at his sister Lillie’s ambulance company and later working as a dispatcher of medical equipment for Bio-Rad; and the time he lived in Colorado and had many (mis)adventures in the beautiful mountains there.

Dallas also loved to hang out with his sisters Virginia, Lillie, and Claudia and listen to them exchange ‘girl-talk’ as they cut, colored, and permed their hair over and over again. Dallas deeply loved all of his brothers and sisters and his many nieces and nephews. If his family needed help and he was capable of assisting, he always came through without a second thought.

Dallas was a consummate story- and joke-teller and had that personality trait known as ‘charisma.’ People were naturally drawn to him, from the employees at the Texaco station in Benicia where he parked his van, to the local cops who stopped by to say hello, to the fast-food workers where he picked up his meals, to the mechanics who worked on his van, then told him it was ‘on the house’ because he was such a ‘nice guy.’ Dallas’s quick wit and intelligence endeared him to most everyone who came across his path, and he will be missed by many friends and acquaintances.

Dallas was predeceased by his mother Ruth and his father Alex, his sister Virginia and his brothers Lanear, Dewey, and James, his nephews Alex and Daniel, and his niece Laura.

Dallas will be forever remembered by his son, James Peter, and his sisters Claudia and Lillie. Dallas will also be remembered by his nieces Amber, Angie, Brandi, Carolyn, Cherry, Josie, Kathy, Rebekah, and Virginia; and his nephews Adam, Clinton, Michael, and Troy, along with other extended family and friends.

One thing Dallas was looking forward to ‘after the pandemic’ was a road trip with his niece Cherry and his sister Lillie – they were going to head to Reno and rent a nice room, and then gamble. Sadly, this trip will not occur; however, we feel sure that Dallas has moved on to a room that is nicer than any that money can buy, so we take comfort from this thought.

Dallas was very concerned that his family and friends be safe during the Covid pandemic; so much so, that he talked about his wish to forgo a memorial should he pass away. Therefore, his family and friends are encouraged to reach out to one another individually, love one another, stay safe, and know that each and every one of them was loved by Dallas to the very end of his life.

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