Obituary of Wayne Bruce Chapman

With great sadness the family of Wayne Chapman shares news of his passing with family at his side on April 26 at the Saint John Regional Hospital following a brief illness. Wayne shared his life with his wife Dianne (nee Shaw) through 55 years of marriage and leaves behind his children Steven {Lisa) and Heather (Mike Legere), six grandchildren Kaitlyn (Kass Reeves), Kristen and Julia Adamson and Bradley, Colin, and Alyssa Chapman. He also leaves behind his new great granddaughter Lily Irene Reeves, who he met a few weeks before his passing in a very special moment. His grandchildren were his greatest joy, and he took great pleasure spending time with them and watching them grow into the young adults they are today. 

Wayne was pre-deceased by his beloved parents Eric and Florence Chapman and greatly loved parents-in-law Allan and May Shaw, brothers George and Tim and brothers-in-law James and Clifford Shaw. Wayne is survived by sisters Kathy, Debbie and Brenda, brothers Rick, Mike and Kevin and a large extended family who he cared for deeply.  Wayne will also be greatly missed by his loyal bulloxer Sam, who loved truck rides and sharing a Tim's timbit.

Wayne began his career as a database controller at NBTel and later as data base manager of information systems at the Saint John Regional Hospital until his retirement in 2011. Wayne loved spending time with family and friends and the outdoors including hunting, fishing, ATV'ing snowmobiling, gardening and spending time at the Shaw Family homestead. There we built a cottage in 1993 along with the "Freddy Flintstone" bench with the best views of Grand Bay, where the Saint John and Kennebecasis Rivers come together.

A celebration of Wayne's life will be held at the Grand Bay Baptist Church on Saturday May 11 with informal visitation from 1-2 pm, service from 2-3 pm and a reception to follow. Cremation has occurred and internment will occur later where he will be laid to rest with Dianne. Ashes will also be scattered in a few places Wayne loved, including the camp "out back" on the Shaw homestead in Grand Bay, which has been in the Shaw family for several generations, at his Wirral "farm" and hunting property, and at Compton Lake where he enjoyed boating and more recently taking drives with Dianne and Sam to enjoy the scenery, and to leave tree branches and apples for the beaver families that lived there. 

In lieu of flowers feel free to donate to a wildlife charity of your choice, get out for a walk-in nature and hug someone you love.