Laurene Chapman Obituary (1933 - 2019)

Ruby Laurene Chapman passed away on April 15, 2019 in Baker City, Oregon at the age of 85. Memorial services will be held at 1:00 P.M. om Saturday, April 27, 2019 at Gray's West & Co. Pioneer Chapel. Following the service, friends are invited to join the family for a reception at Coles Tribute Center. Laurene was born in Portland, Oregon on October 2, 1933 to parents Milton and Hazel Butler. She grew up in Sheridan, Oregon and graduated Sheridan High School in 1950 at the age of 16. She moved to Amity, Oregon when she married Edward Chapman in December of 1951. They bought a house in Tigard where they raised their three children until the family moved to Bald Peak in Hillsboro, Oregon in 1969. In 1977, after the kids moved out of the house, Ed and Laurene settled in Baker County where Ed built a log house while Laurene ran their business, Elkhorn Title Insurance Company in Baker City. She was widowed in 1996 when Ed passed away from cancer. Laurene spent all of her adult life working in the field of Title Insurance until she retired and sold the company. She was an active member of the community including Oregon Woodlands Association, Soroptimists, Republican Central Committee, and the Threadbenders Weavers Guild. Her favorite creative endeavor was weaving and won awards for her beautiful rugs. She was a passionate reader, enjoyed making and refinishing furniture, loved cooking on her woodstove and being in the woods at the log home. Laurene is survived by her three children; Jim Chapman, Cathy Chapman-Perkins, and Linda Chapman, eight grandchildren and fourteen great-grandchildren, brother Don Butler of Albany, and many nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her husband, Edward Chapman and her infant son, Gary Lynn Chapman, her father Milton Butler, mother Hazel Leith Butler, and sister Dorothy Butler Valet. Memorial Contributions may be made to Heart-n-Home Hospice or to the charity of one's choice through Gray's West & Company at 1500 Dewey Avenue, Baker City, OR 97814.