General Notes:

27 Dec 2006
Hartford Courant
Hartford CT

Byran C. Chapman

CHAPMAN, Bryan C. Bryan C. Chapman left this life unexpectedly on Friday (December 22, 2006) at the young age of 27. He was born in New London, on August 2, 1979 son of Maryse (Dufour) Capobianco of Andover and Michael L. Chapman of Randolph, Maine. He is survived by his brothers David A. Chapman of East Hartford and William K. Perry, of Torrington. He leaves behind three children whom he loved dearly, Desaray Chapman, age 6, Alena DeLeon, age 5, and Lenox Asarisi, age 1. His maternal grandparents Adriene and Therese Dufour and his paternal grandmother Irene Chapman (Racine). Bryan leaves his soul mate and companion, Martha Smith of Hartfort. He also leaves several loving relatives and friends. He was predeceased by his grandfather Al Chapman. Bryan loved to work with his hands, was gifted artistically and loved to spend his spare time fishing, but he will be most remembered for being a loving, nurturing father to his children. The family wil be receiving friends and relatives from 4-7 p.m., TODAY, Dev 27 at Callahan Funeral Home, 1602 Main St.., East Hartford. Buriel will be at the convenience of the family. Please visit www.mem.com to express online condolences.

December 27, 2006
Here is a story that Bryan wrote at age 15, about something that meant a great deal to him and me.

"MY FIRST DEER"
by
Bryan Chapman

It was already two weeks into hunting season and I hadn't gone yet. The reason why I couldn't go was because I had misplaced my hunting license. So on Wednesday, I went down to the town hall in Randolph and got a copy of my old license. I was all excited and couldn't wait until Saturday. The reason why we only went on Saturdays was because my dad had to work on weekdays. The only week day he had off was Friday.That Friday my dad said he was going to bring me target shooting out on the power lines. When we got there we walked up a great big hill, down a hill, and up a big steep hill. When we got on top of the hill, there was a huge field about nine times the size of a football field, if not, larger. My gun is a 12 gauge. It once belonged to my grandfather. It's real powerful. It's a doubel barrel, side by side. It has 2 triggeres so you can shoot any side you want. Your supposed to shoot the right side first. My dad gave me six slugs, which is the most powerful bullet. My dad set up the target, which was a piece of plywood with 4 white circles made from a spray can. I put 2 slugs in and aimed my gun. I took 3 deep breaths and held the third one and BOOM! The bang echoed in the woods over and over again, and hit it. I shot it four more times and hit the white spots 3 more times. Then my dad shot his gun. His gun is realy nice. It's a 303 British. It's an old gun, which also once belonged to my grandfather. It has a clip, singel barrel, a scope, and a really nice stock that has a hunter shooting a deer on it. He shot it 5 times and hit the white spot 5 times. This is real good. He gave it to me to try. I shot it and the scope hit my eye because of the kick. After that I shot it two more times knowing better to keep my eye away. I also hit the white spots 2 times. I gave my dad the gun and got the target. We left and went to our red van and went home. That night I could barely sleep because I was so excited. I woke up at 4:30 am the next morning. Me and my dad got dressed and ate. We left at 5:15 am and drove around. We stopped in Jefferson at a grave yard. We got out and apcked up and headed out behind the grave yard. We went out into a field with an old run down barn. We split up and went our separate ways. I found an old stand up in a tree. I waited there for a couple of hours and walked in a big circle around a little field. I found another stand and sat in it. An hour later my dad whistled for me to meet him. We met at the barn, and we walked to where I was and we found a 4 wheeler trail. We followed it until it split into two branches. My dad told me to make a big circle and he'd make a circle too and we'd meet. I ended up getting lost. I walked down the trail, turned and went up a ridge, and I was at another field. I heard some sticks breaking and I thought it was my dad. I stood still and it was a deer. It was quite a distance off. I waited and it was walking toward me. When he saw me he ran around the tree I was hiding behind. He and I just stood still, and bang, I shot him in his side. He junped and ran. I looked and looked for him but I couldn't find him. I soon gave up and walked on a road yelling "DAD". I was getting a little worried and I screamed "DAD" louder and louder. I saw someone sitting in a little clearing and I walked toward him. He saw me and walked toward me. He asked me if I was yelling and I told him yes. He brought me to his truck and asked me where the van was. I told him, and he didn't believe me because I was about 3 miles and a half away from where we went in.

When we got to the van, my dad was sitting there taking his outer layers off because he was hot and he wanted to get cooled off and he wanted to be able to run faster. When he saw me he gave me the 3rd degree. We went back in and I showed him where I went. We split up and looked. The guy that helped me found him and hollered to us. I couldn't believe it - I shot him down. My dad showed me how to field dress the deer correctly so we wouldn't make the meat bad or sour. We turned the deer on his side and my dad cut him open. He gave me the liver which was shredded because I shot him so good, he didn't have a heart because if looked like a flower. My dad took his belt and put it around his neck. We started dragging it to a little road and dropped it there. The guy knew where he was because he owned part of the land. They left me there to sit with my deer until they came back with his truck.It seemed like hours when they finally came back. We threw the deer in the back, and I sat in the back of the truck on my deer, which kept my butt warm. When we got to the van we threw it in the back and thanked the guy a lot. We left and got him registered and weighed. He weighed 150 lbs. He was real big for how young he was. He was a little spike. We got home and celebrated by going out. We hung the spike by it's neck and took the hose and watered it down. I called my cousin Ben and told him all about it. We washed up and went out to eat. Sunday we got my grandfather to com over and cut it up. We cut it up and threw it in the freezer and that's the end.

With deepest love and remembrance,

DAD

Dear Christ:

Come fill me with your life. Only you can fit the empty space in my heart. Amen
DAD (Randolph, ME )