Alfred H. Chapman

July 31, 1927 - December 5, 2015

Alfred “Al" Herbert Chapman, passed away December 5, 2015, at the age of 88. Al was a loving husband, father, son, family man, faithful steward of God, avid adventurer, and proud Ford engineer. He was born at home at 31st Street and Buchanan in Detroit on July 31, 1927 to Madeline E. (Sielaff) of Detroit and Herbert E. Chapman of Bristol, England. While at Cass Tech High School, he worked at his father’s tool and die company. Following the seafaring ways of his father’s family, he joined the U.S. Merchant Marine in 1945 at age 17, actively serving under the U.S. Navy in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and in enemy waters of Germany, Italy, Portugal, Philippines until his honorable discharge in 1946. His voyages in 1947 to Belgium, French Indochina, Germany and the Netherlands. While earning his B.S. Industrial Engineering with honors from Wayne State University (1952), Al worked as a tool maker and inspector, joining Ford Motor Company in this period. At Ford, Al focused on manufacturing, methods, processes, material handling, packaging, and plant engineering. He worked on Lincoln Mercury’s gas turbine aircraft engines; at Corona Del Mar, California on the Saturn V launch vehicle used to support the Apollo program for moon exploration from 1966 to 1973; consulted with Wernher von Braun at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center; for Ford of Britain’s Dagenham Plant (1963-1967); and lastly at Ford-New Holland Tractor in Troy. His engineering work took him to Holland, Belgium, England, Denmark, France, Turkey, Sudan, Nigeria, Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil and Mexico. He planned new factories in Tennessee, Alabama, Michigan, and Belgium. He received a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Michigan (1982). Al’s community work included 40 years with the Dearborn Kiwanis Club where he chaired the Spiritual Aims Committee, sold peanuts every year, was a top seller, and nominated as the 2006 Serviceperson of the Year. His son Tim’s illness led to Al’s leadership with NAMI-Dearborn as Treasurer and President and involvement with metro-Detroit group. He was a board member of the Dearborn Orchestral Society and also on the Ford/Wayne University Alumni Fundraising Committee. Baptized and confirmed at Gethsemane Lutheran Church at 28th Street in Detroit, Al’s faith in Christ guided him throughout his life. He started a Bible study group at sea in the Merchant Marine (and in a side effort, worked on unionization). In college he met his future wife, Marie, and over 50 lifelong friends at Gamma Delta, a Lutheran university fellowship group. (Al first saw Marie at a Messiah concert in Ann Arbor.) He and Marie married at Peace Lutheran Church, Detroit. Their family’s spiritual home was first Guardian Lutheran where Al was on the committee to establish the school and served as Elder and then Emmanuel Lutheran in Dearborn. At Emmanuel he chaired the Trustees, was on the visitation committee, and helped maintain the church grounds. Throughout his life he read The Word, including on the day he died. Al brought his young family on assignments to California and England, opening new worlds to his children and wife. He was a Boy Scout commissioner and trained at Philmont in New Mexico while his family hiked and did crafts; camping was important, with annual trips across the country and Canada each summer. He ensured that his widowed mother remained in her home for almost 50 years and was Marie’s partner in the care of Tim, their home, and beautiful gardens. Al is survived by Marie, his wife of 63 years, children Kim Alan Chapman (Elizabeth Longhurst) of St. Paul, MN, Tim Chapman of Westland, and Jill Chapman (Rich Allen) of Chicago, IL. Also survived by four grandchildren, sister Joyce Gipner, sisters-in-law Jean (Brennan) Chapman, Beatrice (Stenke) Kupke, and Barbara (Darmstadt) Stenke, and thirteen nieces and nephews. Memorial Gathering at 10:00 am until the time of the Memorial Service at 12:00 pm on Saturday, December 19, 2015 at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 800 S. Military St., Dearborn. In lieu of flowers, contributions are welcome to Emmanuel Lutheran Church or Alfred Chapman Memorial, Lutheran Social Services of Michigan, 8131 E. Jefferson Ave. Detroit, MI 48214, in his memory.