Warren Howe Chapman was born in Chicago on October 30, 1925, to Dr. Frank Amos Chapman and Dr. Katharine Howe Chapman, followed by his sister Grace and brother Philip Elias. His father passed away in 1933 and he was sent away to boarding school, Toronto’s Upper Canada College.
When war loomed, he returned to the U.S. to attend Culver Military Academy in Indiana and MIT in Boston graduating in 1946. Time on active duty on a US Navy cruiser, stints in California and Boulder Colorado, led to University of Chicago Medical School in 1948.
There he met Barbara Brueggeman, who quickly wrapped up his heart. They married in 1950. Children Frank, Arthur, Katharine, Marney and Phillip followed.
In 1957 they headed to Bellingham, Washington, where he practised urology and the family lived on Lake Whatcom, skiing, water skiing and sailing. In 1966 he joined the Urology Department Faculty at the University of Washington in Seattle, stayed 27 years and is remembered for teaching, research, microsurgical procedures, a device to measure bladder volume and was truly loved by his patients.
The greatest event that affected his life occurred during a family sailing trip in 1969 to Desolation Sound in Canada. Warren and Barbara found property on a small bay in Lund, the family destination for the next half century. Beach clearing and restoration, planting over 5,000 redwoods, house building and summer camp for his 13 grandchildren built his legacy. Retiring at Tigh ‘na Cladoch in 1993, they loved family visits by their children and families, and the many, many dear friends they made. One only needs to walk the trails he painstakingly carved, with great care for the natural environment, to know the spirit of the man. Walking in silence over moss-covered paths, through the redwoods, sequoias, cedars and fir, meandering creeks and the still water of ponds revealed, one can see and know Warren’s essence.
In the last years, as age deprived him of stamina, strength and orientation, he was cared for with great dignity and grace at home by his son Frank and daughter-in-law Amy, and community caregivers, especially including Kim and Karensa at the last.
Warren passed away peacefully at home in Lund, surrounded by his children, on Friday, March 17, 2023, at the age of 97. He was preceded in death by his wife Barbara in 2019 and his daughter Marney in 2007. He is loved and greatly missed by his surviving children Frank (Amy), Arthur, Katharine Snyder (Don Snyder), and Phillip (Barbara Snapp), 13 grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.
A celebration of life for Warren and Barbara will be held in Lund on 17 June 2023. For information email: [email protected].
