Barbara Donaghy Champman

Services will be held at a later date.

Ms. Chapman was a homemaker.

Survivors include one son, Dave of Denver; one daughter, Carol Bergman of Grand Junction; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Memorial contributions to Hope West, 3090B N.12th St., Grand Junction 81506.

Barbara ""Bobbie""

Donaghy Chapman

May 6, 1921 - May 20, 2014

Barbara ""Bobbie"" Donaghy Chapman, 93, passed away at HopeWest Hospice on May 20, 2014, from ischemic heart disease. She was born May 6, 1921, to Edith Maria Bullen Donaghy and John Ralph Donaghy in Pueblo, Colorado. She spent most of her childhood in Colorado Springs and Pueblo and loved Colorado throughout her life. After graduating from Centennial High School in Pueblo in 1939, she attended Colorado College in Colorado Springs where she met John Chapman.

After graduating from CC in 1943 with a degree in Sociology, Bobbie worked for the Young Women's Christian Association, YWCA, in Colorado Springs for two years. Wanting to do more for the War effort, she applied for an overseas job in the Red Cross, but was denied for being underweight. Her adventuresome spirit could not be quelled. She went to New York where she found work with the Girl Scouts. There, she reunited with John and they were married in Buffalo, New York on December 16, 1945, during a historical blizzard.

John's work with the Manhattan Project and Linde Corp. took the couple to Buffalo, Charleston, West Virginia, and Cleveland before they moved to Grand Junction, Colorado in 1951, where John worked for the Atomic Energy Commission and then established Chapman and Morehouse Mining Company. They lived here for 22 years where Bobbie's main focus was raising their children, Dave, Jim and Carol. In 1973, they moved to Morenci, Arizona where John supervised construction of a copper mill, then lived in Denver and Green Valley, Arizona before returning ""home"" to Grand Junction in 2001. In retirement, they enjoyed travelling the West, visiting the ocean, mountains, lakes and desert, camping, boating, fishing and birding.

Through the years, Bobbie's interest in sociology and her helpful and caring nature manifested itself in reaching out to others - as a friend, community volunteer, director of Christian education in her church, a volunteer and advocate for disadvantaged elementary-aged students, and as a Hospice volunteer reader. She was a member of Reviewers and Friday Book Club.

Bobbie and John shared so much together, starting with the same birth date one year apart. During their lives, they talked together all the time, sharing every challenge and success. They believed in life-long learning, family, love, compassion and loyalty. They were totally devoted to one another. Bobbie was an eternal optimist, appreciative of everyone and everything. She will be forever admired for the way she lived her life and the lessons she taught us at life's end: patience, thankfulness, a positive attitude, seeing the good in others, looking on the bright side, and always sharing her joyous smile.

Bobbie is preceded in death by her parents; sister, Phyllis Parker Bell; son and daughter-in-law, Jim and Maureen Chapman, and the love of her life to whom she was married for 66 years, John Chapman. She is survived by her son, David (Kris) Chapman of Denver and her daughter, Carol (Walt) Bergman of Grand Junction. She also has five grandsons, Ryan (Marnina), Ben (Janessa), Jonathan (Jaimie) Chapman and Brett (Annie) and Eric Bergman and three great-grandchildren, A.J., Grace and Emma.

At her request, there will be an outdoor celebration of her life on June 7 at noon at her daughter's home.

Bobbie always looked for ways to help others. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a contribution to HopeWest Hospice at 3090B North 12th Street, Grand Junction, Colorado 81506.

Published in The Daily Sentinel on June 4, 2014