Marie Elizabeth Amendola

Marie Elizabeth Chapman was born in Selma, California on Palm Sunday. All the family knew her as Tina or Tina Marie. She was raised in the country, just outside of Kingsburg, with her parents, grandmother and 3 siblings. She attended St. La Salle Catholic Elementary School in Reedley, followed by Selma High School, where she graduated in 1974. Wanting to pursue a career in photography, she attended Fresno State University, where she took a variety of art and photography classes to earn her BA in 1978.

Fresh out of college, she worked as a photographer at Studio North, as well as working at restaurants such as Ruben’s, Coco’s, Carrow’s and Nicola’s. Her bubbly personality and beaming smile, made her the perfect waitress and hostess for at least 10 years, which included a promotion to a bookkeeping position. From there, she searched for a new career path. Valley Wide Bank began the journey, followed by KMPH Channel 26 as an assistant producer and editor, leading her to the Madera Tribune, where she worked as a writer and photographer. She stated that there were some exciting adventures she got to go on in order to gain a story. She even had a featured article on her personal White Water rafting trip on the Sacramento River, complete with bumps and bruises for proof! Pollstar, the music insider magazine, hired her to be a writer and her love of journalism increased. She worked for the magazine for 16 fun, challenging and fulfilling years of frequent deadlines, interviews, editing, attending annual conven-tions that included writing stories on panel discussions, attending awards banquets, spotting A-Listers and fun bonding times with co-workers! She was so thankful to those co-workers who gave her rides to and from work!

Hobbies brought out Tina’s artistic, theatrical side. For over 15 years she participated in Renaissance Faires, Middle Eastern belly dancing, Rogue Festivals, and an array of dance/drumming events in Fresno, Visalia, Hanford. She even braved attending Burning Man in Black Rock Desert, Nevada with her friends. She would immerse herself in her characters and dance. Her favorite holiday was Halloween, so you can imagine the elaborate creative costumes she came up with. And since she loved to capture her adven-tures on film, she also became a collector of vintage cameras.

Some of her favorite trips were to Alcatraz Island, Avila Beach, Catalina Island, the King Tut show, Egyptian museum and any belly dance event available to go to. A very memorable trip was to Oregon with her older brother, Keith, the summer after high school. Besides getting to hang out with her big brother, she saw a lot of great countryside!! Another adventure was 16 years of marriage where she enjoyed moving into her first home and spending time with her newly gained family and stepchildren, Tara and Bobby.

Tina’s last year was spent in a nursing facility, where she spent time getting to know her room mates, making friends with her Physical Therapy, Occupational teams, Activities Director, Social Worker and even the cutest therapy dog, Dr. Buddy and his handler, Hanna. It was inspiring to watch her do her workouts, interact with her care team, and accept that where she was, and what she was doing, was exactly what she needed at the time. This would be her final adventure.

She passed away quietly at Hinds Hospice and will forever be remembered by her friends and family. She is survived by her brother, Keith Chapman, sister in law, Margaret, nieces Sarah Fletcher, Anne Chapman, nephew, Andrew, and grand- nieces Norah, Paige and Riley. She is also survived by sister, Patty Fawkes, niece Tera Fawkes and nephews, Patrick Fawkes and Nick Chapman.

A graveside Memorial Service will be held for her on June 17, 2023 10:00 a.m. at Fresno Memorial Gardens 175 S. Cornelia Ave., followed by a “Celebration of Life” at Yerevan Restaurant 7747 N. First Street (with RSVP).