Gail B. Chapman, age 70, passed away peacefully at her home in Fayetteville, Ga., on December 19, 2018, with her loving husband of 50 years, Mark. W. Chapman, by her side after a long fought battle with cancer. Gail was born on December 20, 1947, in Manchester, Ga., to Julian and Edith Buchanan. She met her husband, Mark, while working at Fort Benning, Ga., when Mark, a decorated Vietnam Veteran, was in the Army. They married in 1968 and lived in Indiana and in Minnesota before settling down in Fayetteville, Ga., in 1985. Long devoted to one another, Gail and Mark celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in August of this year. They had two children: Kimberly Gaddis, and Mark W. Chapman, Jr.
Gail loved to travel and she especially loved the white, sandy beaches and the sparking blue waters of the Florida Gulf. She spent many vacations with her family visiting the Georgia and Florida coastlines almost every summer. She also loved spending time at home, sipping wine in her backyard pool and hot tub and tending to her beautiful plants and flowers. Gail was an animal lover and adored her many pets over the years. She and Mark also enjoyed bird watching from their screened in porch, and watching movies, news shows and her favorite Georgia Bulldogs on TV, always delighting in each other’s company. Gail will be fondly remembered by her grandchildren for her famous rendition of “A Bushel and a Peck (and a Hug Around the Neck)” which she sang around the house often.
Left to honor Gail and remember her love are her loving husband, Mark; her two children, Kimberly Gaddis and her husband, Tim; and Mark, Jr., and his former wife Carrie Kirkley; her brother, Jerry Buchanan and his wife, Carolyn and their children Bill and Brock (“BG”); her husband Mark’s brother, Clark Chapman, and his children, Ashley Smith and Christopher Chapman, and her husband Mark’s sister, Jeanne Slay and her husband Kenneth, and their children Chris Slay, Brant Slay and Kelly Morris; and her three grandchildren, Nicole and Daniel Gaddis, and Grace Chapman.
