On January 2, 2014, Bud Naff received word from Candy Chatman, Bill's wife, (class 0f '65) that Bill passed away 2 years prior. No additional information could be found.
I can’t recall Bill’s face without his toothy smile. We were blessed getting to know Bill Chatman on the basketball teams at both Highland and Sammamish. He and I quickly found out we had to cheat to beat the other at certain moves when playing one on one, and the ways we both would figure out how to do that cemented our relationship on and off the court. Our one on one practicing followed the rules of basketball, until one time when Bill had the ball, hadn’t dribbled, and I was guarding him closely and looking at his smiling face self-assured he was dead meat, when he decided to simply run around me without dribbling at all. We had a good laugh at his clever move.
Gail told me about a time when she boarded a crowded bus in Seattle in the 70s, placed her coins in the receptacle and started to walk toward a seat when the driver calmly called out, “Wait a minute.” It was Bill’s greeting to her as if he had just seen Gail in the hallways of Sammamish the week before; they exchanged smiles and a laugh, looked each other in the eye and knew the friendship was still there as it had always been.
I was very sorry to not see Bill at the reunion, and no one I talked with knew his whereabouts. Of course we know now he had passed away several years before. Somehow Robert Naff made the connection and now we know, thanks Robert.
His gentle manner served him very well I’m sure throughout the days since Sammamish, yet beneath that gentleness was a guy who loved to win, and personally worked hard to make sure he was ready to do so. Although I hadn’t seen him since graduation, I always felt it would be very easy to reestablish our old rivalry/friendship at a moment’s notice. Perhaps that will still happen one day.
Bill, you’re just not that good. You were lucky that time, and the time before. See you.
Early on when I transferred into Sammamish in '61, Bill and I became friends. That was when I was still entertaining foolish dreams of making the basketball team and could quickly see on the court that I could learn a lot about how to play the game from Bill Chapman! I started hanging around Bill at school. He tolerated my annoying hero worship enough to occasionally meet me at Highland Junior High's covered outdoor basketball court to play one-on-one, horse, or just shoot baskets after school or on weekends. Bill of course ran circles around me on the court, but in trying to compete with him, I became a lot better player myself, although not good enough to make Coach Biermann's team.
It's sad to think of Bill as departed from us. I wish I had been able to stay in touch after we left town with Sammamish in our rear view mirrors. Like Art, I look forward to the big reunion in the sky where we can again enjoy the banter of the court together with our old friend and round ball mentor, Bill Chapman. RIP
I'm sorry to hear about Bill's premature passing. We had several classes together. I liked him a lot and admired his skills on the basketball court. I hope he had a good life.
I read with great sadness the passing of Bill Chapman. I regret not keeping in touch with Bill after high school following so many years in school together. Of course this is no different then my lack of contact with so many of you whom I also spent time with in my formative years. Time marches on for all of us I guess.
I remember meeting Bill for the first time in first grade at Highland Elementary School. Bill was fun. We spent many hours at recess in some competitive games like tag and king of the mountain and more importantly playing some not so competitive games. We were just having fun and being kids. Bill was a typical first grader going through the normal struggles of early education, learning to read, write, take turns, put together puzzles, color pictures and just get along.
Unfortunately I have some vivid memories of that first grade year that are not so pleasant. One day a classmate got angry and bit another child. This longtime teacher put a babies bonnet or the child, put a pacifier in her mouth and made her sit in front of the class on a stool for the entire day. For some reason Bill Chapman also repeatedly angered this teacher. Many times for no clear reason Bill was disciplined. The most memorable was the time she put Bill in the walk-in closet, turned out the lights and boxed up the entrance leaving him there in the dark until lunchtime. Even as a first grader I remember how painful this was to watch. My admiration and respect for Bill grew greatly when the teacher let Bill out and went in the closet to get her lunch. I remembering virtually cheering as she reappeared with a red face and her empty lunch sack. I guess Bill got hungry sitting in the dark all morning.
Bill was a strong and wonderful human being as well as a gifted athlete. I'm thankful he was a classmate. His education may well have been a part of my own. Thanks Bill.
My heart goes out to Candy and his family for their loss. Yes, I too, can remember him in trouble with the teachers in Elementary school. But, his big toothy grin is the best thing I remember. He was a good person.
Good Heavens to Murgatroyd! It's really startling to be confronted with what used to be "acceptable." I was one of the Eastgate Elementary kids and therefore missed this sadistic excuse for a teacher. Bill must have had a special spirit if all he did was eat that teacher's lunch! I do remember his smile.
Upon hearing about Bill's passing I was deeply saddened. He was a great competitor and a better friend. I saw Bill several years after graduation in Seattle and he had played some ball in the Army so naturally we headed for the closest school ground where he commenced to demonstrate his outside shot, repeatedly.. I hope he had a good life as I too remember his infectous grin. I can see Coach Bierman and Bill in a good game of horse- may they both rest in peace.
I too was saddened to hear of Bill's passing. I know a number of people were asking about him at the reunion. Regarding banishment to the closet, it must have been a common discipline technique of the time. I was banished to the cloak room in the first grade, the one year we lived in California. I didn't find the teacher's lunch, but I did find the graham crackers which were intended for the classroom's afternoon snack. RIP, Bill.
I too remember Bill's smile. I attened school with him all through the years. As David said our first grade teacher used the closet regularly as her discipline. I was the girl who bit Cherly Ford for putting a dirty snowy glove/mitten on my clean wool coat.( My Sunday coat! ) Then I spent several days in the closet coloring and watching Freddy crawl under desks getting stuff to chew or for play. Bill was alway friendly, he did tease me once we were on the bus together. When he went to CWSC now CWU I loved seeing another familar person on campus. I too watched for him at the reunion. Peace be with Bill and his family.
Art Hyland
I can’t recall Bill’s face without his toothy smile. We were blessed getting to know Bill Chatman on the basketball teams at both Highland and Sammamish. He and I quickly found out we had to cheat to beat the other at certain moves when playing one on one, and the ways we both would figure out how to do that cemented our relationship on and off the court. Our one on one practicing followed the rules of basketball, until one time when Bill had the ball, hadn’t dribbled, and I was guarding him closely and looking at his smiling face self-assured he was dead meat, when he decided to simply run around me without dribbling at all. We had a good laugh at his clever move.
Gail told me about a time when she boarded a crowded bus in Seattle in the 70s, placed her coins in the receptacle and started to walk toward a seat when the driver calmly called out, “Wait a minute.” It was Bill’s greeting to her as if he had just seen Gail in the hallways of Sammamish the week before; they exchanged smiles and a laugh, looked each other in the eye and knew the friendship was still there as it had always been.
I was very sorry to not see Bill at the reunion, and no one I talked with knew his whereabouts. Of course we know now he had passed away several years before. Somehow Robert Naff made the connection and now we know, thanks Robert.
His gentle manner served him very well I’m sure throughout the days since Sammamish, yet beneath that gentleness was a guy who loved to win, and personally worked hard to make sure he was ready to do so. Although I hadn’t seen him since graduation, I always felt it would be very easy to reestablish our old rivalry/friendship at a moment’s notice. Perhaps that will still happen one day.
Bill, you’re just not that good. You were lucky that time, and the time before. See you.
Jerry Owen (Owen)
Early on when I transferred into Sammamish in '61, Bill and I became friends. That was when I was still entertaining foolish dreams of making the basketball team and could quickly see on the court that I could learn a lot about how to play the game from Bill Chapman! I started hanging around Bill at school. He tolerated my annoying hero worship enough to occasionally meet me at Highland Junior High's covered outdoor basketball court to play one-on-one, horse, or just shoot baskets after school or on weekends. Bill of course ran circles around me on the court, but in trying to compete with him, I became a lot better player myself, although not good enough to make Coach Biermann's team.
It's sad to think of Bill as departed from us. I wish I had been able to stay in touch after we left town with Sammamish in our rear view mirrors. Like Art, I look forward to the big reunion in the sky where we can again enjoy the banter of the court together with our old friend and round ball mentor, Bill Chapman. RIP
Eric (Rick) Moon
I'm sorry to hear about Bill's premature passing. We had several classes together. I liked him a lot and admired his skills on the basketball court. I hope he had a good life.
David Douglas
I read with great sadness the passing of Bill Chapman. I regret not keeping in touch with Bill after high school following so many years in school together. Of course this is no different then my lack of contact with so many of you whom I also spent time with in my formative years. Time marches on for all of us I guess.
I remember meeting Bill for the first time in first grade at Highland Elementary School. Bill was fun. We spent many hours at recess in some competitive games like tag and king of the mountain and more importantly playing some not so competitive games. We were just having fun and being kids. Bill was a typical first grader going through the normal struggles of early education, learning to read, write, take turns, put together puzzles, color pictures and just get along.
Unfortunately I have some vivid memories of that first grade year that are not so pleasant. One day a classmate got angry and bit another child. This longtime teacher put a babies bonnet or the child, put a pacifier in her mouth and made her sit in front of the class on a stool for the entire day. For some reason Bill Chapman also repeatedly angered this teacher. Many times for no clear reason Bill was disciplined. The most memorable was the time she put Bill in the walk-in closet, turned out the lights and boxed up the entrance leaving him there in the dark until lunchtime. Even as a first grader I remember how painful this was to watch. My admiration and respect for Bill grew greatly when the teacher let Bill out and went in the closet to get her lunch. I remembering virtually cheering as she reappeared with a red face and her empty lunch sack. I guess Bill got hungry sitting in the dark all morning.
Bill was a strong and wonderful human being as well as a gifted athlete. I'm thankful he was a classmate. His education may well have been a part of my own. Thanks Bill.
David Douglas
Joan Langland (Flinn)
I also chuckle every time I think about the lunch in the closet.
Sharon Feilen (Andrews)
My heart goes out to Candy and his family for their loss. Yes, I too, can remember him in trouble with the teachers in Elementary school. But, his big toothy grin is the best thing I remember. He was a good person.
Susan Hill (Vlasuk)
Good Heavens to Murgatroyd! It's really startling to be confronted with what used to be "acceptable." I was one of the Eastgate Elementary kids and therefore missed this sadistic excuse for a teacher. Bill must have had a special spirit if all he did was eat that teacher's lunch! I do remember his smile.
Susan (Hill) Vlasuk
Joe Childers
Upon hearing about Bill's passing I was deeply saddened. He was a great competitor and a better friend. I saw Bill several years after graduation in Seattle and he had played some ball in the Army so naturally we headed for the closest school ground where he commenced to demonstrate his outside shot, repeatedly.. I hope he had a good life as I too remember his infectous grin. I can see Coach Bierman and Bill in a good game of horse- may they both rest in peace.
Vivian Karen Hogue (Olguin)
I too was saddened to hear of Bill's passing. I know a number of people were asking about him at the reunion. Regarding banishment to the closet, it must have been a common discipline technique of the time. I was banished to the cloak room in the first grade, the one year we lived in California. I didn't find the teacher's lunch, but I did find the graham crackers which were intended for the classroom's afternoon snack. RIP, Bill.
Norma Johnson (DeMerchant)
I too remember Bill's smile. I attened school with him all through the years. As David said our first grade teacher used the closet regularly as her discipline. I was the girl who bit Cherly Ford for putting a dirty snowy glove/mitten on my clean wool coat.( My Sunday coat! ) Then I spent several days in the closet coloring and watching Freddy crawl under desks getting stuff to chew or for play. Bill was alway friendly, he did tease me once we were on the bus together. When he went to CWSC now CWU I loved seeing another familar person on campus. I too watched for him at the reunion. Peace be with Bill and his family.
Norma