Obituary
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Janis Loreen Chapman

Date of Death: March 15, 2024

Date of Birth: April 27, 1947

Biography:

~We Found each other once, we’ll find each other again.~

Janis Loreen (Taylor) Chapman

April 27, 1947 – March 15, 2024

Janis passed away on Friday, March 15, 2024, at 1:15pm after a long struggle with Lewy body dementia. Several family members were with her including her husband, who never left her side during her last few days.

Janis was a wife, sister, mother, grandmother, friend, poet, housewife, and an artist. Always an artist, she played piano, painted Japanese calligraphy, and she had an “artist eye” in all parts of her life. She loved fashion and followed current trends her entire life. She also loved decorating her family’s home. The house was filled with houseplants, books, paintings, and her kitchen was always warm and inviting. It was frequently filled with family and friends who loved to visit, eat her home-cooked meals (apple pie, holiday dinners, casseroles, chocolate-chip cookies, and fresh-baked bread were just some of her specialties). Many hours were spent sitting around the kitchen table with visits, games, and laughter - always enjoying Janis’ fun-loving company.

Some may know that as she got older, she took a more serious approach to her art. Several of her pieces hung in small art galleries along the coast of Maine and several were sold over the years. She produced an eclectic collection of artworks, including paintings using oil, watercolors, acrylics, and a wide, wild range of mixed-media art with objects collected from the beaches along the Maine coast from Lubec to Orrs Island. From this collection she produced, from her deeply creative mind, an exploration of what art actually is— everything—using her broad talent and imagination.

She was always ready to laugh. Her sense of humor was legendary. If you were to speak to those who knew her, they will start to describe her by mentioning her charismatic, outgoing personality…and her smile. She loved her children and her grandchildren, she loved her friends, she loved people. Music was a huge part of her life, from Teen Center dances in high school, to later attending live concerts of BB King, Bob Dylan, James Taylor, and Frank Sinatra. Some of her other music favorites included Gladys Knights and the Pipps, Earth, Wind & Fire, the Bee Gees, The Cars, and Hall and Oates. She loved to dance and was always trying to teach her family how to Jitterbug! And, of course, there were The Beatles, who provided the background theme music of Janis’s life with her husband.

Janis attended high school in Mechanic Falls, Maine, and graduated from Oxford High School. After graduating as a member of the National Honor Society, she attended Auburn School of Commerce; worked at Job Corps; Headstart; Camp Pesquasawasis (summer- camp secretary); and Future Foods.

Janis married Robert Chapman on February 12, 1966, and later that year moved to Germany to be with her husband who was stationed there in the Army. She traveled extensively while in Europe. In fact, some of the friends and married couples they met in the military remain in touch.

In her last few years, that were spent in D’youville Pavilion at St. Mary’s in Lewiston Maine, she became as popular as she was in high school. Their exceptional staff on Floor 3 East provided her with a warm, professional acceptance. Her personality from day-one was apparent. Janis was not shy.

This testimony is biased. I am her husband and I have loved her from the first day I met her. But Janis offered her friendship to everyone she met. Anyone you were to speak to would agree: she was one-in-a-million. A unique and special personality. She will be missed by so many people!

She is survived by her husband, Robert W Chapman, IV. Her children, Stacia Chapman-Gorey, and her husband, Tim Gorey, Maine; Robert W Chapman V, and his wife Allison, Lewiston Maine; Maya (Chapman) Doumas, and her husband Ian Doumas, Harpswell, Maine. She has four grandchildren; Robert W Chapman VI, Madeline Chapman, Brinley Doumas, and Cameron Doumas. She is also survived by three brothers; Westland Taylor, Maine, Jerry Taylor, California, Jody Taylor, Mazatland, Mexico, and two sisters, Karen Daniels, Maine, and Katherine Ward-Taylor, Ohio.

She is predeceased by her mother, Elizabeth Taylor, father, Jerome Taylor, Mellie Cobb-Taylor, Rodney Taylor and two infant siblings, Caroline and Herbert.

Brief services will be held at the Veterans Cemetery at 12:00 pm-12:20pm on Tuesday, April 16. 163 Mt. Vernon Road, Augusta, Maine, for family and close friends. Rain or shine.

A Celebration of Life event will take place at the American Legion Hall, Mechanic Falls, Maine, on Sunday, April 21, 2024, starting 12 pm.