Irene Chapman, 1984

Mrs. Chapman was born in Fayette County, Tennessee, in 1890. She lived in Champaign since 1982. She has spent most of her life in Memphis where she raised her six children. Widowed in 1929 she worked until 1964 sewing curtains and drapes. She also had time to do volunteer church work and still makes lap robes for residents of a nursing home in Tennessee. She came to live with her daughter in Champaign when she could no longer live with her sister in her house in Memphis. Her life changed most drastically when she had to give up her home.

Source: Raymond Bial, There is a Season, Champaign County Nursing Home, 1984.