Guy 'Lee' Chapman, 89

Guy “Lee” Chapman went home to his Lord Jesus May 8, 2019, at The HealthCenter in Kalispell. His wife Pat and son David were at his side.

Lee was born in 1930 in Fort Benton to Charles and Regina Chapman. His family moved to Sun River, Simms, and Power, Montana, before settling on the Fairfield Bench as potato farmers. Lee learned to work at a young age. When he was 9 years old he hired out as a tractor driver for a dry land farmer east of Power, very boring needless to say. He and his wife Pat Gratton met in the Power School in the second grade when both families moved to Fairfield. They went to a large country grade school called Greenfield and then on to high school in Fairfield. It took Pat’s dad hiring Lee for a few days, when they were freshmen in high school, for both of them to realize that they had gone to school together all those years. Pat’s cooking and homemaking skills really caught Lee’s eye, heart and stomach. They started dating and got married in December of 1947 at 16 and 17 years old. They had six children and were married 71½ years.

They started married life in Great Falls; David and Lee Jr. were born there. Lee was with the Montana Air Guard when the Korean War started; his group was activated to Valdosta, Georgia. Pat soon joined him there. Soon they went to Victorville, California. He was discharged in October 1952. They moved back to Great Falls, and Lee started his four-year journeymanship in sheet metal. During this time, his sons Tom and Brent were born. In 1957 Lee started his own sheet metal roofing business in Cut Bank and later added plumbing. He also owned the largest hot tar roofing business in the state. In those years he and Pat added two daughters to their family, Kristie and Lynne. Lee was hard working and never tired of trying something new. He started the second Honda motorcycle dealership in Montana. Then he sold snowmobiles. Lee and Pat moved to California in 1983 and sold insurance, Herbal Life, and Lee started his own sheet metal shop there. He soon tired of all the red tape in California. In 1993 He and Pat moved to Bigfork and opened Big Sky Sheet Metal. He closed it down in 2009 to retire.

Most of all, Lee loved life, and especially a challenge. Lee was an avid sports fan and participant, learned to fly an airplane, raced motorcycles and snowmobiles, and danced nearly his whole life. He enjoyed anything that went fast and was a little dangerous.

Lee was immersed into Christ Dec. 4, 2009, at 79 years of age. After obeying the Gospel himself, he was a tireless advocate for Christ beginning with his sweetheart Pat who was immersed the next year Dec. 9, 2010. His heart’s desire was (and is) that all his family would follow Jesus and be reunited together in eternity.

Lee was preceded in death by his dad and stepmother, Charles and Marion Chapman, his mom and stepfather, Jean and Al Leistiko, sister and brother-in-law, Marion and George Anderson, sister and husband Shirley and Al Geesey, niece Karla Joy Schmidt, brother and wife Glenn and Dee Chapman, father and mother-in-law George and Gertie Gratton, brother-in-law Mirl Gratton, and Phillip Gratton, infant.

Lee is survived by his sweetie Pat, sons David and Gina Chapman, Lee and Jaylin Chapman, Tom and Kathy Chapman, Brent and Neya Chapman, daughters Kristie Witt, Lynne and Marty Lawrence Kahot, 20 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren, two great-great-grandchildren, brother Jerry and Dell Chapman, nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Lee, we miss you — you are loved and will be forever and ever, Amen.

A celebration of Lee’s life will be held at 1 p.m. on Sunday, July 28, at Darlington Cremation and Burial Service, 3408 U.S. Hwy. 2 E., Kalispell.