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Marvin Chapman walks around Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area on April 13. He goes out to Eagle Bluffs multiple times a week spending hours trying to see and photograph the different bird species that live there.
A place for solitude Photos and story by Sam Gause
After losing his wife, Marvin Chapman has found that bird watching has become a way to cope with his loss See ColumbiaMissourian.com for a video of Marvin Chapman’s story
M
arvin Chapman skids his beige Ford Taurus to a stop. Dust from the gravel road catches up to the car and blows through the windows. The interior is already covered with the stuff. "Look, look, look!" he says. Chapman's mouth, which he describes as half full of teeth, is all smiles. He swivels his arthritis-stricken body around and reaches into the back seat for his camera and binoculars. Until now it had been a sleepy day out at Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, but Chapman's blood is finally pumping. Soaring above, barely flapping its wings, is a bald eagle. Chapman feels a deep kinship with the bird.
"It's like me," he says. "Casual, patient, no big hurry or nothing, just enjoying itself." Chapman, 69, lives for moments like these. He took up bird watching after he lost his wife, Sandra, eight years ago. The activity has become a way of coping with the loss. Retired and living by himself, his days are marked by the time he spends at Eagle Bluffs looking for birds, and he is perfectly content with that. “For most people, my life would be very boring,” he said. “But to me it is really neat to be able to watch nature at its best.”
A bond with the birds He approaches the subject of birds with a childlike wonder. While he might ponder more scientific subjects like migration patterns, he
is also interested in more playful things. “It sounds kind of silly, but I am curious about what they do, what they think and how they interact,” he said. “It’s outside of your reach and your touch, and to be able to take pictures of it all is my favorite thing to do.” Chapman says he has more than 40,000 photos of birds and their environment on his computer. He has dedicated an entire room in his single-wide trailer to the natural world. Prints of birds and lightning photos are strewn about, along with issues of Missouri Conservationist magazine. His trips to Eagle Bluffs also cater to his need for solitude, peace and quiet. “I’m not lonely,” he said. “But I am alone.”
Please see BIRDING, page 4A
Tenant files lawsuit over Ash Street Place fire
Strickland honored at vigil
The apartment complex faces a lawsuit after an April fire ruined building
By CAITLIN HOLLAND
By DANI KASS
news@ColumbiaMissourian.com A resident of Ash Street Place apartments has sued the complex’s owner in connection with a fire that resulted in the loss of his belongings, as well as the place he lived. On April 9, the 66-unit apartment building on North Stadium Boulevard, which is owned by St. Louis-based Mills Properties, caught fire because of a faulty fixture in the bathroom of Apartment 314, according to an investigation by the Columbia Fire Department. None of the residents from Building 103, where the fire took place, are allowed to move back in, said Melissa DeCicco, marketing
Attendees remembered the MU professor’s historic life
manager of Mills Properties, earlier. DeCicco said residents were not allowed to enter the building and remove their belongings when a toxic level of asbestos was discovered. Mark Farnen, a spokesman for Mills Properties, said the building, like many built before 1981, contained asbestos that was safely sealed. The fire, water from firehoses and the rain that followed uncovered the asbestos and made it toxic. The lawsuit alleges the plaintiff, Ryan Freeman, a graduate student at MU who lived in an apartment in the building that caught fire, would not have signed a lease with Mills Properties if he’d known the building was out of code or that it contained asbestos. Breathing in asbestos can lead
For MU senior Rachel Davis, the message conveyed at Arvarh Strickland’s candlelight vigil was empowering. It reminded her of stories told by her parents, both MU graduates, of discrimination they experienced as young adults and how they overcame it. Davis said her mother, Desiree, who majored in nursing in the late 1970s, was the only African-American person in the program’s graduating class. When her mother reached out to an adviser for help finding a tutor, the adviser, instead, told her to switch her major. Davis said her mother didn’t take that advice. She said her father, Lenny, experienced discrimination before graduating with a degree in engineering in 1980. “Both of them walked out with their degrees,” Davis said. “To know
Please see LAWSUIT, page 3A
Please see VIGIL, page 3A
BASEBALL
Rock Bridge beat Hickman 4-2 Monday night. Bruins pitcher Chandler Wyatt set the tone of the game after striking out leadoff Kewpies batter Colby Fitch, in three pitches, in the first inning. Page 1B
Willie Strickland, left, receives a round of applause, and MU Chancellor Brady Deaton looks on during the candlelight vigil for Arvarh Strickland, on Monday in front of Strickland Hall at MU. Strickland was MU's first tenured AfricanAmerican professor.
news@ColumbiaMissourian.com
DIGITAL SIGNS
Columbia City Council voted Monday to continue the moritorium on electric street signs with changeable text and graphics. The proposed ban was shortened in an amendment to last three months instead of six months. Page 3A
ELIZABETH CARDWELL Missourian
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Page 4A — TUESDAY, May 7, 2013
Life continues after the loss
Bird-watching gave him solitude, peace
After the accident, Chapman said he went into a deep slump. The bout with depression culminated in a panic attack. As he remembers, he was sitting at home a little more than a week after Sandra’s death when his mind became engrossed with memories. “It was an unusually warm February day,” he said. “It was the kind of day that we would have gone out to eat, and I started thinking about all the other things we could have done.” His heart began to race, and he could no longer catch his breath. “It was the most awful feeling of my life,” he said. “I was sure I was having a heart attack.” He rushed to the hospital and doctors confirmed that it was a severe panic attack. Upon further testing, they found heart blockage and inserted a stent. After the ordeal, Chapman talked to his daughters. With their advice, he realized he could no longer sit idle and fall deeper into despair. He needed to stay busy. “We were really worried about him,” said Candice McFann, the Chapmans’ other daughter. “I had heard a lot of stories about when one spouse passes away it is not too long till the other one follows.” He drove out to Eagle Bluffs one day, and he fell in love with the place. “It is a jewel so close to us,” he said. “It’s always different.”
Chapman noticed that there were birds everywhere. He did not know much about birds but began to watch them and document their activities. In bird watching, Chapman found a completely unrestricted and absorbing activity. Over time, he has grown philosophical about his wife’s death. “I guess I should be thankful that it happened so quickly,” he said. “She didn’t feel any pain.” “The accident really messed her up, but it didn’t mess up her face. She was just as beautiful as always.” Michael Kaplan, a licensed clinical social worker, believes grieving is personal, and therapy should be tailored to the individual. “If someone found peace and joy in bird watching (and told me that this was their hobby), then I might encourage them to stay engaged in that.” Even with Chapman’s relative peace of mind, Sandra is never far from his thoughts. “I think about her all the time,” he said. “A lot of times when I am out in the country and I see something cool, and I say to myself ‘boy I wish Sandy could have seen that.’” “I’m happy, and I know that Sandy would have wanted me to be happy. But I would give up all the freedom to have her back with me.” Supervising editor is Jeanne Abbott: abbottjm@missouri.edu, 882-5741.
COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
Marvin Chapman sits on the edge of his bed. During his bout of depression after his wife's death, he rarely left his single-wide trailer.
Marvin Chapman looks through the viewfinder of his camera at Eagle Bluffs.
TUESDAY, May 7, 2013 — Page 5A
Marvin Chapman stands in front of his wife’s gravestone at Memorial Cemetery in Columbia. After his wife, Sandra Chapman, died a little more than eight years ago, Chapman fell into a severe slump. “What happened to her was a total shock,” he said. “I loved her a lot, and I really hated to see her pass away like that. I thought we were going to have quite a few more years together.”
Marvin Chapman walks at Eagle Bluffs as a flock of ducks fly away in the distance. In bird watching, Chapman finds a completely unrestricted and absorbing activity. “This is the freest time of my life,” he said.
Photos and story by Sam Gause
Birds help keep troubles off shoulders
Marvin Chapman drives at the Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area. His daughters noticed that his health was failing and urged him to get out of the house and stay active. Chapman went out to Eagle Bluffs and fell in love with the place and the birds that live there.
Inseparable for nearly four decades
Studies find experiencing nature can have a positive effect on mood and memory retention STORY from page 1A
Nature affects mental health
I think about her all the time. A lot of times when I am out in the country and I see something cool, and I say to myself ‘boy I wish Sandy could have seen that.’”
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Marvin and Sandra Chapman were marBird watching and other outdoor pursuits ried for 36 years. From the beginning, they have proven therapeutic benefits by bring- knew they would be together. Their courting people people closer to nature. One in ship only lasted a few weeks. five Americans watches birds, according Chapman describes their marriage as to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. filled with highlights topped off by the birth In February 2012, three social scientists of their two daughters and their frequent at Stanford aggregated the research on family trips. Yet the aspect of their relanature and well-being. tionship that Marvin will remember most After reviewing dozens of studies about fondly is how close they were. nature and mental health, the authors con“We confided a lot in each other,” he said. cluded that interaction with nature has a “We could tell each other anything, and it positive effect on memory, attention, con- was easy.” centration, impulse C h a p m a n inhibition and describes them as mood. a sort of a new age “Beliefs about the couple. Unlike his role of nature expeparents and some of rience in mental his contemporaries, health have played they were equals. a role in the civic They never picked and political discuson each other. Fights sions surrounding would always end in conservation for talking things over a long time,” they and working them wrote in an artiout. cle entitled, “The “Their marriage Impacts of Nature has been an inspiration to me during Experience on mine,” said Casey Human Cognitive Newby, the ChapFunction and Menmans’ younger tal Health.” daughter. “They Chapman frewere always happy quents Eagle Bluffs and kept each other for its natural beaulaughing.” ty, but he stays preOn Jan. 19, 2005, dominantly for the Chapman was workbirds. A wetlands ing in the one-hour area developed by photo lab at Walmart the state Conservawhen a State Hightion Department to MARVIN CHAPMAN way patrolman offset Missouri’s approached him. severe loss of hisHis wife had died torical wetlands, Eagle Bluffs is known for its shore and in a head-on collision with a semi-trailer truck. The officer told him her death was migratory game birds. Every time Chapman enters the conser- instant; she did not suffer. Chapman knew she had a history of heart vation area, his eyes scan the fields for sandhill cranes or the rare white-faced problems. Both her mother and father died ibis. A sighting of either really makes his early from heart-related complications. Sandra had endured both heart stents and day. He hasn’t studied birds extensively, but bypass surgery. On the day she died, eye witnesses reportonce he has seen and photographed one he ed seeing her slump over the steering wheel likes, he is not likely to forget it. He usually travels out to Eagle Bluffs before she entered the opposing lane of on a whim. Whenever his mind starts to traffic. Chapman does not remember hearing wander and he begins to think about his wife, he will grab his gear and make the anything else the patrolman said. Shocked 20-minute drive to the entrance on Route and confused, he thinks he fainted. “What happened to her was a total shock,” K near McBaine. “I know for a fact that if I stay lazy and he said. “I loved her a lot, and I really hated don’t do anything I will get to worrying,” to see her pass away like that. I thought we he said. “Although it has been a number of were going to have quite a few more years together.” years it is still pretty bad.”