Katie Belle Meares Chapman, RN

Cheraw, SC 

Mrs. Katie Belle Meares Chapman, RN, earned her angel wings on July 29, 2024 surrounded by her children. A Celebration of Life Funeral Service will be 4:00 PM Wednesday, July 31, 2024 from the Chapel of Miller-Rivers-Caulder Funeral Home by Dr. Gabe Simpson, and Ben Burnett, with the eulogy being delivered by her son, Thomas Allan Chapman. The Nurses Honor Guard of SC will render special tribute at the conclusion of the service. A private burial will be held at Chatham Hill Memorial Gardens. The family will greet friends from 3:00 – 4:00 PM Wednesday, prior to the service at the funeral home. 

Katie or “Granny” as she liked to be called was born September 29, 1931 in Fair Bluff, NC to Ervin and Vera Strickland Meares. She graduated high school in 1950, and pursued a nursing career attending the McLeod Infirmary and graduating with honors in 1953 becoming a Registered Nurse. While attending school in Florence, SC she met and married John Thomas “Sam” Chapman on December 19th, 1953 in Chesterfield, SC and was married for 55 years until his passing in 2008. 

In those years of marriage, they were blessed with 3 children. They moved to Cheraw and she went straight to work with Caring Hands and Healing Hearts (with many titles) located in the Old Marlboro Park Hospital from 1954 – 1956. She had the pleasure of working with Dr. Hooks and Dr. Thrailkill in their medical practices, moving up the ladder to work at the Old Chesterfield County Hospital, where she held many positions between 1961 – 1981. That same year, Katie went over to the Old Chesterfield General Hospital and held multiple positions until her retirement in 1996 as Operating Room Supervisor. Caring for people was her true calling, and there was no doubt she found hers! Mrs. Chapman was also an avid Atlanta Braves fan, and they would often send her special gifts.

In addition to her parents, Mrs. Chapman was also preceded in death by her husband, John Thomas “Sam” Chapman; mother-in-law & father-in-law, Ruby Amerson and John Clifton Chapman; brothers, Gordon Lee Meares (Polly), Beamon Meares (Peggy), and I.V. Meares (Irene); nephews, Randy Meares, Johnnie Meares, Tim Chapman, Carson Meares, and Brent Chapman; brothers-in-law, June Caulder, and Bill Smith; sisters-in-law, Patty Driggers (Francis), and Amy Driggers.

Those left to cherish her memory include her children, John Ervin Chapman (Debra) of Winnsboro, SC, Kathy Hancock (Ernie) of Cheraw, SC, Thomas Allan Chapman of Cheraw, SC and special friend, Melanie; grandchildren, Eleni Allyn Rivers (Ethan) of Ruby, SC and great grandchild, Houston Chap known as “The love of her life,” and Sullivan Luke Chapman (Holli) of Chesterfield, SC; sister, Evonne Smith of Wilmington, NC; brothers-in-law, Sonny Driggers, Bucky Chapman (Kaye); sisters-in-law Jean Caulder, and Janie Marie (Tharen) Caulder all of Cheraw, SC; in addition to numerous nieces and nephews.

The family would like to express a special Thank You to her caregivers for their love, empathy, and compassion and for a job well done: Beverly “Flossy” Arant, Jenny Teal, Savanna Bradley; and special long time family friends, Polly Tipton and family, Nancy Hildreth and family, Twila Rivers and family, and Sylvia Rushing. A special Thank You to the staff of McLeod Hospice of Cheraw for their amazing care and availability to answer any questions, and making our mothers final few days as comfortable as could be. May God Bless You.

 Miller-Rivers-Caulder Funeral Home (www.mrcfuneralhome.com) of Chesterfield, SC is serving the Chapman family.