Wilma Tankersly Peck Chapman

Funeral services will be held for Wilma Tankersley Peck Chapman, age, 94 of Clermont, Sunday July 8 at 2:00 p.m. in New Bridge Baptist Church. Interment will follow in New Bridge Baptist Church Cemetery. Rev. Milton Harris and Rev. Maxie Ladd will officiate. Visitation will be Saturday July 7, at 4:00-8:00 p.m. at the Funeral Home. She was  preceded in death by her parents, Will Smith Tankersley and Inez Zona Tankersley, first husband, Frank Harold Peck, second husband, Farris Dolph Chapman, sister, Wynell Reid and stepdaughter, Fay Soper, She is survived by sons, Jerry Harold Peck, and Trent Peck, daughter and son-in-law, Janie and Kenneth Savage, stepdaughter and son-in-law, Kay and Larry Cannady, sister, Mickey Lawson, seven Grandchildren, nine Great-Grandchildren, several step-Grandchildren and a number of nieces and nephews.

Wilma was born in Murrayville and went to Murrayville School and later graduated from Riverbend High School. She and her sister, Mickey Lawson, played basketball in high school. Harold Peck saw her walking home from school and told his friend he was going to marry her and he did. They married in 1942 and he went to war. Since there weren’t many jobs in Gainesville, her family moved to Detroit and got jobs at the airplane factory. Wilma was “Rosie the Riveter”.  She saved enough money while he was overseas and paid for a new house and an old truck. After the war, they started their family, Jerry Peck, Janie Peck and Trent Peck. They were happy in their church. They enjoyed traveling and their family and friends. Harold was a loving husband, but in 1963, he was killed in a wreck, so Wilma raised 3 children. She owned Gainesville Commercial Egg Co and later worked as a bookkeeper for Boyd Thomas Tractor.

 In 1973, she married “Dolph” Chapman and moved to Marietta. They had 32 happy years together. She loved crafts and enjoyed canning vegetables from Dolph’s garden. They were also involved in their church and enjoyed traveling with their church friends, The Dirty Dozen.  When Dolph passed away, she returned to Gainesville. She enjoyed spending time with her children, Mickey and her grandchildren. She was a loving Mother and Sister and she loved her special caregiver, Rudeen Jackson.  She was a member of New Bridge Church.