PORTLAND- Doris Vernon (Littlefield) Chapman died on July 17, 2020 at the age of 99. She was born in Bangor on March 22, 1921, the daughter of Addie Mahoney Littlefield and Vernon Tracy Littlefield. Educated in the Bangor schools, she graduated from the Eastern Maine General Hospital School of Nursing in 1942. Her nursing career included nearly two years of service with the Army Nurse Corps during World War II, serving in England and France as well as in the United States. She was married to Gordon Lewis Chapman of Portland on August 29, 1948, and they made their home with their sons, Stephen and David in Orono where he was a forestry professor at the University of Maine until his untimely death in 1956. She pursued her education at the University of Maine, earning a B.A. and an M.A. in English as well as a Master of Library Science. She taught English at the secondary and college levels for a number of years, and her career as a librarian included positions at Fogler Library at the University of Maine, Deering High School in Portland, and Portland Public Library. For several years she was a volunteer librarian at the Portland Museum of Art Library. She was active in both English educational and library professional organizations, having served on the Maine Library Commission for several years. She had been active in the Woman’s Literary Union, at the Victoria Mansion serving as a guide for several years, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Eunice Frye Home Foundation. She was also a member of the College Club of Portland, the Board of Fellows at the Portland Museum of Art, and served on the board and as president of the Portland String Quartet’s Lark Society. She was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Portland. In addition to her parents, three brothers, and her husband Gordon L. Chapman and her daughter in law Jeri Kane Chapman, she was predeceased by a daughter Margaret Ellen Chapman, who died in infancy. Survivors include her son Stephen G. Chapman, her son David V. Chapman and his wife Sally Green, her beloved grandchildren, Greer Alexandra Chapman and William Kane Chapman, and two nephews. She requested that if people wished to remember her in some way that contributions be made in lieu of flowers to the Gordon L. Chapman Loan Fund and directed to the Office of Student Financial Aid at the University of Maine at Orono.
Online condolence messages can be submitted at the Chad E. Poitras Cremation and Funeral Service website, www.mainefuneral.com