Mark Andrew Chapman died on Nov. 9, 2022 at Palm Gardens Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Fla. He was 64.

He was born October 15, 1958 to Harriet. He was adopted by Paul Kingsley Chapman and Lois Esther Stelley Chapman, who adopted three more children, all from the New England Home for Little Wanderers.

Until the age of 16, he was raised at Packard Manse, an idyllic retreat surrounded by woods, fields and a farm, in Stoughton. He was Cub Scout and Boy Scout who received every possible badge up to Eagle Scout. He loved building model airplanes and playing hockey, touch football, whiffle ball and baseball. He was a talented musician who received his first drum kit for his 14th birthday and organized his first band, Multifarious Sound, with Stoughton friends who remained friends for life.

He spent summers on Martha’s Vineyard with family and his grandparents Barnard and Elizabeth Chapman. He learned carpentry and built houses with his father, who also taught him to be an excellent sailor on the Oak Bluffs Lagoon.

At 13, he got a job at Trade Wind Airport in Oak Bluffs and was taken under the wings of owner Carolyn Cullen. He started cleaning hangars and chasing seagulls from the grass runway, then learned to fly, clocking his training hours on Carolyn’s personal

Piper Cub. He earned his pilot’s licenses for private and commercial aircraft and worked as a swordfish spotter for local fisheries and tourist fishing companies. Because of his knowledge of aviation, he chose to never fly under any other pilot, He spent the rest of his life driving to any destination his life and work took him.

Mark was a hard-working, hard-playing, generous, magnetic, handsome soul constantly sought after and supported by amazing women. His first summer love was Christine, a ballet dancer with children’s theater on the Vineyard. He married Debbie, who was already mother to Miles and Heather. In 1981, he married Linda, who gave birth to a beautiful daughter, Jessica Jane, in 1983. He reunited with Nanci Marani from Stoughton and though they separated, they remained friends, joking that they would spend golden years getting old together.

In 2007 Mark reunited with his birth mother, Harriet. For both it was the beginning of a loving bond and an answer to unspoken prayers.

His hands were always cold. He smelled of Marlboros. He got dirty working but cleaned up well and was a sharp dresser. He talked as though he was from Boston and New Hampshire. He will be remembered for the twinkle in his eyes when he smiled, and his loving nature, generosity, fragility, sense of humor and compassion.

He was a natural artist, skilled craftsman, mason and general contractor, building for Apple, Tiffany’s and other high-end stores. He was loved and respected by his employers and colleagues in Florida, his home base for decades. They were also family who gathered around at the end of his life.

Mark is survived by his father Paul Chapman and his wife Gayle Irvin; his mother Harriet; daughter and son in law Jessica and Jeremy McClure and their children Madyson and Brody McClure; his siblings Sarah Elizabeth, Rachel Rebekah and Timothy John Chapman; nieces and nephews Joy Lynne, Paul, Lisa Amoy and Ian Chapman, Alexandra Elizabeth and James Archibald McDougall, Solea Chapman Pfeiffer, James Pfeiffer, Lauren Goettel and Dorsey Peakes; great-nieces and nephews Anaycha, Franky, Isley-Ray and Riley; brother in law James McDougall; and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.

He has a son who was given up for adoption on Martha’s Vineyard. His half-sister, grandfather, grandmother and a big, diverse, welcoming family are ready and waiting should he ever wish to connect.