Forest Edward Chapman was born in White Sulphur Springs on the 23rd of March, 1986. Despite an early move to eastern Montana, he remained tightly bound to this area through the people he came to know, both here and in Wilsall. Because of his continuing friendship with the boys over the hill, he lived a childhood, that as James Dunkel puts it, like nothing in this generation nor in generations to come. Forest always maintained he was born one hundred years too late.
He loved to be read to, and later he loved to read. I still remember reading Susan Cooper’s Selkie Girl for the first time and his response. He looked up with those intense blue eyes and demanded there be more of the story. He may have been a reluctant learner during his formative schooling, but teachers like Sarah McGill, Derek Tvedt, Marianne Hyatt, John Rogers, Bob Hogemark, and Cory Shimmin, and later Mr. Snape, Mrs. Keating, and Mr. Joe both bridled his spirit and challenged his intellect.
Forest loved sports: under Coach Larson, he played football with the Rapelje Rockets and knew the triumph of winning and the agony of defeat as the Rockets shouldered their way into the state quarterfinals, then lost by the trickery of the then little-known off-side kick. He was a member of the Rapelje rodeo team, and in 2005, finished fourth in state saddle bronc as a senior. He could also answer almost any trivia question, sports and otherwise, put out to him, and he and his mother spent many hours arguing the merits of teams and athletes.
With the encouragement of his friend and boss, Aaron Aafeldt, he attended Western Montana College and MSU Billings and obtained his AA in Accounting Technology in 2011, although in Forest fashion he refused to apply for graduation. It was a waste of time, and he had a better thing in life to achieve: he wanted to be a rancher, a goal infinitely more difficult in this day and age than in that hundred years back he wished for. Starting with the 4-H cow he had purchased from his neighbor, Mr. Lloyd Linger, he built his herd one cow, then a few cows at a time, by using summer leases from his friends, Mike and Ingrid Eckberg down at 16 Mile and the Burns family up on Antelope Creek, and by wintering them at the home place on Newlan, homesteaded in 1919 and owned by the Chapman family since 1942.
He worked hard to maintain that herd; he spent many miles trolling for hay ground to lease out of Cascade and Teton Counties. Forest worked several winters up on the Alaskan pipes as a fueler (possible only with the help of Red Lucherhand and Bill Linger tending his herds) and many summers as a contract fencer to support his ranching habit. He earned his bull power by night calving for his friend Sam Berg and used that same skill for helping out during calving for friends Thad Hereim and Jock Doggett. He owed much to Jim Lind, James and Stuart Dunkel, and Chad Peterson for training him in the nuances of fence building, bull tight and horse high. He worked hard to transfer the same skills and to be a worthy teacher to others.
He knew the pride of land ownership and was able to purchase land in Cascade, then Teton counties. He was in the process of purchasing the home place when on Wednesday morning, May 8th, he went to be with his Lord and Saviour, a contract he had confirmed through baptism in the waters of the Shields River many years ago, now fulfilled. He leaves behind his father and mother, Eldon and Mary Chapman, his brother Bryce, much family and many friends, and most importantly, his church family of Wilsall Community Church. He would have you all be holy, abiding in Christ, forgetting the things of this world, for they are temporal, and clinging to the one Hope of which we can be assured, which is eternal. To end in his words, that desire is more than just “smoking you up.”
Cremation has taken place, and services will be held at 11:00, June 7th, at the Wilsall Community Church, contingent upon the health of several family members.
In lieu of flowers, please honor Forest by donating to the Grace Children’s Home, P.O. Box 519, Henderson, NE 68371.
Service Schedule
Celebration of His Life
11:00 a.m.
Friday June 7, 2024
Wilsall Community Church
112 Liquin Hills Lane
Wilsall, Montana 59086
Service Schedule
Celebration of His Life
11:00 a.m.
Friday June 7, 2024
Wilsall Community Church
112 Liquin Hills Lane
Wilsall, Montana 59086
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Kenneth Sage says
Rest in peace my young friend.
Mark Danielson says
Forest. Because of our long conversations over the past eleven years, Cindy, Cheyenne and I have been able to say everything to you we wanted. Except one thing. We have told you how much we love you. We have laughed until we cried. We have pled for the souls of the lost. We have talked of Jesus, horses, dogs, cows, fences, food, trucks and orphans. We have talked about the hurting and hungry. We covered it all. Almost. What we didn’t get to say was, goodbye. I know, I know…we’ll see each other again in heaven; but we aren’t there yet. In the mean time, our only hope is that we will all be bold enough to simply love others the way you do. Until then, goodbye my friend. Mark and Cindy (“Mrs. Pastor Lady”) Danielson, and Cheyenne.