Bio of Bruce Chapman

Hi Everyone! It's been a long time since "cruising" around the mission field. Although we are having some scheduling difficulties in showing up at the reunion, it is tempting to bag previous commitments and show up.

Family: Married to Ceri Nielson Chapman. Since my mission ended in 1974, I was lucky enough to have a wonderful woman "wait" for me for 2 years - one of the few. We were married in 1976 and have had 4 children, Cory 26, Canon 24, Chelsey 21 and Cherin 19. Cory is the only one that we have been able to convince to get married. He is somewhat following in his "old man's" footsteps in that he was able to serve a Spanish Speaking mission in Florida (we ran into President Ventura there when we went to pick Cory up) and Cory has started an internet company that does, what else, photofinishing. (For those of you that know me, I was quite deeply involved in photofinishing before, during and all the time since the mission). Canon was called to serve in Mexico. He now works for Cory. Chelsey is studying to be a nurse and Cherin is an animal lover, working for a pet store and maintaining 3 dogs, 2 cats, 3 ferrets, and numerous other reptiles and amphibians.

Church: I have been lucky enough to serve in the scouting program for the last 14 years, starting off as Scoutmaster, then Varsity Scout Coach, then Venture assistant Scout Master, then back to Varsity Scout Coach. In May I was ordered out of Scouting and into the High Priest Presidency. What a demotion! They really blew it letting me go just before the summer, as not everybody is not as willing or able to spend days on end with the youth, so consequently this summer I was re recruited to do the Varsity Scout Super activity (backpacking to Coyote Gulch), the Priest Super activity (backpacking again to Havasupai in the bottom of the Grand Canyon), I was asked to go to girls camp and my wife and I accepted going to the YMYW youth conference (camping in the High Uintas). So I actually was MORE involved than if they had left me in the Varsity Scouts.

Education: After the "Best 2 years FOR my life" I attended BYU in Business Management while attempting to make a full time job of the photofinishing. It was nice to have a scholarship from the NEW ERA photography contest to subsidize the educational process.

Work: As many of you know, I started a company prior to my mission doing, what else, photofinishing. I had built a lab and Ceri ran it while I was in CA. During the mission and there were a fair number of you that used World-Wide Photo (originally World-Wide Mission Photo) and we thank you for it! In 1978 we opened a retail location in Provo on Columbia Lane and it went like wildfire. When we reached 40 employees and multimillion-dollar sales and unbearable stress, we decided to sell the business and start an internet imaging company called Global Imaging. You can see what we are doing at www.photosfast.com. Its kind of the same old thing except it is just Ceri and I again and we are running it out of our home.

Hobbies: We like to spend our spare time in the out of doors, at Bear Lake, Lake Powell, bicycling, motor biking, hiking and camping in the mountains and deserts, jet skiing, finding a remote tropical island to "veg out" on, and of course taking pictures all along the way. I have a Wet Bike (it's a Personal Watercraft that comes out of the water hydrofoiling on 2 skis) that was featured in a James Bond movie in the 70's that I keep running from year to year just for fun. People stare in amazement when they see that thing zipping around.

Comps: I had the good fortune to serve with Elder Sabey in Managua/San Jose, Elder Perry in Heredia, Elder Cap and Wheadon in the Kennedy, Elder Matkin and Ballard in Colon, then to the mission office in San Jose, and Elder Reynolds and Udall in San Pedro Sula.

Some might call my mission a disaster, since my first night in the field I arrived in Managua. 6 hours later the town fell down and burned. When I was finishing up in San Pedro, hurricane Fifi hit the coastal areas causing much destruction. When President Eager came to check out what had happened, all 3 bridges were wiped out between the airport and San Pete, so he and his wife had to wade and ford streams to come into town. I have some pictures of Pres with his wife, pants rolled up, shoes off, briefcase in hand, balancing on planks above the water and yes, still full suit and tie in place. I will try to get them to Loren for the DVD.

As many people lost their lives in these 2 events, the only casualty was one elder cut his toe as he dove through a window to escape. Mathematically, 6 elders should have died in the earthquake and as 5000-6000 people died in Fifi, there probably should have been something happen to us there too. I am very thankful to have been able to serve in CA, spending many hard, exhilarating, frustrating hours teaching, tracting, baptizing and feeding on the spirit daily. These things just don't seem to happen as frequently in life as they did in the field. But we can all look forward to serving again as couples someday. I often wonder if it will be the same.