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Faye
Chapman was born in 1960 and raised on a small farm in Tennessee. Her
mother did factory work and her father was a mechanic. When Faye
was young, her father was stricken with tuberculosis and his lengthy
hospitalization necessitated that she, as the youngest of four children,
go live with her grandparents. Faye believes that her close relationship
with her grandmother was what formed the foundation for the woman she
became and gave her the vision to look beyond life in Tennessee. When Faye was in her teens, working the late shift on a factory assembly line, it became clear this was not the life for her. At the age of 19 she married a construction worker and they left rural Tennessee, starting a life on the road. The young couple and their baby boy Scottie traveled from state to state and job to job in a 40-foot RV and a truck with a camper shell six years later their Kiri came along. Faye and her husband were eventually able to put down roots in Southern California and buy their dream home. However, a year later Faye could no longer cope with his addictions and abusive behavior. In 1994, at the age of 34, divorced with two children, Faye had to start over. She had no money and no place to live. She stayed with friends and worked three and four jobs at a time to make ends meet -- employed as a day camp counselor, elementary school coordinator, home accessories salesperson and newspaper photographer. Faye Chapman |