Leon Sherman “Eenie” Chapman, age 89, passed away on January 29, 2017. He was born October 17, 1927 in Garfield Heights, Ohio to Paul James and Mamie (Stutzman) Chapman. He and his brothers were raised on a farm on Mayfield Road. When he started his own family, he acquired his favorite childhood sledding hill, built a home there and was a Munson resident for over 80 years. He is preceded in death by his wonderful wife of 50 years Pauline “Steffie” (Rogell) Chapman, brothers Raymond, Ronald, Hugh, James and Gerald. Survivors are his daughters, Linda Chapman, Paula (Michael) Robinson, Jacklyn (Martin) Ryan; grandchildren Brooke and Sara Ryan, David and Jeffrey Robinson; numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, great grandchildren, great nieces and nephews. Leon was always a hard worker.  His first job was a paper route as a small boy.  He was boosted up on a horse with no saddle each morning and delivered his newspapers on horseback.  As a young boy he loved hunting and fishing and the outdoors. Leon was a proud WWII Army veteran serving in Italy from 1945-1947. At the age of 80, he returned to Rome to revisit his old barracks that had become the Italian Olympic Headquarters.  He retraced his routes through the city as an MP and remembered his days on the Army’s traveling baseball team. He loved sharing those stories with his fellow vets at the VFW. His first job out of the army was working for his father at the Chapman Tile Company. Once he had perfected his craft he established his own ceramic tile business working all over the state of Ohio.  Leon’s skills were always in demand by some of the best builders in Northeast Ohio. He set tile for over 60 years and was a member of the Bricklayers and Craft Union since 1950.  He was always very generous with his time and talents and did many a free tile job for family and friends.  He was a wonderful teacher to the many apprentices he had over the years and even taught some family members to set tile and shared freely what he called his “tricks of the trade”. Leon was a 1945 graduate of Chardon High School where he majored in sports. When he no longer could play the games he loved, he took up “managing and coaching” his teams from his living room recliner. Had those coaches listened to him, Cleveland would have had many more championships. He was a devoted Cleveland Indians fan; from skipping school to attend games at League Park to attending Game 1 of the 2016 World Series.  He rarely missed a Cavaliers game or Ohio State football game on television and until recently enjoyed attending occasional Chardon High School football games. Leon almost never missed attending the Great Geauga County Fair on Senior Day where he could meet his friends and reminisce about sleeping in the cattle barn hay mow and showing his prize cows.  For over 70 years Leon attended his Chardon High School reunions. The Chapman Family reunion has been held for 125 consecutive years and Leon, serving as president of the reunion for many years, claimed to have attended most of them in his lifetime except during the war years. Leon and his wife, Steffie, loved to dance, especially to Slovenian polkas.  Their retirement was filled with travel to Hawaii, Mexico and Florida; all places that took them away from long snowy winters in Ohio. Nothing gave him more contentment than enjoying his home with his devoted dog companions Duke and later Sam. Eenie looked forward to frequent visits from his cousin Rich and nephew Paul. He loved watching youngsters swim and fish in his pond. He’d often give fishing advice and regale his students with stories of his fishing trips in Canada, Florida and Mexico. An avid gardener, he provided us all with his wonderful fruits and vegetables and his famous homemade applesauce from his trees. He was a little more possessive of his blackberries that he enjoyed so much on his morning cereal! He expanded his garden after this past fall harvest and was planning to start seedlings in his sunny den as soon as the weather broke. He enjoyed watching and feeding the birds and waging constant battle with those pesky red squirrels. As a child Leon learned a poem to perform at his church Christmas pageant. Though his mother insisted he left out certain parts, his version is the only one any of us knew – and loved. Each Christmas Eve his ever-expanding family would wait in anticipation until he started “Last Christmas Eve, my Dad said to me …” complete with dramatic flourishes. Then it was officially Christmas. His poem and his memory are etched in our hearts forever. A memorial gathering will be from 10am to 11am on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017 at the Burr Funeral Home, 116 South St. (On Rt. 44, 500’ south of Rt. 6/Chardon Square) Chardon, OH. A memorial service will be held at 11am on Saturday at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers or contributions, share your life stories and tell your family how much you love them. Arrangements by the Burr Funeral Home and Cremation Service of Chardon. Information and condolences online at www.burrservice.com.