Elizabeth W. Chapman

Elizabeth W. Chapman has distinguished herself as an accomplished musician and pianist.

Elizabeth W. Chapman

Born and raised in Fort Wayne, she enrolled at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., where she met and married her husband, Howard. After pausing in her collegiate career to raise a family, she returned to the campus of Indiana University Purdue University - Fort Wayne. At the age of 39, she was awarded her bachelor’s degree in English.

Chapman has shared her musical talents in many parts of the Fort Wayne community. She has been an accompanist for various vocal performers and singing groups as well as for musicals produced at Arena Theatre, Fort Wayne Youtheatre, and First Presbyterian Theatre.

With Nancy Carlson, she has co-authored three musical plays for children, one of which, "The Magic Pebble," has been published by the Samuel French Company. It and the other two plays, "Mountain Molly" and "The Magnificent Plan," have been performed many times, both locally and nationally.

An active member of the IPFW community, Chapman has served for many years on the Omnibus Lecture Series Committee, the organization charged with obtaining speakers and organizing programs in connection with the Omnibus Lecture Series that is presented annually on the IPFW campus. As a director of The Waterfield Foundation, she was instrumental in that organization's participation in funding the on-campus housing under construction at IPFW. She and her husband also endowed the first full professorship chair at IPFW, designated as The Chapman Distinguished Professor of English.

Chapman also has been a participant in numerous community and charitable organizations, serving on the boards of directors of many, including the Fort Wayne Junior League, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, the Philharmonic Volunteers, the Fort Wayne Civic Theatre, and Arts United of Allen County. She currently is a director of the Easter Seals/ARC of Northeast Indiana Foundation.

She has attended First Presbyterian Church of Fort Wayne since her childhood. She is an elder and has often contributed her musical talents for church services and church events, including providing musical accompaniment for religious services at nursing homes.