Bryan Devon CHAPLA

25 AUG 1952 - 21 DEC 2022

• BIRTH: 25 AUG 1952, St Joseoh County, IN
• DEATH: 21 DEC 2022, South Bend, St Joseoh, IN

• MARRIAGE: 24 JUN 1972, St Joseoh County, IN

INDEX

[N34015] Bryan DeVon Chapla
25 August, 1952 - 21 December, 2022

Bryan DeVon Chapla, aged 70 years, passed away unexpectedly on Wednesday, 21 December, 2022 in his home. Born 25 August, 1952 to the late Steve Joseph and Donna June (Olson) Chapla, Bryan, an Elkhart High School graduate, lived most of his life in the South Bend area as a brick mason, husband, father, and dreamer. Bryan was very intelligent and loved to do research, learning absolutely all he could. A voracious reader, he enjoyed deep diving into various topics, including but by no means limited to sociology, anthropology, geology, and recent scientific breakthroughs. He dug into projects with an unmatched gusto, which earned him the nickname “The Professor,” since he seemingly also possessed solutions to every problem. Though he sometimes was short on equipment, he impressed friends and family alike with what he could do with a roll of duct tape and a heart full of gumption. One of his more recent great passions was keeping bees, and he freely shared the honey he gathered. An especially important part of Bryan’s life was his relationship with God and his ministry work. But Bryan approached God with the same intellectual curiosity he brought to everything. He looked through the lenses of history and philosophy, and he shared with so many how to build a relationship with God that reflected the best of loving others and respecting the beauty of God’s creations. Bryan was fascinated by the world, not just amazed by how things worked but always also curious as to why, and he was eager to experience as much as he could himself. Since Bryan was a child, he was ardent about the great outdoors, and jumped at every chance to plan canoe or dive trips, camp with his family, or fish with his grandchildren. Bryan will live on in so many memories, smoking a pipe by a campfire and talking late into the night. Traveling and backpacking were fundamental to Bryan’s nature. He was a wanderlust, and his boots walked miles and miles across this world, even to Africa on a memorable trip with his family. He was also proud of his Polish heritage, and traveled to Poland with his siblings in 2019, a trip he considered a cherished adventure. He always credited his loving mother for the work she did helping him overcome an early bone deformity, giving him the gift of walking. Those feet carried him on countless unforgettable journeys. Being a born explorer, his heart refused to only abide in the limits of the tangible, and he knew he must boldly go then, for there were other worlds than these, happily taking his children to Narnia and Middle Earth, sometimes by way of a Starfleet transporter or even a mysterious Doctor’s Tardis. His magical way of thinking and his overflowing heart were key components to the man revered as husband, father, grandfather, uncle, and brother. On June 24, 1972, Bryan married Dawn Beck, who survives. Bryan is also survived by his children, Brandynne Chapla and Jeremy Chapla, both of South Bend, and Brooke (Jonathan Shestak) Chapla of Albuquerque, NM; three grandchildren, Jared, Skylar, and Allyssa; two bonus grandchildren, Zeai and Bryce; three bonus great-grandchildren; siblings Dennis (Judy) Chapla of South Bend; Lauretta (Al) Shiya of Payson, AZ; Donna (Tom) Hardy of South Bend; brother-in-law, Ben VanDyke of Kalispell, MT; and many well-loved nieces and nephews. Along with his parents, he was preceded in death by his beloved sister, Jackie VanDyke. A memorial service will be held at 1:30 pm on Wednesday, December 28, 2022, at the Apostolic Temple, 2221 S. Ironwood Drive, South Bend, IN 46613. Friends may visit with the family beginning at 1:00 pm at the temple. A memorial will be planned for the summer of 2023, for those who cannot make it at this time. Palmer Funeral Home - Guisinger Chapel is assisting the family with arrangements. In lieu of flowers, contributions in memory of Bryan D. Chapla may be donated to the National Parks Foundation, 1500 K Street NS, Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20005, Shriners Hospitals for Children, Attn: Office of Development, 2900 Rocky Point Drive Tampa, FL 33607 or Riley Children’s Hospital of Indianapolis, P.O. Box 3356 Indianapolis, IN 46206. Online condolences may be offered to Bryan’s family at www.palmerfuneralhomes.com