Evan (Chapman) Snyman

Ancestors

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This profile is part of the Chapman Name Study.

Biography

I was born in Rhodesia in 1973 to Ian Rawson Chapman and Jill Moira (Nuthall) Chapman. I know that I have several half-siblings on my father's side. It was my mother's second marriage, and I have a half-brother and sister on that side of the family.

My mother separated from my father when I was still young and returned with me to Cape Town. She then returned to Sinoia for a few years, but I can remember being back in Sea Point, Cape Town for my early years of schooling. By this stage my mother had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and we lived in various flats in and around Sea Point.

I attend King's Road Primary for what we then called Pre-Primary, Sub-A and Sub-B (now grades 0-2). It was a co-educational junior section to a girls' primary school. I have always remembered the school motto: "They can who think they can".

I then attended Sea Point Boys' Primary (it has since become co-ed) and we lived in a flat in Worcester Road. The Sandri-family who owned the building allowed us to live in a bachelor flat on the ground floor, and they assisted my mother in many ways financially. These were the happiest of my childhood years. We lived one building away from the beach, my best friend lived upstairs and Marco Bachetta was allergic to chocolate!!! His parents made the best risotto ever.

During this period my mother's disease slowly progressed, and whereas she was once known for walking the length and breadth of the suburb at high speed, she progressed from one walking stick, to two and eventually became wheel-chair bound. My mother had always been fairly close to her younger sister, Renee (Nuthall) Brown, and the family often shared combined birthdays in the Camps Bay park (its still there - fire-engine and all!!!) as so many birthdays were in February and March.

In 1984, at the start of Std 4 (Grade 6) I was sent to live with my aunt in the Strand. I attended WEG Louw Primary and I can remember my first encounter with a googol, and spending an entire break writing down the 1000 zeroes. I was misinformed back then, as a googol is only 10^100. I suspect that having twin sons was bad enough, but taking care of a third young teenager was overload, and so another plan to take care of me had to be made.

Next edtion - the Boys' Town years.

Sources

• First-hand information. Entered by Evan Chapman at registration.