Farewell Pappy

Hail and farewell to a unique personality, my father, David Paul Chappell, who passed away on Sunday at the age of 95 from causes not related to Covid-19. He was a renowned rocket scientist who worked on all of the Apollo missions, an aeronautical engineer who designed the Osprey aircraft, and an award-winning member of the American Helicopter Society. He was also a sports car collector and mechanic. He played multiple musical instruments, focusing in his youth on violin (Beethoven) and piano (boogie-woogie), in mid-life on classical guitar, and in later years on bagpipes. He traveled widely and studied the French, German, and Italian languages. He was the father of four and the grandfather of three, and he remarried after the passing of my mother, with both marriages lasting over 30 years. Self-sufficient by nature, he did a lot of thinking outside of the box and rarely saw things the way most others did. This world will be different without him.

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