Michael and Donna Chapman
The Adventures of Harriet the Sausage Dog
story by JENNIFER BROWN-CARPENTER photos by TANYA LESHE’ PHOTOGRAPHY
At first glance, you might not think that Michael and Donna Chapman were the authors of a children’s book. As you get to know them, you will understand how kind they are and how much they care about children. Pair that with a lifetime of service, both in schools and law enforcement, and it all adds up to a lovely little story about Harriet the Sausage Dog.
Donna Lynne Chapman was born to a military family stationed at Camp Pendleton in California. Her father, Raymond, made a career of being in the military. Because of this, Donna lived in many different locations in California before her father was assigned independent duty, and they moved to Charleston, WV. They lived in a small, sleepy suburb called St. Albans. The move from California to West Virginia was a culture shock in a way. The community in St. Albans was especially impoverished although they were all very hardworking, good people.
Donna’s father was a supply sergeant and worked with heavy equipment. He would do work with Toys for Tots and would take Donna with him. He would provide toys, blankets, food, etc., to the community. He would do all of this in his uniform. It made quite the impression on Donna as a young child. Donna’s dad taught her that it was important to help people and never look down on anyone that needed a helping hand.
Donna and her family lived in St. Albans for five years until her dad received orders to his final duty station at Parris Island. She was 12 years old then and has lived here ever since. Her parents built a home in Port Royal when she was 15. Her dad was getting ready to retire at the time, and it was just one home away from where her future husband built his first home. He was 20-21 years old at the time and a young firefighter.
Donna graduated from Beaufort High School with honors and attended The Art Institute of Atlanta for two years. After that, due to being very homesick for Beaufort, she came home and put an application in for a job working for the town of Port Royal. The town manager at the time, Bruce Drawdy, picked Donna out of 80+ girls because she had a Port Royal address. Working for the town is how she met her “some kind of wonderful” future husband, Michael Chapman.
Michael Creth Chapman was born and raised in Beaufort, SC. He grew up on the corner of Bladen and Washington, and was the youngest of four brothers. Michael didn’t know his father when he was a child, as his father had left when Michael was only five weeks old. He didn’t meet his father until he was 35 years old. Michael’s mother was a nurse at Bayview Nursing Home for several years, so he was primarily raised by his uncle and grandmother.
Michael’s grandmother suffered a stroke when Michael was around 12 years old, resulting in the loss of using her right side. She had been their caregiver, so this reversed the roles. Michael had to quit going to school to care for her.
Two of Michael’s older brothers were drafted into the Army, one going to Vietnam and one to Germany. This just left Michael and his one older brother here in Beaufort with their grandmother.
Michael took on any job that he could. He would rake yards, paint (even though he hated painting), pick up pecans, anything to make a buck.
Michael eventually became a security guard on Hilton Head, working for Pinkerton. He left there and got a job at a gas station, working there for two years. Every single day, he would watch as a fire truck drove by. Finally, he decided to go and apply to work for the fire department. John Harriott was the fire chief at the time, and he invited Michael to his home to offer him the job. This was in December 1972. Michael worked for the Beaufort Fire Department for four years.
After four years, he realized that he wanted something different. He decided to pursue a career in law enforcement. His oldest brother was a state highway patrolman for 17 years before working for the City of Beaufort, retiring as a Captain. The next oldest brother was a deputy sheriff for the Sheriff’s Office for 30 years. Between the three brothers, they have over 100 years in law enforcement careers.
Michael was hired to work at the county jail, commissioned as a deputy in 1976, and worked there for two years. Michael was then offered a job at the Port Royal Police Department. He had to complete 10 weeks at the Police Academy in Columbia before starting to work there, and he stayed with the Port Royal Police Department for 31 years. He worked his way through the ranks to the Department’s first and only Master Sergeant. He was also the first person in the Department to start a victim advocacy program. He did this by way of grants that he and his brother applied for. He was the victim advocate from 1999 to 2008, which is when he retired from the Department. Michael worked for the University of South Carolina as the campus supervisor for security at the Carteret campus. He retired from that position in December 2019.
Michael and Donna were friends for five years before realizing that they needed to take it beyond just being friends. They got married in April 1993, 28 years ago. They have two sons and three granddaughters.
Donna left the town of Port Royal in 1990 to be able to date Michael. She got a job at a private Christian school, becoming a certified preschool teacher through the South Carolina Association of Christian Schools. She taught 3 year olds and loved it. She taught there for 22 years and retired in 2012. Her mother was sick at the time, and she needed to help take care of her. Donna worked at one more school here in Beaufort after her mother passed away in 2014. She was employed at The Little Brown School from 2016-2019.
Michael and Donna’s book, The Adventures of Harriet the Sausage Dog, is something that the Lord laid on Donna’s heart in 2008. It was something Michael and Donna were able to work on together. They were both working full-time, and their son was in Iraq, and they needed something to do together that would keep their minds busy.
Their real-life little dog, Harriet, had passed away a few years prior. They crafted an adventure featuring Harriet and all sorts of friends. They wove in lessons dealing with bullying issues and making friends, all wrapped up in the tale of adventure. They wrote the book and set it aside as life went on.
In 2019, Michael reminded Donna of the book that they had written. They pulled it out and began to edit the first draft, including a “villain” character, Bruno the Alligator. The book debuted in June 2020, and it was number 48 on Amazon’s Children’s Booklist and number 53 on Pinterest’s Children’s Booklist. Michael and Donna had two book signings at McIntosh Book Shoppe downtown.
Due to Covid and things shutting down, Michael and Donna could not do as many book signings as they would have liked, but God still carried them through the challenging stretch. Harriet’s little book has done well, and they hope that it will continue to do well. They would love to see the story expand, perhaps even republishing with a larger publishing company.
Michael and Donna wanted to do something meaningful in their retirement, and it was essential for them to do something that would impact children. They have a sequel companion book to The Adventures of Harriet the Sausage Dog that they are working on. That book is titled, Harriet the Sausage Dog and The Lost Kitten. They are looking forward to things reopening, having more book signings, and sharing their stories with more parents and children here in Beaufort and throughout the United States.
