J.O. (Sonny) Chapman Memorial Scholarship

This scholarship has been established by Robbie and James Walker of Lubbock in honor of Mrs. Walker’s father Sonny Chapman. Mrs. Walker served as a public school teacher and librarian in Lubbock and Levelland. The scholarship is awarded to an outstanding student enrolled in the college’s culinary arts program. J.O. “Sonny” Chapman was an agricultural student at Texas Tech in 1946 and 1947. He was always a farmer at heart and loved the land. Along with cotton, he planted his fields in peas, pumpkins, tomatoes, and watermelons. His family spent many summer afternoons shelling peas and arguing over who would get the prize heart out of the next watermelon. He started his own business, Chapman’s Meat Market, in Big Spring, Texas, from 1958 through 1983. He was a very astute and successful businessman. He enjoyed his own farm, never giving that part of his life up until the day he died.