At school, 5-year-old Kyle Chapman was able to enjoy some typical kindergartner activities, and he especially loved books, his mother said.
But after only about two months at Carrolltowne Elementary School, Kyle died of a rare disease in the fall of 2003.
Jackie Chapman, Kyle?s mother, is raising money to dedicate a section of the school?s newly renovated media center to her son. When complete, Kyle?s Corner will provide a space for students to relax and read ? and a place for the school to remember a former student.
“This was probably the only time in his life that he was allowed to be a normal little boy, because his other experiences were so medically based,” said Toni Wallace, Kyle?s teacher. “I think it will be a special way to remember him.”
Jackie and Lee Chapman adopted Kyle from Russia when he was 19 months old. “He was the light of our lives,” Jackie Chapman said.
Kyle became sick with cyclic neutropenia, a rare blood disorder, after less than a year. He spent three years in the hospital and died Oct. 31, 2003.
When it came time for Kyle to enter kindergarten, he was enthusiastic about each day he spent at school despite his illness, Chapman said.
She approached school administrators about a year ago with the idea to dedicate part of the new library to Kyle, said principal Martin Tierney. The school was planning an overhaul of the 30-year-old media center that cost the county about $80,000. The center includes new carpets, bookshelves, matching furniture, two instructional areas, new computers and a new circulation desk, Tierney said.
The school also has started ordering “some of the warm, fuzzy things”for Kyle?s Corner, Tierney said, such as pillows and large books.
Tierney said he expects at least parts of the corner to be complete within a couple months, and more will be added later.
Chapman has been approaching local businesses for donations, adding to the $3,000 raised last year during a raffle at the spring concert and additional money raised by students. She said she doesn?t have a goal, and as money comes in, she gives it to the school for the corner.
