Cora Chatman

Cora Bell Jackson Chatman was born to Charlie and Geneva Jackson in Albany, Georgia, July 31, 1941.  She attended elementary, middle and high school in Albany.  Upon graduation in 1959, she went to Detroit, Michigan to live with her father.  Early in her twenties while living in Detroit, Cora accepted Christ as her Savior.
 
 
She graduated from the University of Detroit, where she majored in English and Social Studies. Her first teaching position was at Henry Ford Middle School in Highland Park, Michigan. After teaching for almost a year, she visited a friend in San Diego during the Christmas break.  There, she met a dashing military man, U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Clarence Chatman. It was love at first sight.  After returning home from her vacation, they corresponded by mail for 4 months, before getting engaged. They married December 16, 1972, in Detroit Michigan, and began their married life in San Diego where Clarence was stationed. In 1976 they bought their home in Thousand Oaks, where they raised their family. They welcomed Jennifer Maria Chatman, their first child, in 1973.  Their second child, Alisa Prudence Chatman, they adopted in 1982. They were a God fearing, happy family.
 
 
 
Clarence retired from the Navy and in 2008, Cora retired from Los Angeles Unified School District. Later she worked part time teaching for the State of California at a youth correctional facility in Camarillo, CA for seven years.  Cora enjoyed teaching; it gave her great satisfaction to see students learning. When the pandemic started, she retired to take care of her husband.
 
Cora leaves two daughters, Jennifer and Alisa Chatman, 6 sisters, a brother, nephews, nieces, cousins and friends in England, Africa, Canada and throughout the U.S.
 
Cora loved her Creator and his son Jesus Christ. She loved many verses of scripture, but one of her favorites is Lamentations 3:23:
 
“It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; Therefore, will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, To the soul that seeketh him.”