{"id":203398,"date":"2026-03-24T03:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T03:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/203398\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T03:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T03:18:08","slug":"candlelight-vigil-held-to-commemorate-the-life-of-johnnie-mae-chappell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/203398\/","title":{"rendered":"Candlelight vigil held to commemorate the life of Johnnie Mae Chappell"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 It\u2019s been over six decades since Johnnie May Chappell<\/a> was killed in Northwest Jacksonville, but her family is ensuring that her life and legacy are not forgotten.<\/p>\n

Monday evening, Chappell\u2019s family and members of the community came together at New Kings Road and Flicker Avenue to remember the 35-year-old mother of 10. That\u2019s where Chappell was walking on March 23, 1964, as she searched for her lost wallet.<\/p>\n

As she was walking, a car carrying four white men pulled up, and one of the men shot her. Chappell died as she was being taken to a hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe went to go get ice cream after leaving work, thinking of how to celebrate her children,\u201d said Shelton Chappell, who was just four months old when his mother was killed. \u201cIt\u2019s a heavy weight, but we\u2019re still commemorating her and honor her as a family should.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chappell was murdered around the same time a violent protest erupted downtown over racial segregation. Investigators at the time said one of the four white men in the car had been driving around when someone said \u201cLet\u2019s get a (expletive).\u201d They shot Chappell and discarded the gun.<\/p>\n

The man who fired the gun, J.W. Rich, was convicted and served three of 10 years for manslaughter after it was determined the jury thought the bullet ricocheted before hitting Chappell\u2019s body. The other passengers were never charged. <\/p>\n

Now, 62 years later, Chappell\u2019s life is being remembered at a historical marker at the site where she was killed.<\/p>\n

\u201cA mother is everything, everything to you. Nurse, doctor, teacher – she does everything for her children. And for us not to take homage to her, we\u2019d be less than,\u201d said Shelton Chappell. \u201cI\u2019d be less than a son. Less than a father. Less than a friend. I want to honor my mother. We will honor my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

The marker was unveiled outside the Lincoln Villa Senior Center last year, with city officials and Chappell\u2019s family in attendance. In 2005, the Florida Legislature set up a \u201cJohnnie Mae Chappell Parkway\u201d sign on New Kings Road. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great honor to know that people care. My mother hasn\u2019t been forgotten, and that means a lot,\u201d said Shelton Chappell. \u201cIt means a lot. And I appreciate that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 It\u2019s been over six decades since Johnnie May Chappell was killed in Northwest Jacksonville, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,93567],"class_list":["post-203398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-johnnie-mae-chappell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}