James Chandler

Our family lost our rock, James “Dewey” Chandler, 93, on the evening of August 2, 2020 due to complications from a stroke. Up until several weeks ago, Dad had been reading his Wall Street Journal with his coffee at his daughter Marcie’s house every morning and enjoying her cooking and companionship. Her house has been the family home for 60 years and all of our lives have been focused on making his days interesting and safe. Dad was born in Okanogan, WA on September 19, 1926 to James Monroe Chandler and Tena Ester (LeRay) Chandler. He grew up at the end of the road below Scout Hill in Manson, WA on the homeplace orchard with beautiful views of Lake Chelan. He was the oldest of 5 children: Virginia Savage, Beverly Jackson, Lynn Chandler, and Alan Chandler. Besides being orchardists, the family also ran the Chandler Fishing Resort on Wapato and Roses Lake for many years. Dad learned quickly how to work hard and save money. From milking the cow, taking care of the weekly chicken dinner requirement and helping watch his younger siblings, and the orchards he had little time for getting into trouble with his buddies. When they raided his mother’s watermelon patch and were scared off by a shotgun, they never forgot that shaking fear of getting caught. Dewey graduated from Manson High School in 1944. Dad always said he was at the bottom of the class but managed to go on to attend Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa, join the Navy with his boyhood friends, and graduated from Washington State College with a B.S. in Agriculture in 1949. He hitchhiked to Chicago and bought his first new car with cash, thus saving the delivery fee. Yes, Dad was frugal, as many of the Greatest Generation are. At a time when he only made $350 a month in his first job after college, he saved $50. His daughters, not so much! Dad married our mom, Betty Ann Jensen, a city girl and WSC grad, in Wenatchee, WA on June 16, 1951. Their first daughter, Laurie Ann, was born in 1953 in Prosser with Marcie Kay in 1956 and Kristie Lee arriving in 1957 in Wenatchee. Dad was surrounded by women all his life in a house with one bathroom. What a patient man. Dad was a good man and a great father. He attended the First Presbyterian Church and was a Youth Fellowship counselor. His great sense of humor helped him through numerous escapades and the kids loved him. He would often take his daughters skiing and always was able to find space in the VW bug for one more. The majority of his working career he was a private consultant in the fruit industry. He was one of the early proponents of integrated pest management and received the Silver Pear Award for his service to the industry. He could often be seen driving his yellow VW bugs around the orchards of Central Washington. In each vehicle he kept a mileage log that came in very handy when the girls borrowed the cars to drag the Ave. Yes, his girls kept him hopping. He always stressed education to his daughters and the importance of keeping your twenties to yourself so that you would know that you can support yourself and hopefully see some of the world. Of course, when we didn’t follow that plan and made poor choices, he was always there to reach out a hand and lift us up. After working all day in the orchards, he would come home and take us down to Larson Park and see how our tennis lessons had impacted our game. He mounted a saddle on the backyard stump so we could have our own horse, built a dollhouse out of two huge wooden packing crates and added a shake roof and flower boxes for the backyard before she sheds were popular, and managed to keep his sanity through our young adult years. When Mom retired from teaching and suffered from Alzheimer’s for many years, he would take her with him on his routes. Mom passed away in 2000 and Dad retired at the age of 75. Dad spent time with his loving companion, Lois Willis, until her death. Dad moved into Marcie’s house in 2012 and within a short time we had 4 generations (3 girls) sharing that same one bathroom. He never stopped commenting on how much toilet paper we used. When Marcie would ask Dad if he wanted a cocktail, he would always say, “Why, of course, but just one!” That positive attitude impacted Dad’s life on so many levels. We all learned resilience, perseverance, and love from Dad and Mom. We miss you so much already, Dad. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Dewey is survived by his 3 daughters: Laurie Huber (Doug) and their son, Casey (Danielle) Huber, and their 3 boys, Dylan, Alexander, and Cade, Marcie Chandler and her daughter, Anike Alao, and granddaughter, Kimani Alao, and Kristie Pasten. He is also survived by his siblings, Beverly Jackson (Manson) and Alan Chandler (East Wenatchee). He is predeceased by his wife, Betty Ann, his sister, Virginia Savage, his brother, Lynn Chandler, son-in-law, Karl Pasten, and loving companion, Lois Willis. The family would like to thank Dr. David Doornink for his compassionate care of Dad over the years and to Sister Fe Sumalde at Virginia Mason Memorial for her kind, positive, very caring spirit setting up our Zoom meetings. If you would like to donate toward placing a memorial tree at the Yakima Area Arboretum or to the Alzheimer’s Association we would be honored. We will be having a private close family and friends only Celebration of Life in the near future and scattering Dad’s ashes to join Mom’s in the Lake Wenatchee area where all of the family enjoyed their Fall trip for decades. The family is being cared for by Valley Hills Funeral Home Yakima. Please visit www.ValleyHillsfh.com to share a memory or condolence with the family. To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of James Chandler, please visit our flower store.