How does one sum up the life of a 100-year-old Matriarch?
Catherine Chandler, born January 15, 1922, to Luther and Jessie Hufstetler, passed from this earthly home to her eternal heavenly home, on January 26, 2022.
Married June 27, 1936, to Claborn Chandler (deceased), Catherine is survived by five of their eight children: Jackie York (Joe), Ann Thompson (Sam, deceased), Kathy Chandler, Linda McCollum (Ron), and Sharon Fuss (Rick), one surviving sister, Sandra Wimer (Bill) and one surviving Uncle, Jo Ed Smith. She is preceded in death by daughters Charlotte McKean (Gary, living) and Ellen Daigle, and her son, Jerry Chandler (Jean, living).
Up until her last days, Catherine was still amazing and vibrant and making jokes. Always a fierce competitor in card and board games, she found time, even as a young busy mother, to play some basketball, softball, and horseshoes with her family. She was an award-winning bowler! Around age 45, she took piano lessons and enjoyed playing and singing some of her favorite hymns. She adapted well to the changes in the world, including cell phones, the Internet, emails, iPad, and Facebook. She liked challenges!
As she grew older, her domestic responsibilities decreased, so she took up traveling, visiting Alaska, flying in a helicopter over glaciers! A grandson and his wife were with her in Alaska, but as he admits, he was too afraid to take that helicopter trip. She went to California many times to visit her West Coast family and took trips to Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Florida, Washington D.C. and the White House, Virginia, Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, Glacier National Park in Montana, as well as Canada and Hawaii. She attended a Broadway Play in Times Square and visited her father’s grave in Canton, Ohio. At 80 years old, recovering from a second knee replacement, she traveled to Switzerland!
She was witty. One of her earlier homes was a house that she said, “Had cracks so wide you could throw a cat through them!” She drew water from a well and referred to the cool water of the spring in the pasture as her “refrigerator” where she kept milk. A few weeks before her death, she asked for a granddaughter to help her apply face powder and commented, “Even an old barn looks better with fresh paint!” Another grandchild visited recently, and Catherine, noticing her granddaughter’s purse, recalled how the granddaughter - years before - had asked her “not to tell” on her for spending “too much money” on a purse. Secret unveiled.
What truly defines Catherine is the legacy left her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren . . . passing her love for Jesus to many generations. She was an avid student of the Bible and could quote Scripture as well as any. Not only did she have the knowledge of the Scriptures, but she practiced it in life, living out her love for and trust in Jesus. She was a teacher of children in Bible School, helped with the children’s choir, and later was a Sunday School teacher to adults.
Yes, she is so loved and so missed. And she would be the first to tell you that she wasn’t perfect, but by the Grace of God, she is now where she longed to be, forever in heaven with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Memorial services will be held Sunday, February 6, 2022, at 3:00 PM, at the Calvary Baptist Church, 4361 Westside Dr, Acworth, Georgia, 30101. Reception to follow. Location to be announced. Grandson, Rob Cravy, Officiating.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Mision Vida Nueva, an orphanage ministering to abused and abandoned children in Guatemala, founded and run by one of Catherine’s great-granddaughters: www.misionvidanueva.info
