Doris Ann Chandler, 84, peacefully passed into heaven on April 2, 2024, after a long journey with Alzheimer’s disease. A beloved wife, mother, and grandmother, and a woman of great strength, character and talent, Doris is also remembered for her decades of service to the Auburn community as a teacher, principal, and church accompanist.
Doris was born in 1939 to Jewell and Martha Harrington of Arkadelphia, Arkansas. She came to California at age three when her father took the family west to Foresthill to establish himself in the logging industry. Eventually Doris’ family settled in Auburn where she grew up, married, worked, and raised her family. She loved her southern roots, however, and spent happy summers visiting her Aunt Callie and MoMo Harrington in Arkansas who schooled her in the manners of southern ladies.
She found the love of her life on her own front lawn. Young Lee Chandler was one of her father’s log truck drivers and one afternoon Lee caught her eye as he was talking to Jewell. The two began dating but soon Lee was drafted into the army. Before shipping out to Germany, they became engaged. After two long years, they were married on Valentine’s Day 1959. Doris adored children and she and Lee had three sons, Mark, Robert, and Jeffrey. Tragically, Mark died in infancy and following complications with Robert’s birth, doctors discouraged future pregnancies. Five years later Doris’ cousin, a nurse, tipped her off that a mother in labor was hoping for an adoptive family for her child, a boy. Without hesitation, Doris and Lee jumped at the chance to grow their family and in three days’ time welcomed Jeffrey. When their own boys were older, they later enjoyed opening their home to foreign exchange students and foster children as well as entertaining Doris’ students with backyard pool parties.
Doris graduated Placer High School in 1957 and continued her education at Sacramento State University earning a bachelor’s in education. Later she returned to university earning two master’s degrees. Her teaching career which spanned generations from 1960-2010 brought her the joy of teaching and influencing thousands of Auburn area school children. Doris loved the elementary and junior high classrooms, but she eventually worked in administration as school principal and taught courses at the university level.
Many of her former students will affectionately remember Mrs. Chandler as the teacher who taught them that responsibility and hard work would take them on a year-end trip to Washington, DC. Doris challenged her eighth-grade classes to look toward that goal all year as they completed their coursework, manned car washes, held spaghetti feeds, performed in plays, and ran the school snack bar. She never tired of finding sponsors, donations and community help for students who lacked funds to get to DC. She also refused to give up on those whose performance was lacking, taking special interest in goading them toward success. She was a hands-on teacher, preferring home visits to conferences at school and was glad to get to know her students’ families to better understand them and nurture their success at school. Mrs. Chandler made sure they had every opportunity to get on that plane for the field trip of a lifetime.
In her youth Doris mastered the piano. She grew up as an active member of the First Baptist Church of Auburn where she was pianist for services every Sunday for decades. She also played for the choir and eventually became the organist. She was skilled in accompaniment for soloists and enjoyed sharing her musical gift at the keyboard for weddings, funerals, and musicals. Her commitment to serving the church through music and in a multitude of other ways was an expression of her faith in Jesus Christ in which she found immense joy.
Doris loved to travel and when she was not taking eighth graders on trips to Washington DC, she was traveling on missionary trips to places like Kenya and Indonesia or sailing with Lee up the Rhine for Christmas in Stuttgart. She especially enjoyed a 50th anniversary cruise with family to stops along the St. Lawrence River. She spent summers camping at Mount Hermon as a teen and with her family. Winter found her on Bowman School ski trips, Whistler Mountain, BC, or cross-country skiing at Granlibakken. As a grandmother, she took each of her five grandsons on special summer trips with her: first to Disneyland and later to her favorite, Washington, DC.
Another passion for Doris was her collections. She collected coffee mugs, teaspoons from her travels, nutcrackers, birdhouses, teacups, and teapots, but her favorite was all things giraffes. At close to 6 ft tall herself, Doris saw something special in the elegant creatures and displayed them throughout her home. She especially loved giraffe jewelry which was a source of delight to students.
Doris was a superlative person who lived life to the maximum. Her words were often full of high affirmation meant to inspire gladness in anyone she met. She may have said you were the “sweetest,” the “smartest” or the “cutest” thing and that what you did was “awesome”, “perfect”, or “amazing”. She may have even said that something you did was “really whoo hoo, whoo hoo!”. Her words of encouragement were the keys that unlocked growth and self-advancement in her students and those around her. She always kept a full plate and had a boundless reserve of energy for her many endeavors, often working late into the night to finish up. When asked about how she was able to do all that she did, she would say “Oh, you just do. You just do.” She led by an example of hard work, and her passion made it look easy. To her, “doing” was living. If anyone was “really whoo hoo, whoo hoo”, it was Doris Chandler: a good example of Auburn’s finest.
Doris is survived by her husband Lee Chandler, 90; son Robert Chandler (Lynn), Rocklin, CA; son Jeffrey Chandler, Myrtle Creek, OR; five grandsons: Gabriel Chandler (Shantel), Livingston, Montana; Benjamin Chandler (Nikki), Arkadelphia, Arkansas; Scott Chandler (Kelly), Cheyenne, Wyoming; Christopher Chandler (Hannah), Myrtle Creek, Oregon; and Josiah Chandler, Rocklin, California; eight great-grandchildren; brother Harold Harrington (Penelope), Newcastle, CA; and many other loved ones. A Celebration Memorial will be on Sunday, June 30, 2024, at 12 pm at The Ridge, 2020 Golf Course Road, Auburn, CA
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