Barbara Jean Chandler December 26, 1926 - June 13, 2018

Dec. 1926 – June 2018  

Barbara Jean Chandler gracefully passed in the arms of her family on June 13, 2018, while in Alexander Cohen House on the Samaritan Village Campus. She was 91 years old.

  Barbara was born in Alameda, California, to Lynnwood and Marianne Pratt, in December of 1926.  She attended Castlemont High School in Oakland, California. She then married Donald Everett Chandler and raised five children, all daughters, and she enjoyed being:  a Girl Scout Leader, P.T.A. President, a gardener, a seamstress and, among other creative activities, the maker of angel food birthday cakes in the form of butterflies.

  In her midlife, after twelve years of perseverance, Barbara achieved her goal of obtaining an A.A. Degree from Cañada College in Redwood City, CA.  She did this goal while raising three daughters still at home and working as a grocery clerk at Draeger’s Market in Menlo Park, CA.

Barbara retired from being a retail clerk after twenty-plus years and upon doing so, she became a floral designer for special events and eventually opened a flower shop in Menlo Park called BAR-BEE’s. She then moved to Turlock, California, to be near family. It was there that she became an enthusiastic, extraordinarily productive, sales member and ultimately, a Director of Mary Kay Cosmetics and driver of three company cars.  She was also a member of the Red Hat Society, S.V. Writer’s Club and Resident Council Member at Samaritan Village.

  Barbara Jean Chandler often expressed gratitude for her family, her friends, and her faith.  She often said how fortunate she was to have been able to live independently, as a senior citizen, at Samaritan Village where the other residents and staff, truly became her extended family.  Although her eyes began to fail, she remained an avid, large print, GUIDEPOST reader and she greatly enjoyed the years she wrote and shared stories with other senior writers.                                                        

  Barbara attended St. Anthony’s Church, in Hughson, and practiced her faith, daily. If a chart were created to measure optimism, Barbara would be at the top!  She enjoyed life and she often stated, in her last years, “I’ve lived a very good life.”   

  Barbara was preceded in death by her parents and husband; daughter Beverly Chandler and brother James Oman.  Barbara leaves behind four daughters Donna (Ronald) Colbert, Jacque (Mike) Dowdle, Marggie Chandler and Patricia (Eric) Frahm; brothers Thomas and Victor Oman and sister Lynette Pratt Clark; fifteen grandchildren, thirteen great grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren; dear cousins and too many friends to count.  Barbara Jean loved them all and that love will be held in the hearts of all who knew her forever.

     The family wishes to extend their gratitude to the Alexander Cohen Hospice House, Hughson, California, for their kind support and excellent care in her final days. Please consider donating in Barbara’s name to Community Hospice, in lieu of flowers.

A Celebration of Life for Barbara will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 23, 2018 at Samaritan Village, Hughson, CA.  Please share your memories at www.Allen Mortuary.com.