Betty Ann Chandler

Miss Betty Ann Chandler, 84, passed away peacefully on Friday, April 22, 2016 at Bay Lake Retirement & Assisted Living Community in Virginia Beach, Va.  Born December 17, 1931 in Cape Charles, Va., she was the daughter of the late Nolan Chandler and Louise Burton Chandler.

Although she never married and had no children of her own, Betty Ann loved and touched the lives of many children during her forty-five years of teaching.  She was inspired to become a teacher by helping her Aunt Dot put up bulletin boards during the summers, and also by her 7th grade teacher, Miss Nellie Green.  Her teaching career began in 1954 at Meadowbrook Elementary, in Norfolk, Va.  In 1966, she moved to Thoroughgood, Virginia Beach, Va., to be closer to her parents.  Betty Ann taught at Thoroughgood Elementary until the 6th grade moved to middle school in 1993.  She then followed her 6th grade class to Independence Middle School, retiring in 1999.  Teaching was her passion.  She always said, “When you're standing in front of a class and teaching, and you see a face light up and you know that it clicked.  I love it.  You can't buy it.”  Many of her former students still drop by to visit and chat.

Betty Ann lived in her home in Thoroughgood until May 2015.  She then sold her house and moved to Bay Lake Retirement & Assisted Living Community.  She enjoyed her time at Bay Lake and very much appreciated the wonderful care from the staff and friendliness of the other residents.

She loved needlepointing, putting jigsaw puzzles together, and she especially loved collecting Eastern Shore art, particularly paintings by Karen Pruitt.

Left to cherish her memory is her very dear friend, Becky Jackson and her family; husband Jimmy, daughter Angela, and son James; two cousins, Kathryn Smith, and Leo P. Chandler and their families, all of the Eastern Shore; and last but not least, the many children she taught and her wonderful friends.

Funeral services will be conducted from the graveside at the Fairview Lawn Cemetery, in Onancock, Va., on Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at 11:00 a.m., with Mr. Leo P. Chandler officiating.  There will be a visitation at the Holloman-Brown Funeral Home, Bayside Chapel, in Virginia Beach, Va., on Monday, April 25, 2016 from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m.

Flowers will be accepted, or memorial donations may be made to Cape Charles Museum, P.O. Box 11, Cape Charles, Va. 23310, or to the Virginia Beach SPCA, 3040 Holland Road, Virginia Beach, Va. 23453.

Memory tributes may be shared with the family at www.williamsfuneralhomes.com.

Arrangements by the Williams-Onancock Funeral Home.