Melva Jean Chandler

June 3, 1928 - July 14, 2008

FLORA VISTA, N.M.-- Melva Jean Chandler, 80, died July 14, 2008 at her home in Flora Vista, N.M.

She was born June 3, 1928, in Danbury. She married Robert R. Chandler on Feb. 16, 1947, and the family moved to Farmington in 1957 and Flora Vista in 1970, where they built their family home.

She was a teacher for many years and worked in the Farmington and Aztec school systems. After formal retirement she continued to teach and mentor children and adults.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Virgil Duckworth and Jessie Duckworth Miller and granddaughter, Sara Jean Stevenson.

Survivors include her husband, Robert of Flora Vista; children, Collin Chandler and wife, Chelo of Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico, Cathy Stevenson and husband, Tod of Santa Fe, N.M., Gary Chandler and wife, Connie of Flora Vista and Patty Carpenter and husband, Chris of Aztec, N.M.; sister, Ardis Roe of Oberlin; four grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and other extended family and close friends.

Services were July 19, 2008, at Aztec United Methodist Church in Aztec. Burial followed at Memory Gardens in Farmington.