Dr. Eddie Ray “Doc” Chandler
July 10, 1941 – January 4, 2015
Dr. Eddie Ray “Doc” Chandler, 73, passed away Jan. 4, 2015 in Denton, TX.
The family will receive friends from 6-8 p.m. Jan. 8 at The White Family Funeral Home.
Funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Jan. 9 at the First Baptist Church in Bowie. Interment will follow at the Hope Cemetery in Henrietta.
Dr. Chandler was born on July 10, 1941 in Henrietta to Troy and Gladys (Moore) Chandler. He was a graduate of Henrietta High School and was the valedictorian of his graduating class. He obtained his bachelors degree in biology from Midwestern University in 1963.
While at Midwestern, Eddie participated in the ROTC program. Eddie married Patsy Ann Goodrum on Aug. 1, 1964, in Bowie in the parsonage of LC and Ruth Smith of the Lighthouse Assembly of God Church. Eddie graduated from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in 1968. Thereafter, he began his four-year residency at Saint Paul Medical Center in Dallas.
In 1969, Dr. Chandler volunteered to go to Vietnam as an Army battalion surgeon, even though he had received a four-year deferment from the Army in order to complete his residency. At the end of his Vietnam tour, Dr. Chandler received a National Defense Service medal, a combat medical badge, a Bronze Star medal, a Vietnam Service medal with three Bronze Service Stars, and a Republic of Vietnam Campaign medal with 60 Device.
After returning from Vietnam in 1970, Dr. Chandler completed his last three years of residency in Dallas. He was a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a Diplomat of the American Board of Surgeons, and a Fellow of the International College of Surgeons.
In 1973, he began his surgery practice in Henrietta. Then, in April of 1975, Dr. Chandler was invited to join the Bowie Clinic and began performing general and vascular surgery at the Bowie Memorial Hospital. At that time, Eddie moved his family to Bowie, where they have resided the past 40 years.
Dr. Chandler was a member of the Henrietta Church of God and later Lighthouse Assembly of God in Bowie, where he served on the board of deacons, served as Sunday school superintendent, choir director, and was instrumental in the building of new churches at both fellowships. Dr. Chandler led an exemplary life of service and ministry throughout his medical career and was active in his local church.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Troy and Gladys Chandler and a brother, Troy Joe Chandler.
Dr. Chandler is survived by his wife, Pat, Bowie; four children, Kim Williams and husband Gordon, Petrolia, Kara Kehoe and husband Mark, Lampasas, Troy Chandler and wife Michelle, Decatur and Tyson Chandler, Bowie; one brother, Johney Chandler, Wichita Falls; two sisters, Sue Parish, Chickasha, OK and Zelda Scott, Henrietta; eight grandchildren, Heath and Dane Williams, Petrolia, Jensen Mataska and husband Jake, Decatur, Marcus Kehoe, Lampasas, Olivia, Eben, and Isabella Chandler all of Decatur and Cobie Chandler, Lampasas; and 24 nieces and nephews.
Arrangements have been entrusted to The White Family Funeral Home of Bowie.
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