Beatrice Mary Star Chandler

Beatrice Mary Star Chandler was born January 20, 1920, to Edward and Hannah Star in Waterloo, Iowa, the second of two children. Her older brother, Robert, was born in 1918. She attended Kingsley Elementary School and West Junior High, both in Waterloo, Iowa. Beatrice's parents died before her high school graduation, which was midyear 1938 from West Waterloo High school. She worked under the National Youth Administration and in homes to support herself until high school graduation. Following graduation, she worked at Rath Packing Company in Waterloo in the Accounts Receivable Department.

On February 28, 1992, she celebrated 50 years of marriage to Henry Howard Chandler, the first son but one of nine children of William and Halley Chandler of Nashua, Iowa. Henry and Beatrice successfully nurtured five children--William, Kathryn, Barbara, Mary, and Douglas. She managed her sizable household with long days of physical labor and excellent time and financial management skills. Oh, just think about all that home made jam and all those jars of fruits and vegetables canned to provide good nutritious meals for her family, and the beautiful dresses she sewed for her daughters and handsome shirts for her sons. Somehow she found time to help friends and neighbors as well as members of her immediate family.

Today, 1995, Beatrice is a retired homemaker living with Henry in Cedar Falls, Iowa: an entire lifetime of living in Iowa except for a couple years just across the state line in Omaha, Nebraska, during World War II.

Beatrice Mary Star Chandler is a heroine because she is a matriarch with unbounded giving, understanding, determination, and the essence of family. She is a woman who survived the tragedies of youth to become the gift of strength throughout her adult life.

Beatrice, Bea to most who knew her, is the very symbol of what is good, strong, and magical in the hearts of those she has loved, raised, and befriended. Her grand deeds are all the loving sacrifices she made and the abundant labors of love she accomplished for those around her--parents, brother, husband, children, grandchildren in-laws, nieces and nephews, friends, and acquaintances.

12/17/94