Mary Helen Johnson Chandler

Mary Helen Johnson Chandler was born on Jan. 10, 1929 in La Grande, Ore., to Wilford Evan and Ruth Caroline Strong Johnson. She passed away in Weiser on May 13, 2024.  

 She spent her youth living in La Grande, Portland, and Huntington, Ore., and Weiser, Idaho.  

 Shortly after WWII she met Robert F. Chandler who had returned from serving in the Marine Corps in the Pacific Theater. They were married in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple in 1947. During the next few years, they lived in various places around the state of Idaho including Boise, Salmon, Arco and Garden Valley where Robert did mostly ranch work.  

 In 1954, they moved to a home and farm owned by Mary’s parents on the west Weiser Flat on Jonathan Lane. It is here that their older children were raised. 

 They were active in Weiser Second Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  

 Mom’s loves were singing, playing the piano, and family. She always kept a very tidy home and cooked great meals for everyone. 

 In 1965 they moved to Springville, Utah so that Robert could finish his college degree at Brigham Young University. In 1967, they moved to Vernal, Utah where Robert taught school for many years. 

 Mary served an LDS mission with her husband in Connecticut from 1987 to 1989. 

 Robert and Mary moved to New Plymouth in 1992 and then back to Weiser in 1997. They served in the Boise LDS Temple for a few years. Robert passed away in 2015. 

 Mary is the mother of eight children, Robert (Terry) Chandler Jr., Pleasant Grove, Utah; Gary (Carol) Chandler, South Jordan, Utah; Kathy (Galen) Hooper, Payson, Utah; Edward (Terri) Chandler, Manhattan, Kansas; Celia (Hugh) Straatman, Manila, Utah; Sandra (deceased); Susan (George) Tolman, Ontario, Ore.; and Patricia (Bart) Armacost, South Jordan, Utah; 31 grandchildren and 91 great-grandchildren, and 26 great-great grandchildren.  

 Mary was preceded in death by her husband, daughter Sandra, son-in-law Galen Hooper, granddaughter Elizabeth and great-grandson Brock, her parents, sisters Harriet Hart, Margaret Christensen, Dorothy Stoddard and Betty Brown and her brother Wilford Johnson Jr.  

 Mary will be interred next to her husband in the Weiser Hillcrest Cemetery.

 Funeral services were held at the Weiser LDS Chapel on Saturday, May 18 at 11 a.m. with a viewing from 9:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. that morning.