BRUNSWICK — Phyllis Russell Chandler, known to all as Nancy, died in her sleep on Nov. 27, 2014, on Thanksgiving morning, just two weeks short of her 91st birthday. Her passing was quite quick, and in the two prior weeks she had enjoyed many visits from her children and all of her grandchildren, as well as many friends.

Born in 1923 in California, Nancy grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii, the daughter of John Edward and Olive Josephine Russell. She attended the Hanahau’oli School, which she always remembered most fondly, and the Punahou School, both in Honolulu, and graduated from the Katherine Branson School in Ross, Calif., after which she attended Sarah Lawrence College in New York.

In 1945, she married Nathan Chandler of Sterling, Mass., and subsequently moved to Sterling, where Nat succeeded his father in running Meadowbrook Orchards, an apple farm that recently celebrated its centennial and has stayed within the family. Their four children were raised on the farm, spending their summers in her beloved Small Point, Maine. Although active in the community in a variety of ways, she was happiest when surrounded by her children, an endless assortment of dogs and cats and, as they came along, a myriad of grandchildren.

As a young woman in Hawaii, Nancy was an accomplished rider, winning many ribbons in shows and events. During the war years, she worked for the Red Cross in Honolulu, a commitment that she kept up in Washington, D.C., where she and Nat lived while he worked as the agricultural liaison to the Administrator of the EPA. Always interested in education, she taught at the Applewild School in Massachusetts, and then specialized in children with learning difficulties, training at Children’s Hospital in Boston and serving schools and agencies in Worcester County. In later years, she regularly attended courses at Bowdoin College.

Nancy and Nat moved full-time to Maine in 1984, living first in Bowdoinham and then moving to Brunswick in 2000. In Brunswick, she volunteered at Mid Coast Hospital and St. Paul’s Church. They loved traveling and visited many countries after Nat retired. Summers were always spent in Small Point, along with an annual and treasured week’s sailing trip along the Maine coast with friends. Nat died in 2006.

Nancy is survived by her daughter Sarah (Brookie) Chandler McColloch of Portsmouth, RI, and her sons John R. Chandler of Phippsburg, ME, David Chandler of Sterling, MA, and Peter L. Chandler of North Yarmouth, ME, as well as their spouses, ten grandchildren, and 12 greatgrandchildren, her very special care-givers, and the countless nieces, nephews and friends of all ages to whom their doors were always open.

A memorial service will be held in her honor on Saturday, Dec. 27 at 11 a.m. at St. Paul’s Church in Brunswick. Donations may be made to her favorite agency — one that was and is very important to the Chandler family — the Phippsburg Fire and Rescue Association, P.O. Box 83, Phippsburg, ME 04562.