Billie Ross Chandler Isbell

Billie Ross Chandler Isbell of Wichita Falls, passed away December 9, 2024
The family will receive friends at visitation from 10:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. on Friday, December 13th at First Baptist Church of Wichita Falls. Funeral services will follow at 11:00 a.m. in the East Sanctuary with Dr. Bob McCartney officiating. Arrangements are under the direction of Lunn's Colonial Funeral Home.
Billie was born on October 9, 1932, to Ross and Katie Chandler in McKinney, Texas, and raised 10 miles away, in the small town of Weston. She had one brother Gardell, who was eighteen years her senior. She loved growing up in Weston and still owns her childhood home to this day. It was her favorite retreat.
In June 1948, Billie married Tommy L. Isbell, her husband of 58 years, in Rockwall, Texas. Together they had two children; Tommy Ross and Amy.
Billie was fifteen and a half when she married. (The half was very important to her.) They moved to Denton where Tommy started at the University of North Texas and Billie enrolled in North Texas High School. Since she was in high school, he would have to sign her report cards and teach her to drive.
Billie started her college career at UNT, but later finished her degree at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls when she and Tommy moved so he could begin his 41 year career at Sheppard Air Force Base.
In 1952, their son Tommy Ross was born, and four years later, Billie began her teaching career at Huey Elementary. After two years teaching and welcoming their daughter Amy, Billie took a year off and then in 1959, started teaching 3rd grade at Fain Elementary.
She was there for 30 years, retiring in 1989. However, retirement did not stick and she joined The Episcopal School where she continued to teach 5th and 6th grade English for nine more years. She retired, for real this time, from teaching in 1998.
"Mrs. Isbell" loved her students and was beloved by them. She was known for her fun ways of teaching and the "Parts of Speech" poem, preposition tree, and the occasional duct taping of a student to a chair are things her students remember to this day. One of her great joys was seeing her students long after she taught them, and while she may not have always remembered a name, she always remembered a face. Billie was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma and made lifelong friends while teaching. All in all, she taught for 42 years in Wichita Falls.
While she loved being a teacher, the role she truly relished in was that of "Gan-Gan." She was a "hands-on grandparent" in every sense of the word to her grandchildren; Tyler, Lindsey, Thomas, Drew and Chandler. Every Christmas, she had each grandchild, one at a time, come over to spend the night and make her world famous fudge for their teachers. But the sleepovers didn't stop there- she could always be counted on to say "Yes!" when her grandchildren asked to spend the night- even on a school night usually following dinner at Piccadilly. There was also not a sporting event, choir concert, school play or activity her grandchildren participated in, that she was not in attendance for. She was love personified, and each of her children and grandchildren knew how very much she loved them.
This continued on with her great-grandchildren. She could often be seen driving around town in her great big Cadillac, well into her 80's, with three car seats across the back. She took a VERY active role in her great-grandchildren's lives for the past 16 years, continuing her fudge making traditions, sleepovers and traveling to Dallas, Tucson and Tennessee to make sure she loved on them all. She was there for everything from having a nursery setup in her house for them as babies, to attending three high school football games this fall at the age of 92.
Billie was known for her bright red hair, sparkling blue eyes and sweet smile. She made the best macaroni and cheese, and her love of chocolate was well known. She had a sweet spirit, a quick sense of humor and a true servant's heart. She was strong in her convictions and loved people well.
She was an active member of First Baptist Church, and if you knew her well, you knew two things; she loved you and she loved Jesus. She was a Proverbs 31 woman through and through. Her family most definitely called her blessed.
Billie was preceded in death by her husband Tommy, her parents Ross and Kate Chandler, her brother Gardell and wife Evelyn, her mother and father-in-law John and Juanita Isbell, five brothers-in-law and four sisters-in-law from her Isbell family.
Billie is survived by her two children; son Tommy Isbell and wife Becky of Wichita Falls, daughter Amy Johnson and husband Steve of Oak Point, Texas. Five Grandchildren; Tyler Isbell and wife Katie, Lindsey Hodges and husband Slade, Thomas Isbell and wife Ashley, Drew Johnson and wife Michelle, and Chandler Johnson and fiance Jen Kosinski. Along with 13 great grandchildren; Knox, Briggs and Ellis Hodges, Gracie, Caroline and Jack Isbell, Sophia, Eva and Liam Johnson, Chandler, Staton, Palmer and Ainsley Isbell. Also two special nieces, who were more like sisters, Bobbye Jack Minshew and husband Gary, and Terrye Hernandez....as well as many nieces and nephews on the Isbell side whom she adored.
The family wishes to express their affection and gratitude to the devoted caretakers who loved her so well this past year.
Honorary Pallbearers are; Jack Lavy, Gene Moore, Rick Brown, Will Warnock, John Cunningham, Tyler Isbell, Thomas Isbell, Slade Hodges, Chandler Johnson and Drew Johnson.
For those desiring, memorial contributions may be sent to Hospice of Wichita Falls or First Baptist Church of Wichita Falls.
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