Stanley Chavez

Stanley Edward Chavez

JULY 12, 1937 SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

Our beloved husband, father, grandfather and brother, Stanley Edward Chavez, passed suddenly at Lake San Antonio in Monterey County, California. Stan was born in Santa Maria, California on July 12, 1937 to Manuel and Beatrice Chavez, and was the second oldest of eleven children.

Stan grew up in Santa Maria and attended Fairlawn Elementary, El Camino Junior High School and Santa Maria High School. After high school he enlisted in the Army Reserves and served at Fort Ord, Camp Roberts, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. He earned the rank of Sergeant and was awarded several accolades during his service. He later attended Allan Hancock College and earned an AA degree in Sociology.

Stan's first marriage was to April Phelps in 1962 and they had three children, Jaime, Shelly and Trina. Stan met his current wife Yvonne in 1984 and they married on May 6, 1989 in Ballard, California. This union blended Stan's three children and Yvonne's three children, Alejandro Allen, Ida and Christine into one large family and they shared many camping trips, holidays and family BBQs.

He began a nearly 40 year career with Lockheed Launch Operations in 1961. He held various positions during his career and retired as a Supervisor of Logistics Operations in 2001. Stan was very proud of his work at Vandenberg Air Force Base and played a role in many missile launches, as his father did before him and his son Jaime after him. Much of his career was during the Cold War Era when launches at the base were classified, however, Stan would tell his family that the greyhound is leaving the station, which meant a launch was about to take place. After these early launches became declassified and he retired, Stan enjoyed sharing carefully told stories of the many launches as if they were still classified, which included late night phone calls from Generals and Colonels.

After his retirement he embarked on his second career as a volunteer for Monterey County Parks in 2003. For nineteen years he and Yvonne were assigned to Lake San Antonio, San Lorenzo Park in King City and Royal Oaks Park in Prunedale. Stan LOVED staying busy at the parks and could be found driving around on his Kubota, checking on campgrounds, greeting campers at the front gate, riding on the lawnmower or basically anything that needed to be done; Stan was the man for the job!

Throughout Stan's life he found many ways to serve his community. He was a Deacon at St Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church in Santa Maria, President of a local CB Club, The Santa Maria Wild Bunch, where he went by the handle Lone Chumash, and he donated countless pints of blood to local blood banks. Stan loved gardening and he meticulously cared for his yard, which led to him and Yvonne starting a landscape business named Barefoot in the Garden. Stan also enjoyed working with wood, which included everything from building birdhouses or creating Christmas dcor, to fixing campground tables, and constructing barricades for the park system.

In July of 2022 Stan and Yvonne shared one last adventure together when they drove with two of their grandsons on a cross country trip to West Virginia to visit Christine's family.

Stan is survived by his wife of 33 years, Yvonne Chavez, son Jaime (Darlene) Chavez of Santa Maria, daughters, Shelly (Don) Allen of Prescott, Arizona, Trina (Dave) Grebeta of Flower Mound, Texas, Ida (Val) Saldana of Fresno, California, and Christine (Aaron) Keogh-Dwyer of Spencer, West Virginia, grandchildren; Deanna, Jennifer, Michelle, Jesse, Matt, Josh, Jessica, Cody, Jacob, Jordan, Isabella, Aaron, Nicolas, Gabriel, Thea, and Gwendylan; seven great grandchildren, as well as his brothers, sisters and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, sisters Elizabeth Chavez and Juanita Bontempo, brothers Charles and Donald Chavez, son Allen Chavez and great-grandson Jacob Chavez.

Graveside services will be held October 18, 2022, 1:00 pm at the Santa Maria Cemetery immediately followed by a celebration of life at the Lake Marie Estates Clubhouse, 2327 Fallen Leaf Drive Santa Maria, CA. Stan was a casual man so please feel free to dress casually.

For additional information or to leave a note for the family please go to the Eddington Funeral Services website at http://www.efs-cares.com/obituary/stanley-chavez.