Tonia Marchell Chandler Diaz

Tonia Marchell Chandler Diaz of Portland Oregon

Tonia passed away Monday, February 7th, 2022 at 11:37 am, just six days after her 51st birthday, at Adventist Medical Center after a long hard fight with renal failure. She lived the last 15 years on dialysis. After four hours of treatment, three to four days a week. Dialysis became her full-time job.

Covid-19 made it difficult to have more people at her bedside. However, her sister was at her side and her family were with her in their thoughts and prayers.

Tonia was born in Lubbock, Texas, she was the first-born child of David Lee Chandler and Deredain D. Chandler. Her early years they lived in Lubbock then moved to Phoenix, Arizona where her baby sister was born. The family moved back to Lubbock just 10 days later. When her grandparents moved back to Oregon, the family was on the move again. Portland, Oregon is where she lived most of her life, except for three years in the 1980’s where she moved to Kenai, Alaska. In Alaska, they experienced some of the most fascinating weather.

Back in Portland, she spent her teen years in the Rockwood area. She is a proud mother of five.  All born and raised in Portland, OR.

Tonia was preceded in death by her mother Deredain Glied, her father David Chandler SR., her grandparents on both sides. Jessica Ward, Kenneth Ward, Chris Chandler, Wilbern Chandler. Stepdad Beldon Murrain who raised us as his own.

She was very proud of her 22 grandchildren. She would alway tell people how many grandbabies she had and tell them their names. She loved them all very much and she always made sure their needs were taken care of before her own. Sophie was her little caregiver and made sure grandma was doing good, always asking if she needed anything, Tonia was very loved by all of her grandkids and her children, they are what kept her going when she was struggling. She was always happy, even when her health was not doing well, she still found a way to smile.  She was one of the most loving and caring people we have known, she will be missed dearly.

She is survived by her children and grandchildren, Her sisters Cathy Martin of Milwaukie, Oregon, Christy Huddleston-Chandler, Melissa Naceanceno, Heather Pyle, her brothers David Lee “Bubba” Chandler, and Daniel Chandler of Lubbock Texas.

She always had a cat, that was her baby and spoiled rotten.

She was an avid cartoon watcher. Anything on the Cartoon Network was her favorite, especially Bob’s Burgers and Spongebob. If we are talking about Disney then it is Tinkerbell all the way. She had a Tinkerbell on everything. Her and her granddaughter Sophia would hang out and watch movies together and, on occasion, Sophia would sneak into grandma’s room after bedtime to hang out with her best friend, drink a Pepsi, and watch cartoons. That is, until mom or dad caught them and sent Sophia right back to bed.

Tonia took after are mom and had a love of Vampire movies

The Twilight marathons were a challenge her and Rochelle shared. They spent six hours each at the movie theater.

There will be a wake/celebration of life, at a future date.

I want to give special thanks to the amazing staff at Adventist Medical Center’s Cardiac Intensive care unit. Eric and Trevor are awesome to work with. They are natural caregivers, respectful, confident and gentle.

I also want to thank Tara and Bill for their devotion to Justin and keeping him safe in this difficult time.