Terry L. Chandlee, 83, of Kalona, passed from this life Sunday, October 4, 2026, at the University of Iowa Downtown Campus following a sudden illness. A private family service will be held, followed by burial with full military honors near Toledo, Iowa. A memorial fund has been established for the Vietnam Veterans of America. The Beatty Peterseim Funeral Home is assisting the family.
Terry Lynn Chandlee was born September 4, 1943, in Davenport, Iowa, the son of Robert and Lois “Chris” (Chrisinger) Chandlee. He graduated from Midland High School in Wyoming, Iowa, and attended Muscatine Junior College and barber school. He was united in marriage to Sharyn Mohler at the Toledo United Methodist Church in Toledo in 1967. He enlisted in the United States Navy in 1967 and served in the Vietnam War until 1973. While in the Navy, he was an operating room technician, which led to his career as an OR Tech at the Veterans Administration Hospital and Mercy Hospital in Iowa City.
He lived his life with a deep sense of responsibility to the people he loved. A devoted husband, father, grandfather, and friend, Terry was someone people could count on. He worked hard throughout his life, often holding multiple jobs to provide for his family, including as a barber at Lloyds of Iowa at the Sycamore Mall. In retirement, he transported Amish for 12 years and was the crossing guard at East Elementary in Kalona for three years. He also built furniture that he and his wife sold at craft shows.
Terry showed his love through action. He also had a wonderful sense of humor and appreciated a good joke, especially one that could turn into a running joke and get sillier as it went. He enjoyed watching Wheel of Fortune and was a devoted Cubs and Iowa Hawkeyes fan who rarely missed a game. Terry will be remembered as thoughtful, hardworking, dependable, generous, and deeply devoted to his family—a man who did not simply say he cared but showed it again and again in the way he lived.
Survivors include his wife: Sharyn of Kalona; two children: Todd (Aicha Rochdi) Chandlee of North Liberty and Terilyn Hull of Kalona; four grandchildren: Carina, Gracie, Adeline and Samuel; and one sister: Sandy (Thomas) O’Hara of Marion, Iowa.
Preceding Terry in death were his parents.
