Ather Louis Chandler slipped quietly out to sea in the early hours of the morning, passing at 4:05 a.m. on June 29, 2026, in Tomball, Texas, at the age of 84 — just shy of his 85th birthday. Like the tides he loved so well, he simply went out on his own time — calm, unhurried, and on his own terms.

 He was born July 25, 1942, in Snyder, Texas, to Eva Jewel and Alvin Lewis Chandler, the kind of West Texas soil that grows people who know how to work and how to love hard. He later came of age in Corpus Christi, where he attended Mary Carroll High School, and it was there, along the bay, that the sea first got into his blood and never quite let go.

 It was in 1965, on the jetties of Port Aransas, that fate first cast its line — Louis out fishing with his cousins, Carol Lynn nearby crabbing with her family. Whatever was biting that day, it was nothing compared to what they caught in each other. In 1966, in Corpus Christi, he married Carol Lynn Brown, and the two built a love that carried them through sixty years together — a marriage long enough to weather every storm and still come out fishing the next morning.

Louis wore many hats in his life, and he wore them well. He was proud to serve as Port Aransas’s very first harbor master, watching over boats and brought sailors home the way he later watched over his own family. He spent years as an HVAC technician before striking out on his own to found Air Texas Mechanical in Houston, building something lasting with his own two hands. After retirement, he and Carol Lynn made a home in Corpus Christi, took a season to live by the water in San Carlos, Mexico, and eventually came back to settle in Tomball.

 But ask anyone who knew him, and they’ll tell you: Louis was happiest with a line in the water. Freshwater or saltwater, bay or deep blue gulf, he fished it all, and loved every minute. When he wasn’t fishing, he was likely golfing, hunting, or — in his later years — perfectly content on the back patio, an old western flickering on the screen with the sound turned all the way down, content just to watch the good guys win one more time in peaceful silence. And no matter the day of the week, you could usually bet on finding him at Whataburger, where he was practically a regular member of the family. 

To his grandkids, he was never anything fancier than “Plain ol’ PaPa” — exactly the name he wanted, and exactly the kind of man he was: no frills, no fuss, just steady love and a good sense of humor.

He is survived by his wife, Carol Lynn Chandler; his daughters, Michelle (Jim) and Theresa (John); his grandchildren, Kendal Carrow (Jake), Ian Coppock, and Kylie Coppock; and his great-grandchildren, Brooks and Paige Carrow — a legacy as wide and deep as the waters he loved to fish.

 Cast off, Dad. The water’s calm, the line’s tight, and the western’s just getting good.