Louise Ann Chavez
(April 22, 1942 – June 11, 2021)
Born to the late Frances Cummings and Thomas Alfred Spratt in Cortland, NY. The youngest of three children, she is survived by her brother, Gordon Spratt (Terry), of Tellico Plains, Tennessee. Her sister, Doreen Holbrook (Earl), formerly of Coral Gables, FL, preceded her in death.
Louise, or Weezer, as she was called by Gordon growing up, was beautiful and smart, kind and loving, hardworking, resilient and a bit of a rebel. Her grandfather immigrated to the US from England and her family made its way to upstate New York, then moved to Florida from Cortland, NY when she was young. Late in life, as dementia made recent memories fade, she’d happily recount details of childhood visits to a family farm in NY.
Louise graduated from Dixie Hollins High School in St. Petersburg, FL in 1960 as salutatorian, and attended Florida Presbyterian College on a full academic scholarship. (Did we mention she was smart?) But yes, also pretty and surprisingly bold, as she flaunted socials norms (and laws) of the time and took a leap of faith in marrying (eloping, no less) a Filipino steward in the US Coast Guard, Zacarias S. Chavez. After some initial difficulty finding a state and a justice of the peace who would marry them in the South in 1962 (before the landmark 1967 Loving v. Virginia SCOTUS decision), they tied the knot in Walterboro, South Carolina, in a courthouse that son, Carl, and his wife, Thea, recently visited.
But the adventures of Zack and Louise were just beginning then. For decades to come, Louise managed the Chavez family household and raised three successful children (with support from Zack as his military service allowed) as Zack ascended his military career through ET school, Officer Candidate School, DeVry Institute of Technology and the Naval Postgraduate School to rise from his rank as a steward to command of the Coast Guard LORAN Monitor Station Kodiak (where Louise was the “First Lady”) and to serve as XO of Electronics Engineering Center in Wildwood, NJ. During this remarkable career of military service, Louise helped move and resettle the family from St. Petersburg, FL to Arlington, VA, back to St. Pete, to Honolulu, HI, to Los Angeles, CA, to Lakewood, OH, to Phoenix, AZ, to Kodiak, AK, to Yokota Air Base, Japan, to Monterey, CA and to Wildwood, NJ before Zack retired from the Coast Guard after 27 years of service and they moved to Benicia, CA, where he worked for Unisys for a number of years and then later in telecom.
Louise was a loving, but firm, mother, domestic engineer, devoted military spouse, kind friend to many, tennis team player and captain, seamstress, and always the sweetest if not the most outgoing person in the room. She was loved by all who knew her. She played in the bell choir, sang in Sweet Adelines, caught, cleaned, smoked and canned salmon in Alaska, danced in the Tanabata festival and took bus tours around Japan, hiked steep canyons near the Sea of Cortez, sailed in the Caribbean with Zack at various Club Med resorts (until she determined that while he may be a Coast Guard Commander, he was not the best sailor), served as chase crew to get a free hot air balloon ride in New Mexico, climbed a hill at Corde Valle for the surprise wedding of son, Dave, and Beth Lytle, then hiked the nearby redwood coastline, and brought daughter, Tina, together with husband, Dave Davisson, through her love of Benicia’s art glass studios and enthusiasm about making a piece of hot glass during open studios.
Louise is survived by her devoted husband of nearly 60 years, Zack Chavez of Benicia, son Dave Chavez (Beth Lytle) of Morgan Hill, daughter Tina Chavez (Dave Davisson) of El Cerrito, son Carl Chavez (Thea Chavez) of West Sacramento, and nieces, nephews and grandchildren.
Louise was laid to rest at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery in Dixon. California.
The family wishes to thank the excellent care teams at Heartwood Avenue Healthcare and Suncrest Hospice, who took such loving care of Louise in her last months.
