Pleasant Grove Cemetery

Coal County, Oklahoma

© Criswell Funeral Home
Submitted by: Sandi Bain

Darlene Marie HattenChambers

December 22, 1951 - October 11, 2023

Darlene Marie Chambers passed away Oct. 11, 2023, at Mercy Hospital surrounded by her loved ones.

Funeral services will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 18, at 1 p.m. at Criswell Funeral Home in Ada, Oklahoma. Rev. Richard Dickerson will officiate with burial to follow at Pleasant Grove Cemetery.

Viewing and family visitation will take place Tuesday, Oct. 17, at Criswell Funeral Home from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Mrs. Chambers was born Dec. 22, 1951, in Owl Creek, Oklahoma, to Roy Hatton and Lena Leslie Hatton.

Darlene, known affectionately as "Dean" to many friends and family and "Nana" to her grandson, was a matriarch who loved and cared for family more than anything else. Her Owl Creek home was always open to anyone who needed a room, a warm meal and a loving hug.

She grew up at Owl Creek, Oklahoma, and graduated Stonewall High School, where she met her husband of 30 years, in 1969. In 1978, while being a working mother of three young children, she obtained a Bachelor of Science in education from East Central University (ECU) in Ada. She worked for many years as a teacher in the Stonewall Public School system, a Community Health Representative for the Chickasaw Nation Carl Albert Indian Hospital and helped in the establishment of the Chickasaw Nation Foster Care program in 1991. In 1993, she obtained her master's degree in human services from ECU and began working for Chickasaw Nation Indian Child Welfare for many years before eventually opening her own family counseling practice. She retired in 2011 and spent much of the last 12 years surrounded by family members at her home. Her health declined in the final two years of her life, and she spent most of her days at home reading her bible and watching her favorite westerns and tv shows, such as Gunsmoke, with her three children and grandson always by her side.

She was an active member of her community, both in Stonewall and Ada. She served as the secretary/treasurer for the Stonewall Assembly of God where she was an active member for most of her life. Darlene could always be counted on and was often the first phone call when a family member was in need. She dedicated her life to providing for her family and she will be missed more than words can express. She was more than just a mother and grandmother; she was the best mother/grandmother anyone could have ever asked for.

Her life and memory will be forever cherished by those she has left behind, sons, Gary Dwain Chambers and James Ray Chambers of Stonewall, OK; her daughter, Sonya Denise Chambers of Stratford, OK; her only grandson, River Dean Chambers of Ada, OK; two sisters, Oleta Covington of Marlow, OK and Freda Johnson of Ada, OK; and three brothers, Ray, Patrick and Billy Hatton of Byng, Seminole, and Picket, OK; as well as many beloved nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Gary Dean Chambers, her parents Roy Hatton and Lena Leslie Hatton, her grandparents William Leslie and Nanny Wade Leslie (a full-blood Chickasaw and original enrollee of the Chickasaw Nation), six brothers "Leroy, Richard, Gerald, Leon, J.B., and Douglas Hatton" and her sister Juanita Hatton Capps.

Pallbearers are Carl Hatton, Carlous Hatton, Mike Hatton, Brian Unsell, Frank Cranford, Wallie Covington. Honorary Pallbearers are River Chambers, Judd Green, Tyler Saddler, Wanda Unsell, Barbara Hatton.