Curtis "Dewayne" Chancellor's Obituary
Curtis “Dewayne” Chancellor — January 26, 1952 - March 1, 2024
God broke the mold after Curtis Dewayne Chancellor was born to the late Benjamin Chancellor and Velma Peoples (Pharis) on January 26, 1952 in Sugar Land, TX. Being born during the Golden Age and maturing through the 60s - 70s shaped Dewayne’s formative years resulting in a lifetime of work ethic, vintage music, guidance, and friendship.
Being the baby brother to three older sisters was a dubious task but he was up for the challenge and looked up to his sisters through a childhood of musical tune, with his sister, Alice, generally serving as his partner in crime. Juanita and Kay were often on the teaching end of lessons like “Dewayne, Leave the Bumble Bees Alone.”
Music played a sizable role in Dewayne’s life from a young age. His father, his uncle Houston, his cousin Jim ‘Texas Shorty’ Chancellor all fed his enthusiasm for playing. Tagging along when his dad played music at a local honky-tonk in the late 1960s allowed him to buy his first guitar using tip money he [Dewayne] earned playing. Most requested song played at the honky-tonk by the then 12 year old Dewayne (per Dad) was “Your Cheatin’ Heart” by Hank Williams. Over the years Dewayne taught nephews to play, tried— mostly unsuccessfully— to teach his daughter to play, and he exasperated his wife, Peggy, with his ever growing guitar collection.
Dewayne grew up in Southwest Houston and attend Madison High School where he met the love of his life, Margaret Jean “Peggy” O’Hearn. He was the motorcycle riding, sharp dressed heartthrob, and she the beautiful girl next door. He worked up the courage to telephone her to ask for a date. Unbeknown to him it was her 17th birthday. As the saying goes the rest is history. The couple married on May 10, 1980, at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Houston. Later settling in Oak Forest area of Northwest Houston where they welcomed their daughter, Allison Lenee’. If the old saying of "You only pull the hair of those you love" holds true, his wife and daughter were well loved.
With the help of his brother-in-law, the late CH Broadway, Dewayne secured a job in the oil industry. He trained as a subsea tree instrumentation technician. His eye for detail and ability to fix anything coupled with a strong work ethic led to a long successful career. His skills and exacting standards earned him jobs with Marathon Oil, Exxon Mobil, British Petroleum and others. Dewayne’s career took him to offshore oil platforms around the world, from Galveston to New Zealand, Nigeria, and Trinidad and Tobago. He retired from the oil and gas industry in 2018.
To know Dewayne was to love him. Music was part of a life filled with friends, family, hard work, and plenty of fishing. Never met a stranger, made friends quickly and was as loyal as the sun is hot. An accumulator of everything and anything. He left his family with a house full of random convenience store treasures and 5,634 variations of nuts and bolts that they have no idea what to do with. If there was ever a treasure that he snatched out from under you among the mounds of junk, please wait the appropriate amount of time to contact the family to claim your assets. We're available tomorrow.
Left with decades of loving and colorful memories Dewayne is survived by wife, Peggy, and daughter, Allison Chancellor of Houston, his sisters, Kay Broadway of Anahuac, Texas, and Alice Phillips of Hempstead, Texas and many beloved nieces and nephews. Last but most certainly not least his beloved cat Mandela.
Dewayne was preceded in death by his parents Benjamin Chancellor and Velma Peoples (Pharis) and his sister Juanita Carter (Chancellor).
Dewayne’s family and friends will honor his life at 10:30 am March 14, 2024, at St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church in Houston, followed by a graveside service at Woodlawn Cemetery.
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