Harriet Chambers

Harriet Shearman Mahaffey Chambers, 93, of Little Rock died October 14, 2013. She was born on August 22, 1920 in Bowling Green, Ohio, the daughter of S. Douglass Shearman and Hazel Barkalow Shearman. She graduated from Bryan High School, Bryan Ohio in 1938 and attended Bowling Green State University. She married Clyde C. Mahaffey in the Chapel of the Marine Corps base at Quantico, VA, in August 1942. Harriet and Clyde were owners of Del-Rae Cleaners in Toledo, OH, where she worked as the bookkeeper for 41 years. She was preceded in death by Clyde in 1983. Following his death she was a nanny for several Toledo area families for 10 years. Harriet was later married to Fondee J. Chambers in November 2000. They also lived in Toledo, OH, until his death in 2005. Then, she moved to Little Rock, AR, to be close to her daughter and became active in LifeQuest of Arkansas and Second Presbyterian Church of Little Rock, AR. Her brother William M. Shearman and Mary Shearman Shaffer Pranke also preceded her in death. Harriet adored the family and the friends she had over her 93 years of loving, laughing, and serving others. She volunteered in church, at extended learning, in her crochet work, at card-making, and at home. She was constantly on the go and involved in her community. She was always trying to make others feel welcome in her presence wherever that happened to be. She only lived in Little Rock for the last 8 years of her life but she made every day count and gained many, many new friends and she "adopted" extended family at each step of her long, lovely life. She is survived by daughter Carolyn Shearman of Little Rock, AR; by granddaughters Ellen Thomas Whitmore of Vienna, VA, and Catherine Nathaniel Dickey of Moorhead, MN; by nieces Debby Shaffer, Sarah Mark Diak, Ann Ed Selinger, and Sharon Gavett; by nephews David Linda Shaffer, Paul Marti Shaffer, and Michael Shearman. The lights of her life were her great grandchildren: Phoebe Whitmore, Harry Whitmore, Margaret Dickey, and Benjamin Dickey. Beloved extended family includes step-sons Jay Bonita Chambers and Timothy Chambers; step-daughters Karen Walter Cayce and Kimberly Tim Nelson; Charles Mullins, Andrew Mina Haeri Mullins and their daughters Isabella, Natalie, and Kendra; John Katie Linstead and daughter Rachel Billy Linstead-Goldsmith; cousins Dick Janet Brown and John Karen Mahaffey. A service to celebrate Harriet’s life will be held at Second Presbyterian Church in Little Rock on Saturday, October 26th at 11am and her ashes will be interred in the church Columbarium at that time. Memorials in lieu of flowers may be made to LifeQuest of Arkansas, 600 Pleasant Valley Drive, Little Rock, AR 72227 or to Second Presbyterian Church also at 600 Pleasant Valley Drive, Little Rock, AR 72227.

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