Audrey June Stall Ryan

My sweet, sweet Gammie passed away on Tuesday and it's been a tough week for us all.  I was with her most of the day on Monday at the hospital and then at hospice that night after they moved her over.  I am so grateful for the time I got to spend with her that last night.  She was talking to me and asking me questions.  I got to tell her how much I love her and she said back, "I love you too". 

She was such an amazing woman.  My mom wrote her obituary below.  I hope I can lead a life half as great as hers.  She was one of a kind and we will miss her so much, but I am so happy knowing that she's in heaven with my Papa.  I bet she's laughing away and having way too much fun.  That's just her style.
 

Audrey June Stall Ryan, a Chandler native and member of a prominent pioneer family, died peacefully on February 21, 2012, nineteen years to the day after losing her husband of 43 years, Robert David Ryan.  Audrey was born to Adah Ware Stall and John Franklin Stall on May 28, 1927 in the old Le Seuer home in Mesa, which at the time, was used for delivering babies.  The Le Seuer home was the site on which the Southside District Hospital would eventually be built.  She joined big brother, Klyle, and they lived on the family farm, 160 acres of land on the northwest corner of Cooper and Germann Roads in Chandler.  With the Great Depression of 1929, the family found themselves impoverished and couldn't pay the back taxes.  The family farm, which Audrey's grandfather, David Washington Stall had homesteaded since 1910, was lost because they could not pay the $400 tax bill to save the land.

Audrey's father then went to work for the Robinson family, who ran the San Marcos Hotel, and the Stalls lived on the Robinson farm on the corner of Pecos and McQueen Roads.  Audrey attended Cleveland Elementary School and Chandler High School, which accommodated 7th through 12th grades, graduating from high school in 1945.  When she was 15, while attending high school, she worked for Joe and Alice Woods at the Rowena movie theater on Boston Street.  In 1944 the Woods built a new theater, The Parkway, and Audrey continued to work for them.  The restaurant, El Zocalo, is now in that location and if you're having dinner on the patio, you are sitting on the site of the old theater!

During her high school years, Audrey was a cheerleader and was very active in any civic and extra-curricular activity
that came her way, a tradition that she continued throughout her entire life.  During this time, the Stall family lived in a small house on Buffalo Street across from the San Marcos.  The home no longer stands and it has been replaced by condominiums.  Years earlier, her dad, Pop Stall, worked as a trim carpenter during the construction and finish work of the San Marcos Hotel.

Upon graduation from high school, Audrey attended nursing school in Tucson at St. Mary's Hospital.  After becoming a surgical nurse, she came back home and worked for Southside District Hospital in Mesa, on the same piece of land where she was born 21 years earlier.  Robert David Ryan came into her life in the Fall of 1948.  He invited Audrey to a dance at the San Marcos Hotel on October 4th and they danced all night, after which they both went home and told their moms, "This is the one!"  Bob proposed on February 14, 1949 and they were married two months later on Easter Sunday, April 17th.  They settled into their new home and new life just south of Chandler, while operating their cotton farm and raising four very active boys.  Audrey gave so much of her time, talent, and love to the community, with a special fondness in her heart for PEO, Chandler Service Club, Boy Scouts of America, Chandler Public Library, Chandler Regional Hospital, the Chandler Historical Society, and Chandler United Methodist Church.

In spite of all that she accomplished in her life, she still had time for, and cherished, her family.  Her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who called her Gammie, were blessed to have her in their lives.  As Eddie Basha put it, "Audrey was the crown jewel of Chandler."

Audrey is preceded in death by her parents, her brother Klyle, her husband Bob, and her son, Robert David Ryan, Jr. Surviving her are William Charles (Sharon), Philip Rodney (Lori), Michael Scott (Dianne), and Penny Brooks, grandchildren Lisa Whyte, David Ryan, Jared Ryan, Andrew Ryan, Jacoba Cook, Jeffrey Ryan, Sarah Ryan, Hallie Ryan, Adrianne Burton, Audra Ryan, Matthew Nissen, Dillon Ryan, Jacob Ryan, and Austin Ryan. She is also survived by 13 great-grandchildren.

A celebration of Audrey's life is planned for Monday, February 27th at the Chandler Center for the Arts, 250 N. Arizona Avenue.  Visitation will be at 5:00 p.m., service at 6:00, followed by a reception.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to the Chandler Historical Society, 178 E. Commonwealth Ave., Chandler, AZ 85225/P. O. Box 926, Chandler, AZ 85244 or Chandler United Methodist Church, 450 E. Chandler Heights Rd., Chandler, AZ 85249.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/chandler/articles/2012/02/23/20120223chandler-audrey-ryan-dies.html