Chester Boyd Vance, age 89, of Orange Beach, Alabama, died on Apr. 13, 2025, at William F. Green Veterans Home, Bay Minette, Alabama. He was born in El Dorado, Arkansas, to Charles Ross and Ruby Mae Vance.
He graduated from Stamps, Arkansas High School in 1954, attended college for two and a half years at Florence State Teachers College in Florence Alabama, and the University of Alabama in mechanical engineering, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He graduated from Horn School of Drafting in Birmingham, Alabama.
Mr. Vance was drafted into the U.S. Army serving two years in the 16th Signal Corp as a radio relay operator, in Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and received a Good Conduct Medal Award. He was recalled into the army during the Berlin Crisis and served another year at Fort Meade, Maryland.
Mr. Vance worked for International Paper Company for four years in the lab in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He moved to Eutaw, Alabama, in 1966, and worked for Gulf States Paper Co., in Demopolis, Alabama, in the laboratory. In 1969 he went to work for Alabama Power Co. at Greene County Steam Plant as an assistant chemical technician in the lab promoting to chemical technician, results technician, and regulatory compliance specialist in the environmental department, and retired in 1996.
On June 22, 1957, he married the love of his life, Rosa Ellen Lamb Vance, at South Highlands Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. They were married for almost sixty-eight years sharing love and devotion to each other all the days of their lives.
Some of his greatest joys were traveling in his RV. They celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in Hawaii. They traveled to Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, and Germany.
After retiring in 1996 he built a new home in Orange Beach, Alabama. He spent many happy days fishing, shrimping in the Gulf, and walking on the beautiful white beaches. He enjoyed activities at the Veterans Home, Senior Centers in Orange Beach, Gulf Shores, and Foley, playing games, dancing, and eating at potlucks. He was a member of the Eutaw Baptist Church, Lions Club, Orange Beach Community Association and Senior Snowbird Potluck group in Gulf Shores for many years.
Survivors are his wife, Rosa Ellen Lamb Vance of Orange Beach and Eutaw, Alabama. He was preceded in death by his parents and one brother. Funeral services were held Apr. 16, 2025, in Eutaw, Alabama.
