Carlton Gandee, 1931 – 2006
We
are pleased to announce the creation of a memorial
fund to honor Carlton
"Coach" Gandee, who passed away March 9, 2006.
All gifts to this fund will be added to the principal investment and the fund
income used to honor outstanding student athletes at Herbert Hoover High
School. Our goal is to grow this permanent fund to
reach a level of between $ 10,000 and $ 20,000 so that annual scholarship
awards may be presented to the selected "Coach Gandee
award recipients."
As you consider how much you would like
to contribute to this fund, please remember how Coach touched your life or the
life of a member of your family. Coach
devoted his life to serving others --- especially young people. Our goal through this permanent endowment
fund is to continue Coach's good work and legacy by teaching new generations
about him and his extended family of students and athletes. We are asking donors to consider
contributions between $ 100 and $ 1000.
Of course, all levels of gifts will be greatly appreciated added to the
endowment to benefit generations of Hoover
students to come.
The Carlton Gandee
Memorial Fund has now been transferred to the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation, 1600 Huntington Square, 900 Lee Street,
East, Charleston, West Virginia 25301
Thank you for your generosity in building a new
financial resource for future Herbert Hoover college-bound students.
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Dennis Carlton Gandee
Dennis Carlton Gandee, 75, of Clendenin, died Thursday, March 9, 2006, following a long illness. He was a
retired teacher, coach, and Vice Principal for Clendenin and Herbert Hoover High Schools with 29 years of
service, and a member of the Kanawha County Association of Retired School
Employees. He was a U.S. Navy Jet Pilot veteran and was also a member of First
Baptist Church of Clendenin.
He was the son of the late Henry Dennis and Birdie (Carter) Gandee and was preceded in death by his sister, Patricia
Ann Settle.
He is survived by his wife, Dorothy Lanham Gandee;
daughter, and her spouse, Kelly Jo and Steve Evans of St. Albans; sons and their
spouses, David and Jo Debra Gandee of Slaty Fork, Timothy and Susan Gandee
of Elkview, Jeffrey and Angela Gandee of Pinch, and
Terry Gandee of Clendenin; grandchildren, Megan,
Jessica, Maria, Charlton, Carly, Eleanor, Lillian,
and Olivia Gandee, Sammy, and Austin Evans; stepgrandchildren, Rachel and Jason Long; sister, Helen
Louise Hall of Belpre, Ohio; brothers, Henry Mayford
“Bob”, and James Clinton Gandee of Clendenin, Garland
Ray Gandee of Centerville, Md., and Larry Donald Gandee of La Plata, Md.
Arrangements are being handled by Matics Funeral
Home, 124 First Ave., Clendenin, where
the family will receive family and friends from 4 to 9 p.m. Saturday, March
11.
Funeral service will be 2 p.m. Sunday, March 12,
at First Baptist Church of Clendenin with Pastor Rex Thompson officiating.
Interment will be at Clendenin Memorial Gardens. In lieu of
flowers, the family suggest donations be made to the First Baptist Church
Building Fund, PO Box 501, Clendenin, WV 25045.
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Friday March 17, 2006
Coach Carlton Gandee
enriched Carbide camps
The obituary for Coach
Carlton Gandee described the life and contributions
of a man who was and is beloved by many.
One fact not mentioned in the obituary is
that for many years Carlton directed Union Carbide's Children's Camp Program at Camelot and Carlisle.
All of us at Carbide who worked with Carlton
and his wife Dottie, and also the hundreds of youngsters whose formative years
were so enriched by the programs that they offered at the camps, will remember
this experience with fondness and gratitude.
Frank Stowers
Dunbar
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Beloved coach was ‘a super, super guy'
Tom Aluise
Daily Mail sportswriter
Friday March 10, 2006
Carlton Gandee, the most beloved and respected coach in Herbert Hoover High School history,
died Thursday after a long illness. He was 75.
"He was more
of a gentleman than anyone I've ever worked with," retired Hoover
Principal Charlie Burford said. "Everything
about Carlton was positive. "He was just a super, super guy," Burford added.
The face of
athletics on the Elk River for many decades, Gandee coached several sports
at Hoover from the year it opened in 1963 as a consolidation of Elkview and
Clendenin, to his retirement in 1987. He was best known, however, as the
Huskies' boys basketball coach. Gandee
coached Hoover from 1963-78 and again from 1982-86. Over the years, he coached all four
of his sons.
Gandee also served as the Mountain State
Athletic Conference's first commissioner, a task he tackled in retirement and
one at which he excelled. "I've never known him to undertake
anything that he didn't do an outstanding job," said Pete Kelley, a
retired Hoover teacher, coach and administrator. "With Carlton, you knew if it
was in his hands, then you didn't have to worry about it.” "We've lost a
great guy. And I've lost a good friend. Carlton was probably one
of the best people I ever knew."
Gandee flew fighter planes in the Navy after his graduation
from Glenville State and once buzzed the town of Clendenin, said his wife of
50 years, Dottie. "I think he scared his mom to death," Dottie Gandee said. After four years in the Navy, Gandee returned to Clendenin where he coached junior high
sports. He eventually became the head basketball coach at his alma mater,
Clendenin High, in 1958 and coached there five seasons before the school
closed.
Gandee also worked as an assistant football
coach. "He left the Navy because he wanted to be a coach," Dottie Gandee said. "That's what his heart wanted. I don't
know of anything he loved more than working with kids."
Gandee's 1959-60 Clendenin basketball team made it all the
way to the Class AA state semifinals, where it lost to eventual champ Romney. Mike
Chandler, now in his 34th year on the Hoover faculty, was a
freshman on that Clendenin team that went 19-7, Gandee's
best year ever as a coach. "I've been friends with him ever since,"
said Chandler, a former head softball and basketball coach at Hoover. "He
was a great influence on me and on many, many others," Chandler said. "I
can't tell you over the years how many people have had good things to say about
him and how much of an influence he was on them, not only in athletics, but in
education. "I'll certainly miss him. Anybody who
came to know him will miss him greatly."
Burford, an Elkview High graduate, played against Gandee's Clendenin teams and developed an early respect for
the coach. "I always knew him as Mr. Gandee or
Coach Gandee," Burford
said. "I came to Hoover in 1980 as the principal and he was a vice principal. I was his boss, at
least on paper, but I was never able to get beyond calling him Mr. Gandee or Coach Gandee.
"Even though I was a level of administration above him, he took me under
his wing. He was my mentor."
Gandee's basketball teams at Hoover struggled to win
games in the rugged Kanawha Valley Conference but were usually competitive. Gandee went 151-259 at Hoover. Including his
stint at Clendenin, Gandee finished with a coaching
record of 205-319. He had three winning seasons at Hoover, including his
inaugural year (11-9). This year's Hoover boys team went 12-12, the school's first non-losing season
since Gandee's 1969-70 Huskies compiled a 12-9 mark.
"He was
a tremendous coach, teacher and friend," said Steve Stoffel
Sr., who played basketball for Gandee at Hoover and who's now the
Huskies' football coach and athletic director. "After I got into the
teaching profession, he was one of those I called on for advice. And he was
always willing to give it to me. He will be missed on the Elk River."
In addition
to basketball, Gandee developed a reputation as a
knowledgeable assistant football coach. He served in that capacity at Hoover until he became
vice principal in 1978. "He was an excellent football coach," said
Joe Cowley, who directed Hoover's football program from 1970-98. "He was as good a line coach as
you'll ever want. He demanded a lot out of the kids and they respected him for
that. "I was always pleased with Carlton. I always told
him you ought to take my job and I'll take yours."
Gandee, in addition to his wife and five children, is
survived by four brothers and a sister.