UTICA \u2013 Family and friends filled the Utica Volunteer Fire Department\u2019s social hall last Friday, July 31, to remember New Bethlehem-native Earle Chandler as a bridge near Wyatville in Venango County was dedicated in his memory.<\/p>\n
Chandler, a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) engineer in District 1 (Erie, Crawford, Warren, Mercer, Venango and Forest counties), died Aug. 1, 2006, when a dump truck fatally struck him on a job site near Union City as he was providing instructions to a new worker.<\/p>\n
At the time of his passing, the 48-year-old Chandler lived in Meadville with his wife and three daughters. He was interred in New Bethlehem\u2019s Squirrel Hill Cemetery.<\/p>\n
State Rep. R. Lee James, who serves the 64th legislative district consisting of Crawford and Venango counties, included the bridge in a bill recognizing other memorial designations throughout the state. Governor Josh Shapiro signed the legislation on June 30, 2025.<\/p>\n
As part of the ceremony, James read a portion of the state House of Representatives\u2019 citation that officially dedicated the bridge in Chandler\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
\u201cBridge key 33747 carrying U.S. 322 over Sugar Creek is to be dedicated to the memory of Earle James Chandler. He who crosses the bridge will be reminded of his spirit and service to humanity. It stands as a testament to Mr. Chandler\u2019s enduring legacy of service to the people of Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brian McNulty, PennDOT District 1 executive, issued a written statement regarding the honor.<\/p>\n
\u201cEarle was known to have a larger-than-life personality that made an impression on all those who had the pleasure of working with him,\u201d McNulty said. \u201cIn the same way, his passing continues to impact our employees as we continue to cultivate an environment of safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we mark the 20th anniversary of his passing, it is a fitting time to officially rename this bridge in his memory, a bridge that he often traveled across during his commute from his home to the District 1 office.\u201d<\/p>\n
During an interview prior to the event, James reported, \u201cThis was actually a collective effort of a number of different people [the naming of the bridge]. We worked with the folks at PennDOT for a long time to make sure everything went right.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted everything right for the family, because that\u2019s important. The most important thing we\u2019re doing here is recognizing their dad, their husband, their very good friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chandler\u2019s family appreciated the tribute that the naming of the bridge represents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very honored and happy to see it happen. We\u2019re very honored that it\u2019s happening,\u201d commented Chandler\u2019s twin sister, Carrye Barrett of New Bethlehem. \u201cThey talked about doing it for a while, but then they had to have the correct bridge and the right location and get through all that red tape.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s 20 years since it happened and it\u2019s been in the works for a while. They finally found an appropriate bridge in the right location.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chandler\u2019s daughter, Emily Hagy, thought naming a bridge for her father was apt, as noted in the remarks she shared during the ceremony.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is especially fitting that a bridge now bears the name of a man who spent his career helping build and maintain the roads and bridges that connect our communities, whose life connected so may people through faith, friendship, kindness and love,\u201d Hagy said. \u201cMay all who cross this bridge be reminded of Earle Chandler\u2019s legacy and inspired to carry forward the values he lived each day.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to James, other dignitaries on hand included state Sen. Scott Hutchinson of the 21st District; Julie Swartzfager on behalf of Mike Kelly, the U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania\u2019s 16th Congressional District; Venango County commissioners Sam Breen, Ken Bryan and Tim Heffernan; and Dax Nulph representing PennDOT.<\/p>\n
Chandler previously had a bench dedicated to him on the Redbank Valley Trail. Located in an opening facing the Redbank Valley High School sports field across Broad Street, people regularly sit on the bench to watch soccer and football games according to Barrett and Chandler\u2019s oldest sister, Peg Watkins, also of New Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
Said Barrett in reminiscence, \u201cHe was always pulling pranks. Even in high school [at Redbank Valley] he was always pulling pranks on everybody. He was very active in church, very active in sports in high school and out [he was a member of the Bulldogs\u2019 football team], he played slow pitch softball, he coached his girls\u2019 soccer teams.\u201d<\/p>\n
Continued Watkins, \u201cHe just had a personality that people liked. He would do anything for you, give you the shirt off his back. He loved his job. Everybody knew him and had a story about him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since 1970, 93 PennDOT employees have lost their lives in the line of duty, including 15 since Chandler<\/p>\n
\u201cSafety first, always be cautious,\u201d offered Barrett on what she hopes people take away from her brother\u2019s passing and subsequent recognition. \u201cI\u2019m always amazed how many people have lost their lives in PennDOT.\u201d<\/p>\n
Remarked James, \u201cWell beyond the fact that we are recognizing Earle as a great citizen, I think the other thing to remember is when you see a construction site and the guys wearing yellow and orange shirts walking around, slow down.<\/p>\n
\u201cBe careful; those are the dads and the moms and the brothers and the sisters of people out in the community. All of them are loved. Just be careful.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UTICA \u2013 Family and friends filled the Utica Volunteer Fire Department\u2019s social hall last Friday, July 31, to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,21450,28,7874,30049],"class_list":["post-260323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-bridge","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-department-of-transportation","tag-venango-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}