Alice Chandler: O.C. cowgirl and Sheriff's Deputy

Orange County’s Dorothy Alice Chandler was a cowgirl, sheriff’s deputy, pilot, trick rider, horse trainer, riding instructor, dog breeder, ranch hand, missionary, movie extra, and model – all during an era when many expected women to stay home and keep house.

Right now, the Orange County Archives is exhibiting a small display about Chandler in the first-floor lobby of the Old Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana. It’s unclear exactly how much longer this display will be up, but plans are already beginning for a new display on a different topic. So those with an interest should probably check it out soon.

Part of the Orange County Archive's exhibit about Chandler.

Born June 19, 1928 in Memphis, Tennessee to George Ernest Chandler and Constance “Connie” Clara (nee Williams) Chandler, Alice Chandler was destined for a colorful life “way out west.”

When Alice Chandler was three her family came west to visit her grandmother in Tustin. Connie was pregnant with Alice’s younger brother and fell very ill, requiring a longer than expected stay. Ultimately, they spent the rest of their lives in Southern California. 

Alice grew up living in a small house with her parents, six brothers and two sisters. The Great Depression was hard on the Chandlers. Alice’s father worked as a grove fumigator and was once charged with lying to get unemployment insurance money. In 1940, Alice witnessed her five-year-old brother accidentally killed with a shotgun.

While in elementary school, Alice fell in love with the outdoors, horses, and the Old West. In eighth grade, she dropped out of school and was then home-schooled by her mother. From then on, she wore blue jeans, which were not allowed for girls in school. 

The family finally caught a lucky break when George got a job working on the Irvine Ranch.

In the 1940s, Alice Chandler’s father was a gardener for the Irvine family, and the family lived in a shack near today’s Peters Canyon Park and Irvine Park, in Orange Park Acres. Their light came from lanterns and there was an outhouse in back, but – much to Alice’s delight – the house was right in the middle of the Irvine Ranch’s cattle operations. 

Alice Chandler on the Irvine Ranch, circa 1950s.

Chandler was given a horse for her 16th birthday. Soon, she and her sister had learned to break horses. Alice was as expert horsewoman by the age of 21. In later years she would sometimes help the Irvine Ranch cowboys during large cattle roundups.

Alice often chased trespassing hunters and fisherman off the property. Local Sheriff’s deputies suggested that her efforts might be more effective if made official. On August 1, 1949 she went to see Orange County Sheriff Jim Musick who interviewed her, made her a deputy, and gave her a badge. Her duties were to keep trespassers – especially poachers -- away from Peters Lake (which Myford Irvine considered his private hunting and fishing refuge) and to respond to other local emergencies as needed. “You may be a special deputy assigned to the Irvine Company,” said Musick, “but you’re a real deputy. And if I ever need you, you’ll be on call.”

It was an unpaid position, and no training was provided but several deputies and cowboys had already taught Alice how to shoot. Her mother purchased a .32-caliber Smith and Wesson revolver for her to carry while on duty. For three years, her presence kept poachers at bay. “What the guys knew was that I was tough,” she said. “I can be feminine, but don’t mess with me.”

Beginning in the early 1940s, Connie Chandler bought the land they’d been living on in Orange Park Acres, plus 100 acres surrounding it, creating the Chandler Ranch – an equestrian center at 20342 Chapman Ave. Many young Orange Countians learned the fundamentals of horsemanship there. Alice Chandler worked the ranch and taught riding lessons. 

The ranch faced some financial troubles beginning in the mid-1950s and there were attempts to take advantage of the situation and defraud the Chandlers of their land. Connie Chandler went to court repeatedly, studying the law, acting as her own attorney, winning reversals in the District Court of Appeal on two occasions, and holding onto her ranch for many more years. However, eventually the ranch went bankrupt on its own and Connie sold it to what Alice later called “a religious cult.”

In the early 1950s, Alice Chandler tracked down and purchased a descendant of celebrity dog Rin Tin Tin and made extra money breeding German Shepherds. She became a respected breeder and supplied a new Rin Tin Tin to producer Lee Duncan.

When her brother began flying his own plane, Chandler caught the flying bug. The sale of the puppies paid for ground school for Alice and her sister. Her father paid for their first plane and often rode along with them. 

Sign (attached to a bus) advertising Chandler Ranch. (Courtesy O.C. Archives)

Alice first became a pilot, then an instructor, and eventually owned her own four-seat Cessna. She even earned a hot air balloon license, which she never had the opportunity to use. She only gave up flying when her mother was injured in an auto accident and required a great deal of care for the rest of her life.

During the 1950s, Gene Holter’s Wild Animal Show would stable some of their exotic animals at Chandler Ranch when they were in the area. It was an early brush with show business for Alice Chandler, but hardly the last.

Alice visited the Irvine Ranch on business and met movie director Billy Wilder who was filming parts of the 1957 Jimmy Stewart film, “The Spirit of St. Louis” there. Wilder saw Chandler and two of her sisters and made them extras in the film. Although she briefly joined the Screen Actors Guild, Alice was never on the big screen again and never saw Wilder’s film. “There are a lot of chores on a ranch,” she said. “We didn’t have time to go to the movies.”

But in the 1960s, noted rodeo rider Montie Montana offered her a job trick riding and barrel racing in his traveling Western equestrian show. “We rode with his wife and daughter for years,” Alice said. 

In the early 1970s, Alice Chandler served as Secretary and Treasurer of the Southern California Cattleman’s Association, working side by side with the likes of Tony Moiso of Rancho Mission Viejo.

Alice also did missionary work with children in the Middle East. She returned to Orange County to care for her ailing mother, who died in San Juan Capistrano in 1975. 

Alice’s experience with her mother prepared her for yet another career, working as a caregiver for the elderly. She herself eventually retired to Laguna Woods. 

Chandler (right) celebrates her 79th birthday in 2008 with Sheriff Sandra Hutchens.

In 2008, at the age of 79, Alice wrote a letter to Orange County’s first female Sherriff, Sandra Hutchens, sharing her story and offering to finally turn in her special deputy badge. It seems the Department had never officially decommissioned Chandler or asked for her badge back. She also offered some words of support: “I could not have been more blessed to have the wonderful memories that I have of all these men that thought enough of me  to respect me, and there should be no reason that you are not respected also, and I am sure you will be.”

The Archives’ exhibit about Chandler includes artifacts and many photos. The Old Courthouse, at 211 W. Santa Ana Blvd, Santa Ana, is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (The Orange County Archives, located in Room 108, is open Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.) As always, I encourage you to see the historical exhibits by OC Parks throughout the building as well.