Obituary

After a very brave and fierce thirteen month battle with cancer, Chantel Lynn Dillow, 45, of Chester, went to be with Jesus on Friday, November 27, 2020.

Chantel embodied the love of Christ in everything that she did and said. To know her was to experience the love of God tangibly. “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Chantel consistently and daily did just that whether it was through her work with the Rockford Rescue Mission or fundraisers for pediatric cancer infants, children and their families all across the United States. Chantel also worked in various full-time and part-time church staff positions at City First Church in Rockford, Illinois and the surrounding area, as an overseas missionary to countries across the globe and as a licensed Marriage and Family Counselor. She additionally served as an athletic coach to Middle School and High School athletes with Impact Volleyball in Virginia and to multiple online ministries and outreaches all over the world. Chantel was simply selfless and giving with no expectation ever of anything in return. She was a dream-launcher, a powerful Intercessor and an advocate for healing and restoration in others. The basis for that love was an unwavering and intimate love for and with Jesus from whom everything she did emanated.

Chantel was born in Elgin, Illinois to Normen and Betty Lou Dillow on February 17, 1975. She attended Prairie Grove Elementary School and graduated from Crystal Lake Central High School in Illinois in 1992. After obtaining both an Associate in Arts and an Associate in Science from McHenry County College in Crystal Lake, Illinois in May of 1995, Chantel earned an additional Associate in Early Childhood Education in May of 1998 also from McHenry County College. She achieved her Bachelor of Arts from Columbia College in Columbia, Missouri in October of 1999 and further excelled in obtaining her Master of Arts in Christian Counseling from Oral Roberts University Tulsa, Oklahoma in May of 2002. Chantel simply embodied excellence. Across all of her years of education she never earned anything less than an “A”.

After departing Tulsa, Chantel began her professional career on staff at First Assembly of God of Rockford (now City First Church) in Rockford, Illinois. For five years she performed pretty much every position under the sun; sometimes as a staff counselor, sometimes as the Director of Creative Arts, and often as a missionary to multiple countries all over the world. After departing First Assembly in 2007, she became a crisis counselor at Rosecrance in Rockford, Illinois until the start of 2012. The final nine years of her life were lived happily in Chesterfield, Virginia where she touched numerous athletes and their families as an athletic coach, summer camp clinician, mentor, self-employed counselor, and Assistant Director of Impact Volleyball. Chantel was engaged in November of 2019 to Thomas Ramey and together they fiercely battled the unexpected health diagnosis over the past thirteen months. Chantel consistently loved, served, and ministered to everyone with whom she came in contact until she was called to heaven and into the immediate presence of her forever Bridegroom, Jesus.

Chantel is survived by her fiancé, Thomas S. Ramey; brother, Shawn N. Dillow; her aunts and uncles, Ted F. (Mary) Young, James F. Young, Rev. Dr. Don (Helen Ruth) Dillow, Rev. Dr. Myron (the late Marjorie) Dillow, James (the late Betty) Martin, Fae Bankert, and Launda Pender; first cousins, Deann, Jeanne, Rebecca, David (Amy), and Robert (Michele) Young and Stacy (Tim) Hanson, along with numerous second and third cousins; her fiancé”™s parents and family; Thomas and Dorothy Ramey, Deborah Ramey, and Judy (Shawn) Spengler. Chantel was preceded in death by her parents, Betty Lou (Young) Dillow and Normen W. Dillow. The family will receive friends and loved ones from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, December 6, 2020 at Morrissett Funeral & Cremation Service on Ironbridge Road in Chesterfield, Virginia. Her Celebration of Life will follow from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the same location. Burial will take place on Monday, December 7, 2020 at 1 p.m. at Hillcrest Memory Gardens in Jeffersonton, VA (near Culpeper). In lieu of flowers the family suggests that memorial contributions be made to her GoFundMe link to assist with medical and funeral expenses, https://www.gofundme.com/f/chantel-dillows-homegoing. Any surplus funds will be divided among several of the many ministry and charity programs so dear to Chantel”™s heart.