Chance Dakota Whitelaw

Chance Dakota Whitelaw was born on October 21, 1990, and tragically taken from us on June 21, 2024, at the young age of 33. He is survived by his mother Rachel Cole and his wife Tabbitha (Tabby) Whitelaw and their five young sons ages 6-17 years old, Aiden, Rylan, Ashton, Rowan, and Teagan. He is also survived by his grandmother Joyce Whitelaw, aunt Alma Whitelaw, aunt Rebecca Struble, uncle Sage Whitelaw, Uncle Foy Whitelaw and numerous cousins and life-long friends.

Chance graduated high school from Ozark, received his nursing degree from Cox University, and recently earned his master’s degree in nursing (MSN) from Walden University. Chance was a Nurse Practitioner with Cox Medical Center Branson.

He was an amazing husband, father, friend, and health care provider. Chance loved to make people laugh and was known for his pranks and quick wit. He loved working in the medical field, following in his mother’s footsteps. Science and helping people were passions for Chance. He always saw challenges as opportunities for him to excel.

Above all else Chance was the best Father and Husband. He always made sure his young family had everything they needed. Whether putting together a puzzle, creating a D&D campaign for the family to play, water gun fights, paint splatter wars, movie nights, playing old school gaming systems or new high-tech games, dance parties in the kitchen, cupcake bake offs, or whatever - there was never a dull moment in the Whitelaw house! Chance took every opportunity to try to embarrass his wife and boys by making dorky poses and faces, acting goofy in public and at home, and just bursting out with some impromptu dance or song or acting wherever he might be. Chance was so proud of his

sons for their artistic talents, scholastic achievements, gaming capabilities, musical/acting accomplishments, and so much more – but above all - for them being “Mama’s boys” as he wanted them to be good boys and always be there to take care of Tabby. Time with his family was the most important thing to Chance.

Chance was taken from us far too soon. He is missed by anyone who had the pleasure of meeting him.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the GoFundMe account set up by his son Rylan at https://gofund.me/3e53f268 or the account set up by his best friend Randy Pennington at https://gofund.me/56169d4b.

The family is hosting a visitation from 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM Friday, June 28, 2024, in Doling School, 1423 W. Atlantic Springfield.  A celebration of Chance's life will be held at 2:30 PM Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Dolling School. We invite and encourage all family and friends to join us in celebrating Chance. We welcome family and friends to share stories of Chance’s various antics and pranks. The celebration will include sharing some of Chance’s favorite food with all attendees and a massive Nerf gun battle. This is something Chance enjoyed doing with his sons at least weekly. There will be over 100 Nerf guns available to use. Family and friends are also welcome to bring their own. (Please bring your own eye protection.)

Dress Code for Friday and Saturday: “Chance casual!” This means shorts and t-shirts or equivalent attire. Bonus if you can wear Marvel, Dragon Ball Z, Star Wars, Hobbit, Halo, or anything funny, nerdy, or Chance approved!

Chance lived life to the fullest. Please join us to honor Chance by celebrating his sense of joy in life and love of pranks, puns, and jokes.

Cremation rites will be accorded by Adams Crematory and arrangements are under direction of Adams Funeral Home, Nixa.