Just laughing at seemingly endless funny stories. Also a thinker who cared so much about life, people and the deeper things. Thanks again for sharing with us.
When we were little, my parents took Charlie with us on vacations sometimes and we had a great time. My Father Harold had a good sense of humor and he was very fond of Charlie who always seemed to have a plan to “liven” things up a bit. One summer in Maine, Charlie spent most of his time teasing my Father about his dislike of the water. If my Father sat on the dock to watch us swim, Charlie would splash him and say “Come on in Uncle Harold the water’s fine.” Every day the same thing.
Eventually my Father decided to teach Charlie a lesson. He dressed in old clothes, old shoes and an old hat to come down and watch us in the water. As soon as he arrived, Charlie started to tease him over and over, laughing like crazy. My Father stood up, jumped into the water fully clothed and dunked Charlie on the spot. You never saw such a surprised young man in your life.
Some fun facts and memories:
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~ When Charlie was a young man, his cousin Mary’s mom “Aunt Toots” made him laugh so hard that he spit his beer on her.
~ When Charlie was single and working for Eastern Airlines, he would sometimes pay five dollars to fly roundtrip from New York to Miami just to eat a few meals. This implies that the airline food was worth the time and money.
~ When Charlie & Sherry were ‘dating’ he was back East and she was in Wyoming. They would send cards to one another. One day Sherry thought she had received her card back in the mail. But when she opened it, she realized that Charlie had purchased the same card she had sent him and they had sent it to one another at the same time.
~ Charlie used to take Tomm & Karla fishing, kite flying and ice skating on a real frozen lake…Lake Minnehaha. Great name!
~ Charlie & Sherry would sing to Phantom of the Opera at the top of their lungs when on road trips.
~ In 1996, with Tomm standing next to Charlie and a video camera rolling, “the dadd” told of Tomm’s potty training days. One day, about half way through the training, while dadd was walking by the bath room, he notices some thing peculiar: he sees Tomm pulling his diaper down and dumping the contents into the toilet, which is how he had been teaching Tomm “where the poop goes”.
~ Charlie & Karla would sing ABBA songs as well as act them out while riding in the car no matter how long the journey. And the Dadd was always game to sing songs onto peoples answering machines.
~ When Tomm was very ill due to his Kidney failure in 2006, Charlie would try to rouse him out of bed by singing Henry the 8th or 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.
~ When Charlie would laugh a little too hard he usually snurked.
He was a very happy man and liked to bring smiles to others.
Even in his painful last 9 months, he would joke and try to make others more comfortable. We are thankful you are free of pain now dad. Though we miss you so...even down to our last conversation, you told us to smile. And we are at every rememberance of you.
A poem Bill and Alice Karl thought Charlie would write
When I get where I'm going
When I get where I'm going
On the far side of the sky
The first thing that I'm gonna do
Is spread my wings and fly
I'm gonna land beside a lion
and run my fingers through his mane
Or I might find out what it's like
To ride a drop of rain
Yeah when I get where I'm going
There'll be only happy tears
I will shed the sins and struggles
I have carried all these years
And I'll leave my heart wide open
I will love and have no fear
Yeah, when I get where I'm going
Don't cry for me down there
I'm gonna walk with my mom and dad & sisters
And they will match me step for step
And I'll tell how much I missed them
Every minute since they left
Then I'll hug their neck
But, when I get where I'm going
And see my maker's face
I'll stand forever in the light
Of his amazing grace
Yeah, when I get where I'm going
There'll be only happy tears
Love you !!!! Charlie, your loving husband,Dad and Grandpa, Brother,Uncle, & Friend
Charlie was my cousin Mary Cornell's cousin. He was often at their house, and Mary's mother, my Aunt Toots, loved him like crazy. When I was just a teenager, Charlie was so exciting. He had a car with "passing gear" and he called from France to say that he had no food in the house and took a flight just to have lunch! I thought he was just the coolest person I'd ever met. Throughout the years since then, I've been kept up-to-date through Mary. I know that Charlie had the world's greatest sense of humor and that he enjoyed life to the full. He was a lucky man in many ways, and his family and friends were even luckier to have him.
