Charlie

Charlie was a great fellow. He was a simple man who grew up in a family with nine children in a hewn log house in a rural area of West Virginia. He had very little as a child, and had a tough life as compared with today’s young people. To get to Charlie’s bedroom, you had to go outside and up the stairs. To go to the bathroom, you had to go outside and walk a little way to the outhouse. You’ve heard stories about walking seven miles to school in snow up to your knees … well, Charlie actually had to do that. He was a hard worker; he worked hard all his life, and retired from Union Carbide after 40 years of service as a millwright and pipe fitter. He was the salt of the Earth.

Thirty-one years ago he met and married my wife’s mother, whose husband had died of cancer several years before, when Diane was just 13 years old. When I met Diane, Charlie and Norma were already married. Both Norma and Charlie were involved in the Masons and Eastern Star. That may be how they met. Charlie was a 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Mason. He was a Shriner and a member of the Oriental Band.

Charlie passed away two weeks ago of a massive heart attack. When he died he was in a nursing home, because he suffered from Alzheimer’s and was totally dependent upon other people to take care of him. Norma did that 24/7 for more than a year, and felt guilty that she couldn’t continue. In fact, it was both harmful for her health and dangerous to her safety to continue to take care of Charlie. He didn’t know who anyone was, including Norma and his daughter, and he didn’t have any idea who he was. At times he would become physically violent toward Norma. Though Charlie’s body continued to live on, his mind, his essence ceased to exist months ago.

Charlie is in a better place now. May he rest in peace.