Charles' Celebration of Life

Charles had 3 passions in his life, his family, fishing/hunting, and shotgunning.

Charles was a highly competitive skeet shooter.  He was inducted the the VA Sheet Shooting Association HOF in 2018.  Charles was the second member of the gun club inducted in the HOF.  Charles travelled all over the state shooting.  Charles took a hiatus in the 1990’s so Stephanie could start her college career (the family thing).  Charles was also very enterprising.  He designed a logo for his “famous” gun club shirts and had them embriodered.  He sold them to club members and visiting shooters from everywhere.  I recall someone saying that a shooter at one of the State events ask where is Halifax County Gun Club?  I’ve never seen so many shirts from one club at this event.  Charles loved the gun club.  Anytime there was a fundraiser for the club Charles was there with his support.

Hunting was something Charles did between the end of the skeet season and when fishing started in February.  I first met Charles in Nov 2015 when I joined the gun club.  Charles knew a close friend of mine with whom he fished with a couple times.  He commented that not only he didn’t know how to fish for walleyes, he didn’t know how to back a boat trailer in the river.  Then he ask if I could, I said sure been doing it most of my life.  Good, we are going fishing Tuesday.  Didn’t ask if I wanted to go, just said we were going.  So Tuesdays and Thursday became our fishing days because he didn’t want the weekenders to find his fishing holes.  And I thought bass fishermen were crazy.  So everytime we saw someone on the river that knew Charles and me, they would ask him why was he fishing with me, and his reply was always “he can back the trailer in the water”.  Peggy told me not to beat him that he would not keep taking me.  That first year he pretty much did just that, beat me.  But after I learned how to catch them it became a challenge.  That’s where the mutual respect began to grow. So I think it is very fitting we celebrate Charles’s life today, a Thursday.

I had a great 5 year run on the river fishing with Charles.  Some were very weird.  The first fishing trip we caught a few catfish.  He said we should be going, so once we got back to the boat ramp, he slowed down and then sped on pass the ramp.  I asked what are you doing?  Just making sure the game warden is not on the river.  We proceeded up river for a little ways and he stops the boat and says toss the anchor.  He then proceeded to clean the catfish.  One that he fillet and tossed overboard swam away.  A few days later I found him a decal at a tackle shop that said “fillet and release” and I put it ont he windshield of the boat.  He loved it, I can’t recount the number of times I heard that story.

One summer of one of my grandsons got to spend the summer.  I ask Charles could I bring Logan along, his answer was sure.  Charles loved taking kids fishing.  Well, Logan had a day of a lifetime.  He caught 9 keeper walleye and Charles and I only caught two each.  But this is how the storyline went, “Logan did in 2 hours what his Papa has been trying to do in two years”.  No mention of him getting whipped too.  That day when we stopped to clean those fish, they kinda hung up on a branch lying in the water.  Logan, said “Hey Charles, looks like a walleye graveyard down there”, he really got a good laugh out of that one.

I did teach him one thing though, those wallys loved a color combo that the largemouth loved too.  BOBCAT’S says thanks.

I ask Charles one day to help me with my wingshooting.  I said I wanted to be able to take more than 3 doves out of a box of shells, so he agreed, he loved a challenge.  So on the first trip to the club he said shoot a few targets.  After I shot and missed the first 6 or so, I ask what is was doing wrong, but in Charles’s usual wit, he said lets talk about what you did right.  I said ok, he said “well you did put the shells in the right end of the gun!”  Needless to say, by the time dove season rolled around, we hunted together and we both got our limits.  But he never quit coaching, after a few misses to start the day, he said “if you let them get a little bit closer they would be easier to hit”.  However, those lessons were not free, I had to retrieve his birds too.

I will close by saying RIP my friend.  TIGHT LINES ALWAYS.

Randy