Born in Muncie, IN to the late Dewey Jenkins Ellis and Altha Garrett Ellis, Charlie was a 1944 mid-term graduate of South Side High School in Fort Wayne. Charlie enlisted in the Navy during his senior year, and was training as an Aviation Cadet at Navy Pre-Flight School in Athens, GA when WWII ended. After his honorable discharge from Navy service, Charlie entered college on the GI Bill, earning a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Indiana Technical College in 1951.
While working for Dana Corporation in Fort Wayne, Charlie met Delores “Rusty” Martin through mutual friends. Charlie and Rusty began their 60-year journey of marriage in 1952. By 1961 they were parents of three children, Kathleen Rebecca (Katie), Cynthia Louise (Cindy), and Charles Martin (Chip). Charlie relocated the family to Charlotte, NC in 1964, where he worked as a mechanical engineer for American Hoist and later for Jack’s Cookie Corporation. Charlie shifted his career to physical plant operations in the University of North Carolina system in the early 1970’s. He held various positions in this capacity at UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Charlotte, and finally at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. Charlie retired as Director of Physical Plant Operations at ASU in 1995.
Charlie took up running while living in Boone, and he remained a dedicated runner well into his retirement. He competed in Senior Games events in NC and all over the country, winning numerous awards. Charlie was an avid audiophile and loved music of all types, particularly folk and old-time music which Rusty performed together with their friends in the Charlotte Folk Music Society. Charlie and Rusty frequented area fiddle festivals and countless informal gatherings of musicians over the years. Charlie also enjoyed woodworking, home brewing, and “just puttering” around the house. Charlie particularly cherished the times he and Rusty spent with their grandchildren during extended visits to the home they built overlooking the New River in Boone.
Charlie and Rusty moved from Boone back to Charlotte in 2001, to be closer to their children and grandchildren. In 2008, they embarked on a “second retirement” to Tucson, AZ, where Charlie had competed in the National Senior Games years earlier, and where their son’s family now resides.
Charlie is survived by his wife Rusty, their children Katie Jacks (Dan) of Charlotte, NC, Cindy Lisewski (Ric) of Havelock, NC, and Chip Ellis (Della) of Tucson, AZ, their grandchildren Aaron Jacks, Rebekah Jacks, Sarah Jacks, Anna Jacks Weih, and David Jacks of Charlotte, NC, Ryan Lisewski of New Bern, NC, Reed Ellis and Jane Ellis of Tucson, AZ, their great-grandchildren Anneliese and Miriam Weih, and Alanna Lisewski, his sisters Mildred Meyers and Phyllis Geary of Fort Wayne, IN, and several nieces and nephews. In addition to his parents, Charlie was pre-deceased by his brother, Donald Ellis. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the North Carolina Senior Games (ncseniorgames.org), the Marilyn Meacham Price Scholarship Fund c/o the Charlotte Folk Music Society (folksociety.org), or a charity of choice. An inurnment service for Charlie will be held at 9:00 am Friday, June 22nd, at East Lawn Palms Mortuary, 5801 E. Grant Road, Tucson.
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