Charles’ work life included graduation from Franklin College in Indiana along with stints at Bradner Smith Paper Company, Boise Cascade and Olmstead Kirk Paper Company, retiring from the Houston office as General Manager.
Charles was a 40-year resident of Kingwood known for his love of golf, a good cigar and a robust red or crisp chardonnay. With his wife, Winona, he made numerous golf trips to St. Andrews, Augusta National, Pebble Beach and many of golf’s Meccas. Though the scorecards have yet to be recovered, it is rumored he actually made an eagle or two here and there. As a long-time member of Kingwood Country Club, he was a fixture in the locker room and made many appearances in tournaments. As a 15-year member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Lamb committee, Charles spent time as the commissioner leading the team in providing millions of dollars in scholarships to our future leaders. In recent years as a member of the Lone Star Gunslingers Cowboy Fast Draw Club, he was “Charming Charlie” and a fixture at their events. In a recent national event in Deadwood South Dakota, he was even able to take on, and win, against the current much younger reigning champion. In addition to golf locations, he also travelled frequently to Hawai’i to visit family and friends, travelled to Europe and enjoyed cruises as well.
Initially diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1994, Charles was given a timeline of a only few years. He was a tough bastard though and with the excellent care he received from Dr. Guo and the team at Millennium Physicians, he was able to defy those odds for 29 years and live a full and happy life with friends and family. He was able to see his children grow, his grandchildren be born and grow. His grandchildren here in town were the light of his life and he spent every opportunity he could with them at sports games, playing golf or just passing the time. There is a hole in their hearts that will not be easily filled.
Charles is survived by his siblings Dorothy and Robert (Candy), his children Jeffrey, Corri (Darren) and Michael, his 4 grandchildren LeeAnn (Jeffrey), Quinn, Haley and Colin (Corri) and his great-grandson Bennett (LeeAnn). His wife of 46 years Winona will feel the sting of his loss the greatest. Please keep her close in your hearts.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests a donation in Charles’ name be made to the Prostate Cancer Foundation (pcf.org).
The family also requests you contribute to Charles’ memory wall at memories.net (Search for Charles Blackwell, register and then request access). Here you can add pictures, stories and thoughts for the family that will live on in perpetuity and be a source of comfort in coming days and a tribute to his life for his grandchildren and beyond.
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