Charles A Thurman

Born in Dows, Iowa on March 17, 1922 and grew up in Glidden, Iowa. Growing up, he played baseball with his brothers, Rich and Bob and basketball for Glidden High School, developing his lifelong love of sports.

Chuck served in WWII in Australia and the Philippines as a Cryptographer Code Compiler earning 2 Bronze Stars as well as a Good Conduct Medal. After the war, he migrated to Detroit, MI where he met his wife to be, Gloria and started their family. After many visits to the Pacific Northwest, they decided to make the move in 1972 and made Vancouver, WA, their home. They loved their 2 acre wooded home and lived there the rest of their lives.

He was an avid golfer who could boast 61 official holes-in-one. On the news they dubbed him the ‘Ace of Aces’. He also had a passion for tennis that he enjoyed the rest of his life in different capacities, as a player and a coach. After teaching his grandson, Scott to play and watching him play matches as a teenager, he fell in love with Prairie HS sports and became a volunteer tennis coach into his 90’s. Along with tennis, he was the #1 Prairie basketball fan with his own reserved chair on the floor for every home game.

His love of tennis and competition was infectious and that enabled him to mold so many young lives and to appreciate the game of tennis that they carry to this day. This is his legacy.

He is preceded in death by his wife, Gloria, parents, Richard W. and Loretta Thurman, brothers Robert Thurman and Richard Thurman and sister Jane Evans. Survived by son Mark Richard Thurman (Kim), daughter Suzanne Babette Thurman (Anita Morris) and grandson Scott Charles Thurman (Sara Parker) and many nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to:

Prairie High School

PO Box 200

Battle Ground, WA 98604

Make check payable to Prairie ASB c/o Chuck Thurman Memorial

Arrangements under the direction of Vancouver Funeral Chapel, Vancouver, WA.