Charles was born on April 4, 1926, in Fayette County, PA to parents, Jesse W. Whitacre and Annie RUTH Whitacre. He was born on Easter Sunday in the middle of a winter snowstorm. His father was pastor of the Masontown, PA Church of the Brethren (CoB). Charles lived in PA and West Virginia during his adolescent and youth years. He graduated from Fort Ashby High School in WV in 1944. He was licensed to the ministry in his senior year of high school in the Old Furnace CoB. Charles attended Elizabethtown College in PA and was ordained to the ministry during his freshman year in 1945. During the summer of 1945, he signed up to serve as a Seagoing Cowboy, a service project sponsored by the CoB in cooperation with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.
In 1948, Charles graduated from Elizabethtown College and attended Bethany Biblical seminary, graduating in 1951 from the seminary which was located then at 3435 W. Van Buren Street in Chicago, Illinois. Charles was married August 30, 1949, to Annabelle Bittinger who was the daughter of Foster and Esther Bittinger. Charles and Belle were the parents of five children, four daughters and one son:
Vickie Samland, Linda Lundquist, Sue Whitacre, Christopher Whitacre and Karen Winter.
Following graduation from Bethany Seminary, Charles was called to serve the Hagerstown Maryland CoB as an Assistant Minister with Dr. Paul Robinson, the senior pastor of the congregation. During his ministry at CoB, Dr. Robinson was called to Bethany Seminary as President and Charles was asked to stay an additional year until the church called Dr. DeWitt Miller as senior pastor. Following his ministry at Hagerstown, Charles was called to serve the Waynesboro CoB in Virginia. While serving as pastor the church decided to move to a new location and build an entirely new facility. During his ministry there from 1954 to 1963 he was active in the District and the Waynesboro community serving on the local YMCA Board. In 1963 Charles accepted a call to the Cloverdale CoB near Roanoke, VA.
Following his pastoral service at the Cloverdale church he accepted a position with the state of Virginia in 1971. He became the director of a pilot rehabilitation program for prisoners in the local city jail in Roanoke, VA; the Offender Aid and Restoration program. This was a new State attempt to reduce the rate of recidivism in the prison system. After serving two years in the program Charles accepted a call in 1973 to become pastor of the Prince of Peace CoB in Denver, Colorado. While serving as pastor he was active in the Denver Community serving one year as president of the Colorado Council of Churches. He also participated in the Western Plains District serving on the District Board and as District Moderator.
In 1985, Charles accepted a call to become the pastor of the Roaring Spring Church of the Brethren in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. He served the church there until his retirement in 1992. During his ministry at Roaring Spring, he served on the Board of Directors for the Morrison Cove Home in Martinsburg, PA. He was also active in the Middle District of PA serving on the District Board and as Moderator one year. Following his retirement from full-time pastoral ministry Charles served in five interim pastorates. These included: West York, PA, Everett, PA, Spring Run Church, McVeytown, PA, Rocky Ford Church in CO and First Church, McPherson, KS. In 1991 Charles and Belle moved to the retirement community at The Cedars in McPherson, KS where they resided until their deaths.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Annabelle (Belle); daughter Linda Lundquist; sisters-in-law Lois Whitacre, Ginny Bittinger Whitten, Kay (Kathy) Bittinger Wambol and brother-in-law Otto Wambolt.
Charles is survived by his brother Dan Whitacre and in-laws; Emmert (Esther) Bittinger & Hugh Whitten; his children Vicki (Bob) Samland, Sue Whitacre, Chris (Kathryn) Whitacre, Karen Winter; grandchildren Peter (Amanda) Samland, Jeremy (Angela) Samland, Amy (Tyrone Hall) Lundquist, Josh Lundquist, Ian Lundquist, Ruth (Mike Shafer) Whitacre, Ira Whitacre, Jesse (Katie Furrow) Winter, Brady (Rachel McCuller) Winter; Great-grandchildren, Annabelle and Rebecca Samland; Caleb and Laila Samland and Dayne (Ripley Morris) Hall; nieces and nephews, Martha & Jim (Whitacre), Lori, Millie, Marion (Bittinger), Sharon, Rhonda, Dave, Wendy (Whitten), Greg & Todd (Wambolt) and numerous extended families.
In celebration of Charles’ life and living the family will host a come-and-go cookie reception from 2 to 4 on Sunday, November 5th at the Wellness Center, The Cedars, McPherson, KS.
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