Charles "Chuck" Wooten

He was born on May 27, 1950 in Springfield, Illinois son of the late James P. Wooten and Shirley B. Wooten. He is also preceded in death by Carol Wooten and brother, Brad Wooten of Anthem Iowa.

He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Margaret T. Wooten; son, Michael Wooten; daughter, Jennie Wooten Hoyt; son-in-law, Jason (D.H.) Hoyt; rescue dog, “Rex”; grandchildren: twins, Kayla and Kody Hoyt and Paige Haire; sister, Elizabeth Jari Bringle of Mandan, ND and brother, Ed Wooten.

He served on the US Navy on the USS Forrestal CVA-59. He worked as a machine operator at General Electric in the AEGB (Aircraft Engines) Department until he had to retire in 2004 due to medical reasons.

The family would like to thank all the staff at the Lower Cape Fear Hospice Care Center and all hospice personnel who took care of Chuck during his sickness.

Visitation will be held from 6:00pm to 8:00pm on Monday, September 30, 2019 at Coble Ward- Smith Funeral and Cremation Service, 3915 Oleander Drive, Wilmington, NC 28403.

Graveside Service with Military Honors will be held at 11:00am on Tuesday, October 1, 2019 at Oleander Memorial Gardens, 306 Bradley Drive, Wilmington, NC 28409.

Condolences may be offered at www.coblewardsmithwilmington.com

Charles "Chuck" Wooten Eulogy

If you didn’t know my Dad, you could be fooled by his rough and tough presence. Those who didn’t know him would often be intimated by his confidence. My Dad always knew exactly who he was and what he was about, and he carried himself well. He was not arrogant but was very self-assured.

My Dad was in the Navy, he was a navy cook. So naturally, he loved cooking. I have many memories of my Dad in the kitchen cooking. He was a far better cook than my Mom. However, he didn’t know that he was no longer cooking for the entire Navy. When he cooked – he always over cooked.

My Dad was smart, and he was a big reader. He always had a book in his hand every night for as long as I can remember. He had a huge collection of books. I bet he read at least 10,000 or more books in his lifetime.

Dad was a manly man. He loved God and he loved his country. He was very patriotic and loved and respected all veterans and wanted to protect the Constitution. He was an avid gun and knife enthusiast. He taught others not to be afraid of guns and he wanted to teach people gun safety. He was a gun expert and knew just about anything about guns. Dad knew how and passed his knowledge down to family members on how to make and load bullets.

Dad loved nature, he felt close to God when he was in the woods in a tree stand, hunting. He told my Mother that when he was alone in a tree – He talked to God. Dad also loved target shooting with guns, bow and arrows, hunting, fishing, camping, four wheeling, and driving his big trucks. He also was crafty and collected gemstones and polished them and made his own jewelry to give to friends and family. He also loved wood working and made exotic gun grips with his son in law. It became a big hobby of his and he loved showing off his craftmanship to all visitors, even up until his last days.

In 2004, Dad was diagnosed with a medical issue that abruptly interrupted his life. Before it was over with; he was forced to retire early from G.E. He felt that he had to give up everything he was accustomed to. He could no longer operate machinery; including vehicles because he could suddenly lose consciousness. Dad felt like he gave up his independence. He was a strong-willed person and liked doing what he wanted to do and did not like to depend on anyone to help him. However, he liked helping others. Throughout all of that, Dad never lacked zest for life and remained positive throughout it all.

My Dad was humorous. He had a sarcastic, dry sense of humor. He was generous kind, thoughtful and sadly many did not appreciate or reciprocate his kindness and generosity.

My Dad always carried knives on him, and often he carried a gun too. Those who didn’t know him could easily mistake him for being hard core and could be intimated by his tough outer shell. To those who took the time to get to know him saw his softer side.

His close friends and family could read his eyes and facial expressions and know exactly what he was about to say or what he was thinking. His eyes spoke without him ever having to say a word. We could read his non-verbal cues and know exactly what he was going to say and most often it was humorous.

When Dad laughed, he often would crack himself up so bad that he couldn’t catch his breath and no matter what he was laughing at or about; even if you didn’t find it funny or completely missed his sarcasm… before long you’d be laughing too just seeing him and hearing his laugh. His laughter was contagious.

Dad loved all his animals. He had a cat he rescued from G.E. that he fed everyday and worked to get him to trust him. He was a stray feral cat that he was finally able to bring home and he named him Thomas. Dad loved that cat and he was crushed when he passed. Dad had other animals that he loved that have since passed; my childhood rabbit Snowball, rabbits Oreo and Cookie, and our cats named Shug, Angel, Socks, Tiger, Boots, and dogs Trapper and Laci. Dad even called my Dog (Kipper – now passed) his grand-dog.

Dad left behind his living rescued dog named “Rex”; a Pitbull /boxer mix. My Dad often would tell me that Rex was the reason he was still here; because he gave him a reason to get up in the morning.

After Dad was no longer able to drive and had to retire early; my husband Jason and I used to take him camping with us in the mountains every summer with our family and family dog Kipper. It became a yearly tradition up until he was diagnosed with cancer.

I would like to share two humorous things that happened while we were camping with Dad that I will cherish forever.

The first, we were camping at a campground off the Blue Ridge parkway that had a pond that was stocked with catfish. Because Dad loved fishing, he liked to teach Kody and Kayla how to fish with a pole. They spent hours at the pond and caught several catfish. Kody and Kayla were about 7 years old at that time. When they were done fishing, they brought their catch back to the campsite. Dad wanted to show the kids how to clean them and he went right to work cleaning those catfish. Besides the fact he also wanted to cook them for dinner. Dad was dressed in his typical getup (jeans and a tee-shirt) and he sat down in his oversized foldup lawn chair and went to town cleaning those fish. By the time he was done cleaning them, his lap was completely covered in fish blood, guts, and all kinds of yucky stuff. I told my husband that Dad better not think that he is going to come to bed in the tent like that because he would attract the bears. Jason said no, he will change his clothes before he comes to bed. Well, when it was time for bed, Dad went to crawl in our tent and I immediately stopped him and told him that he was not allowed in the tent with fish blood and guts all over his clothes because he would be bait for the bears. He looked at me and said “Damn, I didn’t pack a change of clothes with me” and I said to him that I don’t care if he sat naked in that lawn chair; he wasn’t coming in that tent with nasty fish guts all over him. So, I gave him an oversized towel and he sat there covered with nothing but a towel while I washed and dried his laundry for him.

The second humorous camping memory we have of Dad was when I accidently tossed out his dentures into the woods because he left them in a red solo cup. I picked up the campsite like I did every night and found a red solo cup that appeared to have water in it. I tossed the contents into the woods and threw the cup in the trash. It wasn’t until the next morning, Dad realized his teeth were missing and he said he left them in a red solo cup. So, we had to go searching in the woods for his dentures; which we did find them… eventually.

We will always remember these fond memories and cherish them forever and they will continue to make me laugh forever, thinking back to those days.

Not only did we involve Dad camping… he became such a fixture in our lives that he did everything with us and the twins.

A fond memory that shows what type of person Dad was… When Kody was in the cub scouts Dad was often there with us at the pinewood derby’s races. Dad helped make the cars for Kody and Kayla. One time he even gave one of his cars to a little boy that was there who didn’t have a car to race. That little boy won second place with Dad’s car and Dad gave him the trophy and the car. Dad also brought a little toolbox to help the other little boys fix their own cars so that they could qualify for the races. Dad went every single year to help with the pinewood derby races (four years in a row) and he was sad when Kody graduated the cub scouts and the pine wood derby days were over.

In about 2008 Dad was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer. The doctors told him that it was only 2 weeks shy of being incurable stage four. He underwent chemo, radiation, and surgery to remove a fourth of his lung. Miraculously, he survived and went into a full remission and remained cancer free, despite all the odds. From the beginning, Dad always kept a positive attitude and said that he refused to be defeated and negative. With the doctors, he was always upbeat, positive, and never felt sorry for himself. The Doctors often told Dad how refreshing his attitude and spirits were.

Dad also had a very strong will to live and he wanted to remain with his family and that inner strength he had gave him his faith. Dad was not going to give up without a fight. After Dad had surgery to remove a fourth of his lung; he developed a deadly infection that should have killed him… but, yet again… it didn’t. He spent three months recovering in the hospital after that infection, but it did not take his spirit and will to live. However, the infection left a permeant mark and he developed scar tissue which was diagnosed as Pulmonary Fibrosis (hardening of the lungs) which is a progressive disease. It was at this time he was forced to get on oxygen which he remained on, for the remainder of his life. This severely limited his outings and he was no longer able to go camping with us as he relied on machines to help him breathe.

Several years later, Dad developed a blood clot that traveled through his heart and exploded in both of his lungs. This type of blood clot kills a lot of people... but not my Dad. Again, due to his resilience, he miraculously survived that too after being hospitalized for over a month. Dad was a living miracle and it was all due to his will to live, strong faith, and positive attitude.

However, over time and the years the Pulmonary Fibrosis progressively weakened his lungs and took a tool on his heart. He was hospitalized several different times with major lung infections and every time he pulled through.

A year and a half ago, Dad was given only one month to live by many of the best lung Doctors in the State at Chapel Hill. He told my Mom that he was not ready to give up and he was not ready to die. Due to my Dad’s strong will to live - He proved even to the best Doctors in the state that no one knows when their time is up. They even said that he was a living miracle that he was even able to have a conversation with anyone with only 15 percent lung function.

The Doctors in Chapel Hill that gave him a month to live put in him hospice care. Dad started with palliative care and at first was able to still walk and move but not long distances. Only recently, about six months ago did Dad finally decline to the point that he was bed ridden. But even then, he never lost his will to live and he continued to amaze even his hospice nurses.

The nurses, social worker, and his aid that came into regular contact with my Dad adored him. I want my Dad to be remembered for the great man that he was. He was strong and he stayed positive throughout every battle he fought. I know that the legacy my Dad wanted to leave on this earth for his family and friends is that no matter what you are going through keep a positive attitude and miracles can happen if you believe in yourself.

I will miss my Dad but I don’t want to ever say goodbye to him… instead I will say “see you later”.

I love you Dad. And I will see you on the other side.

Jennie Lynn Wooten-Hoyt

09/29/2019