Written by Jeanie Mebane

Charlie made some fine buddies while he was in California. One of his married friends’ wives had a friend visit from Vermont named Anna. She and Charlie met and ended up getting married.

Anna and Charlie lived a long happy life together. They were the exact same age! They were born on the same day, in the same year, on different sides of the country, only to meet in California.

After leaving the Marine Corps, Charlie and his family moved to Casper, where he had been promised a job with Shell Oil. However, upon arrival, Shell realized that Charlie’s sister already worked for them. Per their policy of not hiring family members, they could not offer Charlie the job after all.

Instead, Charlie took a job in Casper with the local phone company. In five years, he became a supervisor and moved to Buffalo. He stayed with the phone company for a total of 31 years, but the company had him moving around quite a bit. During those 31 years, Charlie and his family lived not only in Casper and Buffalo, but also Gillette, Green River, Rock Springs and Cheyenne.

Finally, one day, Charlie asked his company why they moved him so frequently. The company responded that they had him written down as a traveling employee, which was not true! After working with the phone company for 31 years, Charlie retired.

However, all did not roll along smoothly in the first year after retirement. Charlie had a chainsaw accident, which cut open both his neck and chest. His doctor said that Charlie was the only man he ever saw who did open heart surgery on himself. He was hospitalized in Cheyenne and it took over six months to recover. After that, Charlie volunteered full time at the hospital for two years and went on to enjoy retirement.

After retiring, Charlie and his wife moved to Lander, where they had good friends, and Charlie enjoyed hunting and fishing. Charlie and Anna lived in Lander for 25 of the 65 years they were married, then moved to Rock Springs to be closer to family. Charlie was widowed three years ago but stayed in Rock Springs until moving to Legacy Lodge in October 2019.

Charlie’s daughter, Nancy, and her husband, Mark, recently sold a business that they owned in Rock Springs, and they are now moving to Jackson. Charlie’s youngest son, Charles, works in the nuclear power industry in Wisconsin and his oldest son, Robert, is the vice president of an insurance company in Ventura, Calif.

Charlie has enjoyed his time at Legacy Lodge, noting the wide array of activities, the attention received from all of the employees and the food — all of which he says are great!

Charlie tries to exercise for 25 minutes every day in the exercise studio using three different pieces of equipment for variety. For additional exercise, Charlie and other members walk three laps around the building every day to get some fresh air.

Through the COVID-19 pandemic, Charlie has high praise for the Legacy Lodge staff and housekeeping crew who have been working hard to keep the lodge exceptionally clean and the residents healthy and safe.

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