 Date Deceased: August 2007
Age at Death:
Cause of Death: Heart Failure
Classmate City:
Classmate State:
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Survived By:
Charlie was one of those likeable guys.
I remember when we first met in Mr. Silverburg's Freshman English class. Charlie was the class clown and Mr. Silverburg tapped him with Family name as the preferred mode of address, I think perhaps, that stuck for the rest of his life. Continuously cracking jokes, and having a wonderful and easily proffered smile... Mr. Silverburg would always say "Shipley there's a million of them out there starving to death (undiscovered comedians) and you have to be one of them !" I will never forget that day or Charlie's infectious smile. I also will never forget going over to his house after school to meet Mick Jagger; within seconds of the early notes, the metamorphosis would take place and usually, "It's All Over Now" would be the first of the show. You know he sounded more like Mick Jagger than Mick Jagger did, and Charlie (Shipley ) was better looking too. Charlie and I became very, very good friends in high school and through our college years. There was a serious side to him though that many of us may not have come to know. I know that he was a caring and thoughtful human being who fought for things most of us choose only to talk about. Yeah - he was that kind a guy.
Fast forwarding...I saw Chuck (as I called him) about once a year or so after college and we would talk on the phone every 6 months or so as well, so we kept in touch but we didn't really touch, it was long distance, yet every time was like we had just hung up again and called back. So my brother, Clark and I were planning a family fishing trip to the Arizona White Mountains in June of 2007. I called Chuck to see if we could meet him in Phoenix somewhere on our way up. Clark & I and my sisters met Chuck and Greg Knox at a restaurant in Chandler for some two hours or so. It was a very therapeutic two hours as it was filled with a steady stream of laughter, memories, stories - more laughter. When we departed, my sisters were exhausted!
It was early in August of 2007 that I received the call from Greg Knox, and I learned that "The Smile" had passed, the jokes all had been told, and that Mick would sing no more. Greg and I talked about how grateful we were to have had those impromptu two hours with the "Ship" to have seen him one more time, and what a stroke of random luck it was that it had happened at all. I cried for Chuck that day, but I cried for me that night as probably I did for all of us who knew him... for he was just one of those likeable guys I guess...
Except... everybody loved him too.
Mark
We know that Charlie died suddenly of heart trouble. He had been very interested in the reunion and had begun to be involved in the planning.
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