Charles (Chuck) Martin Witthoft Jr
June 21, 1927 - January 15, 2023
Fresno, California - Charles (Chuck) Martin Witthoft Jr.
Charles (Chuck) Martin Witthoft Jr., age 95, of Fresno, California, died on Sunday, January 15, 2023, at Sunrise Senior Living of Fresno. Chuck was preceded in death by his wife of 67 years, Suzanne (Sue) Lora Kohn Witthoft of Fresno, his sister Ruth Elizabeth Glass of San Jose, California, and his brother Herman Wellington Witthoft of Chatham, New York.
Chuck was born on June 21, 1927, in the Bronx, New York (son of Charles Martin Witthoft Sr (1889 - 1989) and Florence Zula Shafer (1890 - 1986). Chuck was baptized on January 8, 1928, at Calvary Lutheran Church in the Bronx by his father, pastor of the church.
Chuck is survived by sisters Martha Adelaide Kopra (Austin, Texas), Doris (Peggy) Anna Maria Hatch (AuSable Forks, New York, and Southport, North Carolina), and Florence (Flossie) Lois Hulsizer (Springfield, Ohio). Chuck is also survived by numerous nephews and nieces in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, New York, Texas, Virginia, and Washington in the United States, and, internationally, in Germany, Netherlands, and Saudi Arabia.
Chuck graduated from eighth grade in June 1940 from East Schodack Elementary School in Rensselaer County, New York, and graduated in June 1944 from Columbia High School, East Greenbush, New York. In 1944, Chuck enrolled at Wittenberg College, Springfield, Ohio. The summer after his sophomore year (June to August 1946), Chuck volunteered to be a cattleman to deliver 700 horses to Danzig, Poland, under the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Act (UNRRA), part of the United States Merchant Marines.
On September 20, 1946, Chuck enlisted at Fort Dix, New Jersey, as a private in the United States Army. He was sent to Seoul, Korea, to serve in the Army of Occupation until he was discharged on March 20, 1948.
In the fall of 1948, Chuck enrolled as a junior at Wittenberg College and graduated in June 1950 with a BA degree. He enrolled in Hamma Divinity School in Springfield, Ohio, and graduated in June 1952 with a Bachelor of Divinity degree. Chuck was ordained in New Haven, Connecticut, on June 2, 1953, by the United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA)-later, through mergers, renamed the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
Chuck married Suzanne (Sue) Lora Kohn on June 2, 1951. They served a parish in Honolulu, Hawaii, and parishes in California in the cities of West Covina, Fresno, and Kerman.
Throughout Charles' youth in East Schodack, he played baritone with the Columbia High School band and orchestra and with the East Schodack Firemens Band led by his father. Chuck continued to play baritone in the marching band when he attended Wittenberg College in Springfield, Ohio. Throughout Chuck's years in Fresno, California, Chuck played euphonium in the Fresno Post 509 Sounds of Freedom Band. He also participated in the Tuba Christmas Concert, a special Christmas event in Fresno.
In Fresno, Chuck worked in a variety of community groups that served the mentally ill. From 1975 to 1978, he worked at King's View Community Service (Mennonite) in Madera in their ministry to mentally ill persons. He served from 1982 to 2002 as a long-term care ombudsman for the California Department of Aging and in the Fresno-Madera Ombudsman program. As part of his pastoral duties at First English Evangelical Lutheran Church (later Trinity Lutheran Church), he organized the Ferger Thomas Friendship Club to provide social activities for the chronically mentally disabled.
Chuck was awarded many honors for his work with the mentally handicapped and as a volunteer ombudsman-awards from the State of California, Office of Lieutenant Governor Leo McCarthy, State of California Legislature Assembly, City and County of Fresno, and awards from organizations that served the mentally handicapped.
In March 2014, Chuck and his wife Sue funded The Reverend Charles Martin Witthoft Sr. and Florence Zula Shafer Witthoft Endowed Scholarship at Wittenberg University in memory of Chuck's parents and in recognition of his parents' five children who graduated from Wittenberg-Herman (1949), Charles (1950), Martha (1951), Doris (1952), Florence (1957). The fund provides financial assistance to qualified students at Wittenberg. The annual scholarships are awarded to one or more students whose major or minor is in the Religion Department or Education Department.
On November 13, 2018, Chuck moved to Sunrise Senior Living, the assisted-living facility in Fresno, California, where his wife Sue lived before she died in August 2018.
Chuck's ashes will be interred with his wife Sue's ashes in the Witthoft/Shafer family burial plot at Slate Hill Cemetery, Sharon Springs, Schoharie County, New York. On Saturday June 10, at 2:00pm For on-line condolences visit wenkfuneralhome.com