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Charles E. Bigelow
02/18/1936 — 08/14/2008
From Richland, WA, USA | Born in Rugby, North Dakota
Charles E. Bigelow
Charles E. Bigelow
Feb 18, 1936 - Aug 14 , 2008
Charles Bigelow of Richland passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, August 14th during a flight of a recreational small plane.
He was born in North Dakota on February 18, 1936. He leaves behind his wife of 53 years, Shirley of Richland, son Donovan R. Bigelow Bonnie of Seattle, daughter Vickie Bigelow Marc of Mount Lake Terrace, sister Collette Tulip of Puyallup and mother-in-law Elma Bigelow of Richland. Beloved grandfather of Claire Silvey Jared of Bozeman, MT, Victoria Bigelow of Bellingham, and Justin of Seattle. He leaves behind a multitude of close friends that he cherished during his lifetime, as well as his love for his special dog Kaiser.
His love for all sports was his passion as he spent many hours barefoot waterskiing, NASCAR racing, motorcyc1ing, and flying planes. His love of snowmobile riding was going to end this year due to his back & leg problems which was a difficult decision to make after 29 years.
He was a very positive man no matter the situation. He always marveled at nature during his flights, on his snowmobile, and on his motorcyc1e.
His passing fits within the lines of the following poem, which aptly describes the man who will be so missed by so many:
Life
Life is not a journey to the grave
With the intention of arriving safely
In a pretty and well-preserved body,
But rather to skid in broadside,
Thoroughly used up,
Totally worn out, and proclaiming,
"Wow, what a ride"
~Anonymous
Predeceased by his mother, Meriam Bigelow, his father, M. D. Bigelow, brother, Spencer Bigelow, father-in-law, Alvin Strege, brother-in-law, Alvin Strege, Jr., and many classmates and friends.
Funeral services Wednesday, August 20th, 1 PM at the Bethel Church in Richland; lunch will be served following the service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Cancer Center in Kennewick.
Express your thoughts and memories on our online guestbook at www.einansfuneralhome.com.
Shirley: We were shocked and saddened to hear of Chuck’s accident. You are in our thoughts and prayers. We wish you well with your own health problems as well. May you be blessed through your trials.
Shirley, My heart just sank when I saw that Charlie had psssed away. He was such a nice friend of my Brother’s and they did have some fun times when the two of them would get together. My prayers are with you and yours at this time. Love to you…
Our thoughts are with the Bigelow famliy since we consider them part of our greater family due to the love we have for Vic Bigelow through our brother Marc.
Shirley, I just found out about Chucks passing. He is certainly someone whom I will never forget. My condolences go to you and your family.
Shirley,
I was shocked to hear of Chucks passing. I remember years ago, him riding Rocky in the special compartment on his motorcycle. Just last week he stopped by with Kaiser to see the motorcycle in my driveway. It was a SPYDER…he was going to go home to tell you about it. We were saying how neat it would be to all get them and cruise up to Barracudas for coffee. He sure was a great guy with a real zest for life. wow. He said you were having some health problems but you had some good docs in Seattle. Take care of yourself. You and your family are in my prayers. Sincerely Terri 1801 Birch
He was a great friend to many especially Millie Gregg. I’m so sorry Shirley and I really know how you feel. I will call you after the shock wears off a bit. Love Glynn
Dearest Shirley, Children and Grandchildren,
I am so deeply sorry for your loss of Charlie and pray that God gives you the strength to make it through the grief. May God speed Charlie’s journey to his eternal life and Home with Him.
My heartfelt sorrow, prayers and love are with you at this terrible time of your loss.
Love to All,
Judy Willox
My sincere sympathy to all the Bigelow family at this time in your life. It’s never the right time to lose a loved one and especially unexpected. I remember when we retired from Battelle in 1995, Chuck was so excited to get on with his retirement activities, and that he did. Shirley, I’m so sorry to lose my classmate, and I’m praying for you and your family as you have precious memories of his life, and especially as your work on your health issue.
God bless you, Ivamarie Douglas
Shirley, We were greatly saddened to see of Chuck’s passing. Although we didn’t see each other that often, we remained old friends. I remember him working at the Signal station at West Richland then Heminger City Later we worked on the same maintenance crews & car pooled together. He was a long institution in the Tri-Cities with all of his many accomplishments. Our thoughts & prayers are with you & your family Harold & Lois Galpin
Our heartfelt condolences to Shirley and family. Deb remembers fondly Charlie’s “driving lessons” and numerous, memorable snowmobile outings. Charlie will be missed by everyone who knew him.
As a fellow NASCAR racer he always had class. He will be missed.
Shirley…I’m so sorry to hear of your husband’s passing. I know what this next year holds in store for you, as my husband, too, died last year. It will be a rough time, but you will exit out the other end of this horrible, dark tunnel. Life will never be the same without your lifelong partner, but life does go on and family and friends will be there to love you and help you through it. My prayers are with you and your family.
Susy Roohr Whitney
my kids were at Lewis and Clark School when you worked there
Shirley, we are saddened by the passing of Chuck. We worked together in the 324 Bldg for many years. He was a mechanical genious and there was nothing that he could not do in the hot cells with a pair of remotely operated manipulators . He took on and solved the big challenges even in his work. We both transferred from Battelle to Westinghouse in 1971 and back again in 1972 along with our favorite Engineering hot cell complex. He helped us to have one of the most successful waste treatment R&D programs in the world.
My wife and kids knew Chuck from his early stock car days and have fond memories of his living on the edge. When he learned that we were living on the banks of the river across from Richland, we became one of his fly-by destinations. He recently had flown over us several times in his new craft; rocking his wings. He knew that me being an ex-pilot I really enjoyed seeing his planes. Last year after he set the land speed record he came out and used our dock to try water skiing, saying he had put it off until the speed record was behind him. Being wired together and stiff from the glider accident several years ago, I had to help him stand up and manuever to where he could get pulled off the dock!
Chuck was an amazing guy and will be sorely missed.
We were saddened to hear about the loss of your father. Still remember the article you once sent us about his racing and realized that he loved doing exciting things. Although it may be difficult to believe he is gone, our prayers are with you and your family. Know this is a hard time for you especially with the health of your mom, so please accept our heartfelt wishes.
Shirley and family, I was deeply sadened to hear about Charlie. He was and always will be a inspiration and hero to me. Both Neila and I send our prayers to all of you during this sad time. I will always remember the look on Charlie’s face just before he went out the door for his first parachute jump and said, “What’s the name of that Indian?”. While my heart aches that Charlie is gone, I am glad that Charlie passed doing what he loved to do. Charlie always told me that he had a wonderful life and if he passed away he had no regrets. Not many people can say that. I was going to surprise Charlie next year by showing up at the house with the motorcycle I’m going to run at Bonnieville. I was going to tell him that if a 71 year old could set the worlds speed record for a production car on 4 wheels, I could do 200 mph on two wheels. God bless you Charlie, you were and always will be my friend.
I am so sad for the family of Chuck Bigelow. May I say a few things more about the towering figure of Charles Bigelow. It was my good fortune to work with Chuck at Hanford where he came with his quick mind to grasp how to operate complex experimental apparatus. He was part of our crew, running a power plant cooling system in Bakersfield, CA. His stories of racing and snowmobiling kept us entertained during the off-hours. After my retirement I acquired a self-launch glider and Chuck appeared at the airport and helped me work on my carburetion system to âkeep âem flyingâ. He and I exchanged books to read about subjects of mutual interest. I am sorry too to lose that part of him. He, of course, built his own airplanes and we were shocked when he nearly died in the HP glider. But with his astounding courage and will power he survived to continue his adventurous lifeâ¦. till this. It is a shock to all of us and a great lossâ¦..and we will miss him.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Shirley and the rest of Charlie’s family during these sad times. I will always remember our times in RHS especially auto shop and what a great person and friend he was. Farewell…
Dear Sharon, I extend to you my sympathy is this hour of great sadness and personal trial. May God be with you in all things.
Dear Shirly,Vickie and Donny, Our hearts sunk with the news of Uncle Charlie’s sudden death and disbelief. There’s no words to share with you all how sad we are. All we can pray for is that during your time of grief it’s short and the memories and all the laughter of Charlie’s time with us remains in all your hearts forever and forever. We love him too.    Â
My Condolences to Shirley and Family. Chuck was an inspration to me to live life to it’s fullest, he definetly did not get cheated. I will always remember the ride with him on our sleds into Bear mt. Ride on Chuck. Lisa and Mike Harstad.
I worked and played with Chuck since the early sixties. I will also miss him.
Dear Vickie,
Our hearts go out to you and your family! We know what an incredible loss this is for all of you, you are all in our hearts and prayers. I’m sure you know he will truly always be with you.
Love and hugs,
Tammy and Alex
Dear Vickie and family~
My heart and prayers go out to you all at this very difficult time. Although it does very little to ease the pain of loosing such a special man, I know you and your family will find an eventual peace that God took him while he was doing something that he loved so much. I can not imagine any words adequate enough to express how terribly sorry I am for you all. I have a phrase that helps me during troubling times – maybe it will help some. “Let Go, Let God”, simple words but difficult to surrender to. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you.
Dear Vickie,
You and your family are in our hearts and prayers during this time of great loss. Please accept our deepest sympathy.
Shirely, I am so sorry for your loss. As you well know Charley was a hell of fine man and I respected him greatly.
My thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family. As we all know Charlie was such a great man in so many ways. It was my privilege to meet Charlie through snowmobiling about 12 years ago whereas we instantly shared a special bond and became close friends. Charlie was a wonderful guide and was like an apprentice to me, taking me to all the wonderful places he had discovered over the vast years of experience he had, eventually sharing his leadership role with me. I always looked forward to where our next trip had in store for us in search for the ideal riding conditions. Even though Charlieâs favorite place to go was the Cascades/White Pass area we had some great trips to places like Halfway and St. Helens, eventually convincing him to travel to Wyoming with me, and post his glider accident having the opportunity to take him riding on the glaciers in British Columbia Canada. I will always remember and cherish the time we spent together, the stories he told, him teaching me how to barefoot deep water start, and his impeccable way of doing things. Charlie lived life to the fullest with no regrets and will be greatly missed by many people whose lives he touched.
Dear Shirley, Vicki and Donovan,
We are so very sorry for your loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you at this sad time. May his memory be for a blessing.
Much love,
Judy and David
Shirley and Family,
Chuck was a great neighbor and man. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
The Andrews Family
My deepest sympathy to you Shirley and your family. May God’s love guide you during this time of sorrow. Charlie will be missed.
I’m so sorry to hear about Charlie’s accident. We go back over 50 years, clear into the mid-50’s working as craftsmen. We took different paths later in life; I went to Siemens in 1971. We rekindled our relationships through the Jerry Kirby lunches after Dean’s death. We’ve been meeting once a month at Uncle Sams, hashing over all of our great times of the past.
Our hearts and prayers are with you. Shirley, I wish you and your family the best.
Ron and Barbara
Our thoughts and prayers are with you Shirley, Donnie, Vickie, and Families, on the sudden loss of your Charlie. Although backyard neighbors for some 15-20 years, the kids were probably more interactive than us adults! My main memories of Chuck and Family include:
* His pulling Rocky in wagon with motorbike for evening outings;
* Riding in car pool to 300 Area, many times quite thrilling!
* Sharing some white lightning after a hard days work;
* Sharing some of his special accomplishments with us neighbors.
* Him always knowing a solution for one of my old car problems.
We thought Donnie and Vickie were located in the Seattle area, we had seen Shirley visiting Bun Scott at Richland Life Care, and have seen Chuck and Shirley visiting at Richland Gardens. He seemed to be doing real good considering his past air accident. May God’s comforting peace be with you guys during this difficult time, and you know what Chuck would expect of you without him. I have contacted Dan in Tucson, and Patti in Yuma, and they will let their Mom know.
In Christian Love, Don and Marti
I first became firular with Chuck
in 1965 and later worked with the same company at Hanford and was at
many of his adventures and other
endevers at work. I wish his family well and will olways remember Chuck for all his feats!
Bob G. Smith & family
9-14-08
Shirley,
It has been many years since I have seen you or your family. Konrad shared snowmobiling videos of Charlie, Kenny and the gorup from this past winter. It looked like a great time had by all. Konrad called me today once he talked with Carol about this sudden loss of Charlie. I know both Kenny and Konrad enjoyed the time they shared recently with Charlie. My thoughts and prayers go out to you and yours. Take care, Judy Cook Murray
Guestbook for
Charles E. Bigelow