In Memory

Chuck West

Chuck West



 
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08/27/15 07:46 PM #1    

Marcia Harris (Wilcox)

Great guy!  We made many memories together.


08/28/15 03:26 PM #2    

Karen Willes (Callan)

Very sad to see young faces ( '66 pix) and realize they are now gone.

RIP


08/28/15 10:14 PM #3    

Tom May

I believe Chuck passed a number of years ago. If anyone knows, I would like to know. He was a great guy. I knew him best before high school when he lived on Chantry Rd. I lived in Parkwood Knolls which wasn't too long of a walk. Chuck was a bombastic guy, but had a good heart. At that time of our lives, he was mature beyond his years. We shot 22 rifles in an area beneath their house...a crawl space that his Dad set up as a target range! It must have been well insulated for their neighbors not to complian.

08/30/15 09:10 AM #4    

John Bergquist

Chuck was a close friend throughout grade school, high school and after we were both married. He died in a tragic accident in Houston on Feburary 9, 1980 leaving a wife but no children. He died when the large helicopter he was piloting to an off shore oil rig in heavy fog was hit by another helicopter that descended into his rotors. Both crashed in a school yard and surprisingly the other pilot walked away. Chuck was killed instantly. I flew with Jeff Anderson to Houston to attend his funeral, and later kept in close contact with his parents in Edina until they passed away. Chuck was a great friend and we shared many of the same interests (cars, motorcycles and the great outdoors). He was an accomplished pilot and even owned an acrobatic plane that that I managed to loose it in after one of his stunts. He didn't appreciate that. He spent an entire summer with me in his garage building a highly modified dune buggy for me.  We it took for one ride. When the front wheels came off the ground on every shift we realized it wasn't smart to keep it. His collection of unusual British and Italian motorcycles (several of which I later purchased and and now wish I had kept) and vehicles including modified Jeeps, a Corvette and several others interesting rides were always a treat to behold. We were stopped one night while riding a Royal Enfield down Lyndale Ave. We were 14 at the time and they they let me walk home, but Chuck insisted on waiting and helping the tow truck load the bike properly before being escorted to the precinct.  Needless to say, Chuck was the Best Man at my wedding. He is missed and I think of him often, and yes, Tom May is correct about the shooting range in his basement where he sighted in his hunting rifles. He had the most tolerant parents I have ever met, his mother being one of the very early women medical doctors, and his father a senior partner in what is still one of the largest law firms in Minneapolis (Dorsey.............and at that time, West). Thanks to everyone who shared their memories, and Marcia,  you were a great singer in a great band when the two of you played and toured together in the Land Rover for several years.

 

 

 

 


08/13/19 01:50 AM #5    

Jeff P. Anderson

Everything John Bergquist says about Chuck is spot on.  I first met Chuck in 7th grade gym class, and then in band where he played saxophone.  Chuck was exceptionally strong and could have been a gifted athlete.  But sports never interested him.  He loved his shop, working on cars, motorcycles and playing saxophone in a dance band.  And Chuck was fiercely loyal to his friends.  I remember Chuck in gym class putting a bully right on the ground for picking on a vulnerable student.  But being tough wasn’t Chuck’s style.  He was a gentle soul and a wonderful friend to everybody he knew.

Chuck had many interests as John said, and two of them were hunting and fishing.  That was the glue that tied us together.  Every fall we hunted pheasants and ducks wherever we could find them.  Chuck had nifty parents whom he loved dearly.  And his mother had a Jeep that she readily loaned out for our outdoor excursions.  One fall, several years after high school, Chuck and I spent ten days “up north” hunting and fishing.  We had a ball.  And closer to home we used to sneak into a duck marsh that was leased by Cargill Companies.  Today I own that marsh and wish Chuck was here to share it with me.  

Chuck was a skilled pilot in both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. He owned a helicopter spraying business and moved back and forth between jobs in the North and South.  As John said, Chuck died tragically outside Houston Texas where he had a home with his wife, Helen.  Chuck loved the North Shore and he would take Helen to Lutsen in the fall and sometimes my wife and I would join them.  After he died we spread his ashes on Eagle Mountain overlooking Lake Superior.  So hard to say good bye to a good friend.

 

 


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