Charles E. Wimpy- Eulogy

Charles E. Wimpy, affectionately known as "Chuck", was born to William and Pauline Wimpy on February 1, 1938 in Elk City, Oklahoma. He was the fourth of five boys that were raised in a poor, hard-working, Oklahoma farming family. Picking cotton and stealing watermelon from neighboring fields were a way of life. Chuck loved all of his family dearly and often spoke of those years with pride and dignity. It was then that he developed his well-known "sun-up to sun-down" work ethic, stemming largely from the godly influence of his mother. It was also during his childhood that Chuck gave his heart to the Lord

From a young age he was known to have a gift and a passion to work with his hands and a mind for all things mechanical. His brothers all tell the same story of how they only had one bicycle between the five of them and were always upset with Chuck because he inevitably had it torn apart, trying to modify it and make it better, but none of them had the chance to actually ride it. He loved to work on cars and anything mechanical and developed this skill to the point that it was intuitive; his family and friends often came to him for advice and help. He took great pleasure and loved helping others in this way. It was a trait that followed him even to the very last days of his life.

At age 13 his family moved from Oklahoma to New Mexico. Four years later he decided to quit school in his junior year to go to work for Valley Gold Dairies as a maintenance person, servicing the delivery vehicles and machinery. His boss, Burt Wakefield, often spoke to him of the importance of his education and finally convinced him to return to school. Chuck graduated from Valley High School, here in Albuquerque in 1957.

As a teenager and young adult Chuck would most often be found cutting up in the roller rink, or racing the streets in his '55 Ford convertible. He recently mentioned the time that he and his best friend Weldon made it from Albuquerque to Amarillo in about 2 ½ hours, while outrunning and eluding the police.

In November of 1959 his life changed dramatically. At a youth group rally in Belen he saw a young girl, Betty, for the first time. After the service that night, Chuck, and Betty's brother, Don, ended up racing their identical '59 Ford's from Belen to Albuquerque. One of the few races he ever lost because he blew up his transmission trying to shift into fourth gear. However, a few weeks later Chuck and Betty went to the roller rink on their first date. They were engaged the following March and married in June of 1960. They just celebrated their 42nd anniversary this year (2002).

Barely married a year, Chuck was drafted into the United States Army. He was quickly shipped off to boot camp at Ft. Carson and later stationed in Petersburg, Virginia with 200 other soldiers in the Quarter Master division. Out of those 200, 2 young men were selected to serve in Germany. Chuck was one of them. Forced to leave his young bride, they lived apart for18 months. One story that is often recalled involved a weekly contest among all of the barracks to improve their living quarters. The winners were given a 3-day weekend pass. Because of his vast skills that even included making curtains and radiator covers, Chuck led his squad to victory and enjoyed the weekend holiday every single week they held the contest. Chuck served his country with great pride; he loved his time in the military, and was a very patriotic citizen.

In 1963 he left the Army and returned to Albuquerque to be reunited with his wife and settle down. His first son, Michael Wayne, was born in December of 1964 and his second son, Jeffery Lee, was born in November of 1968. Six months later Chuck and his family moved to Aztec, NM to begin a new business venture with his brother Ken. The two of them opened a new car dealership, "Wimpy Chevrolet", where Chuck owned and operated the service department. Within a few years, he started his own auto repair business, "C&C Auto Repair" which he grew to be a successful company for almost 20 years.

Chuck's name and reputation was well known throughout the four-corners region. In the late '70's he ran for and was elected to the city commissioner board in Aztec, narrowly defeating the hometown incumbent by only 9 votes. In his last year of that term he served as the Mayor of Aztec, New Mexico.

In the late '80's Chuck and his family moved to Dallas where he got to enjoy living in close proximity to two of his brother's, Bill and Ed, and worked as a service manager for Uhaul. Only 7 years later, returning to his roots and his love for the country life, they moved to Edgewood, NM and bought a house with a few acres of land. It was then that He and his family became involved with his wonderful church family at the Believers Center of Albuquerque.

Chuck's life was filled with wonderful memories and his heart was deeply intertwined with all of his family. He loved his wife and kids, his mother, his brother and all of their families, his aunts, uncles, and cousins, and of course his church family - in all of the various places he lived. In fact, Chuck really never met a stranger. He always said that when he died he hoped he would lie down and never wake up. And that's exactly what happened. He went to bed on August 7, 2002 feeling great, and woke up on August 8th feeling even better in the presence of God.

If he were here today, he would tell us all to love your family and serve and love God with all of your heart. And he would wonder why were making all of this fuss over him. Never realizing how much he impacted so many people and how much we all truly loved him.