Charlie Angell died on Monday, January 17, 2022, at age 73 in Burleson, TX of liver cancer.  "Charlie had a heart as big as Texas," says cousin Sarah Gehlert.  "He had a temper. After all, he was an Angell. But, he was very kind to people and immensely understanding. I really loved him."

As a toddler in 1951, Charlie's family had moved to Union, Missouri after his mother died.   Aunt Mary and Uncle Charlie Gehlert became substitute parents and their daughter, Sarah Jane—barely two weeks older than Charlie—particularly bonded with Charles.

Charlie's dad, Herb, married again to Polly Hedinger ,and the family moved to Texas and then to Missouri, Illinois, and, finally, Fort Worth.  After graduating R. L. Paschal High School, Charlie schooled at Tarrant County Junior College in Arlington, though he remained an avid Texas Christian University fan his entire life.  Charlie found joy in working with his hands:  piano, guitar, cooking, woodcarving and carpentry.

He moved to Colorado in the 70s and worked as a carpenter-cook for the traveling chautauqua association.  After several years in the mountains—including living in a tipi and a dome and learning the art of foraging ( Note: brother Jim says Charlie was an avid naturalist, learning all the birds, flowers and trees)—Charlie returned to Fort Worth, married Lynn Nelson, became step-father to Dominic Nelson, and also had a much-cherished daughter, Jessica Ellise.  While Charlie's marriage failed, his bond with his daughter grew stronger. He took great joy in her and, later, in her son, Ryan, to whom he became PawPaw (a term he had previously disparaged but came to treasure).

An extremely bright fellow with perfectionist tendencies, Charlie did carpentry projects from the ground up, designing, building and finishing sheds, garages and barns as well as creating fine furniture and chess sets with intricate wood inlays. An innovative worker, he once turned a circular saw into a table saw by situating it upside down on his lap. Though Charlie was a precise craftsman, he admitted to being a poor businessman and renounced self-employment and worked almost a decade as a foreman for MBS Construction. He had an ear for musical notes, perfect pitch, and loved singing and listening to music. His love for music carried over to his daughter, Jessica, who cannot sing as he could, but loves listening to music of all genres, more so from her dad's era than her own!

Charlie loved helping people and was very outgoing.  He generously shared his skills by constructing "Lincoln logs" and toolboxes for children as well as closets, porches, garages, basement bedrooms, recreation rooms, bathrooms, and hidden rooms with and for many relatives and friends.  When he found himself in a nursing facility due to a stroke, he insisted on pushing less-mobile, wheelchair-bound patients to their destinations while entertaining them with his droll sense of humor.

Charlie's family will hold a summer celebration of life on brother Jim's ranch in South Dakota.  Charlie was predeceased by his parents, Herbert and Marye Angell (neé Norton) and step-mom Polly Hedinger; younger brother Jerry Angell; and by his good friends Ron Linn, Lynn Baker and Jim Bass.  Left to remember Charlie in laughter and tears are his daughter Jessica E. Angell and grandson Ryan Shields, brother Jim Angell (Karen Hossack), sister Bev Oliver (Jim), sister-in-law Margie Angell, and cousins Dr. Sarah Gehlert (Dr. Roy Wilson) and Chod Hedinger (Sari), as well as two generations of nieces and nephews and his lifelong friends Terry Hudson, Greg Thomas (Tracy Helmick), Kent Weeks, Kelly Schurman, and many others.

If you wish to memorialize Charlie, enjoy grapes or a vanilla milkshake, take your family on a wildlands walk or bike ride and share "Charlie stories."