Charles Eugene Kauffman
1932 - 2022
Charles E Kauffman age 90 of Clemmons NC passed away on 3/12/2022.
He grew up very poor and wanted to see the world and have a different life so he joined the military (Navy & Air Force) at 17 and served our country for 20 years. Retired from the military then worked for Fisher Price and retired for the final time.
Charles had a fantastic memory, artistic ability (oil painting) and especially his love of reading, crossword puzzles and feeding the birds. He was a hard worker and found joy in the simple things of life. He traveled throughout the world but was the happiest on a piece of land away from the hustle and bustle of modern life.
He is survived by his children Sue Kauffman, Sandy K Anderson, Linda Kauffman and Corey Kauffman and his grandchildren Kage, Kaz and Kit Guenther along with several nieces and nephews he was especially fond of his niece Gina Miller and nephew Chris Kauffman.
A memorial in his honor will be announced soon.
Heaven has gained a great man.
Charlie was a amazing person! Glad I got the opportunity to meet him. Heaven has gained a great person.
Charlie was a great man. He liked the simple things in life. Heaven has gained a great man. I will miss him.
We take a lot of things for granted in this world. Everything from the cars we drive to the air we breathe.
The thing almost every single person in this world is guilty of taking for granted the most though, is our parents.
It’s so very easy to become complacent and feel that they will always be there, no matter what because they always have been there.
I myself am very guily of this.
My Father, was a kind and compassionate human being, always willing to help no matter who it was or the problem they had. He was quiet and reserved with more interest in a long read of a good book rather than conecerning himself with worldy affairs. A lot of us say will say it’s the simple things in life that matter then go on to chase the extravagent. Not my Father, his joy was found in the actual simple things, bird watching, art, music and history. To him a perfect day was exactly what we all imagine in our heads but can never assertaine. A warm sunny day, birds chriping and a book in your hand.
They say the purpose of children is to be more than what their parents were, but excluding his old fashioned stubbornness, I strive for nothing more than to be even half the man he was.
I never had a doubt in my mind that I could count on him no matter what, that he would have walked through hell itself for his family.
I have made many mistakes in my life, but the biggest, most impactful was taking him for granted. I believed deep down inside that he would always be there, even in his aging years. I was far from the best son I could have been mean while no matter what I did he remained the best Father a man could ask for.
For him, his passing was the shedding of a skin, for me it is the loss of the strongest man I’ve ever known.
A time that has stayed in my mind since a small child was when we first moved to North Carolina, and at the time we did not have central heat so he installed this old woodstove into the fireplace and would go around to new construction sites offering to cut the trees they had fallen and haul them off so he could use them for firewood.
I remember distinctly that he would start the stove to warm up the house before I got up to go to school, but the memory that sticks in my mind the most is he was outside in the dead of winter with strep throat, in the rain splitting logs to feed the wood stove and told me to go back inside so I didnt get sick.
Were he here today he would tell all of us to quit mopping around over him. This is a man who always put himself last in every situation so those around him could flourish. And for that I could never in a million lifetimes repay him for.
Charitable and honest above all else. Out of all the people I have encountered in my life he was the only one I can say without a shadow of a doubt never told me a lie.
The lessons I have taken away from such a great man are to always look a man in the eye when you shake his hand, to always do the right thing no matter how hard it may be, but most importantly always enjoy the little things as once all the extravagant things are gone, the little things are all we have.