Charles Stene

Obituary of Charles Sherwin Stene

CHARLES SHERWIN STENE

February 20, 1928—March 12, 2020

Charles Sherwin Stene was born on the family farm homesteaded by his great grandfather in 1869, in Pelican Lake Township, near Ashby, in Grant county, Minnesota. His parents were Oscar Alvin and Gertrude Irene (Anderson) Stene. Sherwin, the oldest child, had one brother John Douglas and four sisters, Lois Carmen, Kathryn Gail, Barbara Ann and Mary Josephine. Sherwin was baptized June 11, 1928 at Pelican Lake Lutheran Church, Ashby. Lois lives in Fergus Falls now; Barbara in Oak Park Heights; the others are deceased. His paternal grandfather Christopher Stene died in 1933. His grandmother Oliana Rohn Stene lived on the farm with his family until Sherwin was about 15 years old. Oliana had been a school teacher, she was patient with children and her teachings and beliefs guided Sherwin thru-out his life. He held true to the principles instilled in his early life by his family and lived a life of integrity and honor.

His parents were farmers until 1949 when their farm became unprofitable. This was while Sherwin was stationed in Okinawa; his parents moved to Fergus Falls where Oscar worked at the State Hospital (Regional Treatment Center).

Sherwin’s schooling was obtained primarily in Grant and Otter Tail County; he graduated in 1947 from Battle Lake High School in the same class as his sister Lois. He claimed, “I didn’t want to be a ‘gravel agitator’ in the army so I enlisted in the Air Corps.” The Army Air Corps became the U.S. Air Force during his enlistment; he was assigned to the 13th Air Force. He completed jet propulsion, airplane and engine mechanic courses at Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois. He was then assigned to the Army of Occupation, Japan, at Naha Airfield, Okinawa, in the 26th Fighter Squadron where he was a Crew Chief on a P 51.

 Note: Someone else wrote this paragraph but it seems applicable. “It seemed that the only really good relationship between an officer and an enlisted man was the one between a pilot and his crew chief. The pilot officer knew very well that his own life depended on the skill of his enlisted crew chief.”

Sherwin was discharged at Connally Air Force Base, Waco, Texas, on June 19, 1950, with the rank of Sergeant. He then lived at home and worked various short term jobs such as driving a beer and ice cream delivery truck until he obtained fulltime employment at the Fergus Falls State Hospital where he worked for a few years as a psychiatric aide.

In 1952 he met Donna (Duffy) Hansen, his future bride, when she came to Fergus Falls with members of her Sioux City, Iowa, nursing class for psychiatric nursing experience.

Sherwin and Donna were married by Rev. Wm. Van Dyken on September 28, 1952, at the Federated Church in Fergus Falls with Byron Hanson and Lois Stene as their attendants. They celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary in 2019.

In June 1953 Sherwin and Donna moved to St. Paul where he thought he had obtained employment working on planes at the metropolitan airport. This did not happen when it was determined that the amount of time he had worked on planes in the service did not quite equal the amount required for the job. Disappointed, he found a job driving a delivery truck for Norm Rose at the Pioneer Company. Soon the company discovered Sherwin’s mechanical aptitude and he became their vending machine serviceman.

In October 1953 their son Chuck was born, followed by son Ron’s birth in August 1956. Chuck lives in Harris; with Cheryl Wolfgram he has three children: Scot, Randy and Alicia. Ron and his wife Cristiana live in Rochester Hills, MI. Ron and Pia Zollner have one son, Phillip. Ron and Cristiana have one daughter, Stephanie. Sherwin has five great-grandchildren; Scot has Shyla and Marla. Randy has Brady, Landon and Seth. Sherwin loved his family.

Sherwin and Donna became owners of a new home in Roseville in May 1955. Sherwin had been the proud owner of a Packard when he married but the car did have problems. (Sherwin never acknowledged the car had problems—it was his pride and joy.) Soon he purchased his first of several new cars, a 1956 Oldsmobile. It seems he passed his love of automobiles to his sons and grandsons. Ron is an engineer and Randy is an auto mechanic.

Sherwin was responsible for a considerable amount of the daily care of his sons because Donna worked full time; the two of them worked alternate shifts. In the neighborhood Sherwin was well-known and appreciated as a person who was a handyman. He could fix things; almost anything. When he was alone at home and perhaps when the young boys were sleeping he built numerous model airplanes and ships. The more complicated the hobby the better he liked it. Also during this time he painted pictures, mostly ‘paint by number’ that were popular at the time.

The family moved to Lawrence, Kansas, in 1961, where they resided in his Uncle Edwin Stene’s home while Sherwin attended the University of Kansas majoring in economics and political science. Because of Uncle Edwin’s position on the faculty there were many opportunities for Sherwin to participate in serious discussions with faculty and graduate students. He was thrilled. He had always taken an active interest in politics, world affairs and current events. His interest began when he was a child as he listened to, and learned from, his grandmother Oliana, his father and others.

With Sherwin’s new degree the family returned to Roseville in 1965. Sherwin began work for the State of Minnesota as an administrative analyst. His working title changed a few times; even the unit of government changed names from Department of Public Welfare to Department of Human Services, but he stayed in this position until his retirement in June 1990. Almost simultaneous to his retirement he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and began 37 radiation treatments which finally ended in December 1990. Just in time to help his Uncle Edwin celebrate his 90th birthday. It was a difficult trip but Sherwin sure didn’t want to miss it.

Sherwin spent many years in scouting (Asst. Scout Master), accompanying his sons on a wide variety of camping adventures and other activities including ushering Minnesota Gopher ball games. He was Sunday School Superintendent for a time at Wesley Methodist Church (Later Wheelock Parkway Methodist Church). He loved his home and took great pride in it. He gradually obtained a wide variety of tools. He and his sons were rocket specialists for a time. Then there was ‘the snowmobile’, then ‘the boat’ and ‘water-skiing’. Eventually the boys were old enough to work on cars. Sherwin tried to keep up.

Each summer the family and friends made memories at Ottertail Lake. Sherwin very much enjoyed ‘going to the lake’ and especially enjoyed his friends John Redshaw, Byron Hanson, and Duane Doroff there. They would take the boat out on the lake, play cards, and argue (discuss) politics and anything else, while supposedly fishing. They did catch some fish. Sherwin’s parents also joined us at the lake. Sherwin loved to travel. Besides three trips to Europe and several to Mexico, he visited all 50 states. A number of trips to several states were educational in nature, part of a program called ElderHostel. He also enjoyed taking his sons on trips and later he took his grandchildren. They most likely have life-time memories of grandpa refereeing preparation of campsites. Sherwin had lifetime memories of the kids’ shenanigans.

As a retiree Sherwin drove a 34-foot motorhome towing a car and thought he had conquered the world. When his health eventually determined that the motor home should be “parked” he traveled by auto, train or plane. In 1980 he had purchased ten acres of wooded land near North Branch (called Nor-Ten); he truly enjoyed his pretend occupation of farmer and woodsman; drove his small tractor there as recently as summer 2019; never mind that he sometimes under-estimated the terrain causing another episode of “tractor in the repair shop.” From 1975 until 2006 Sherwin and Donna’s hobby was square dancing and round dancing. It was a perfect fit for Sherwin’s ability to make friends with everyone. Life-long good friends were the result of this activity. Sherwin and Donna were club officers, region officers, state officers, and were the state president in 1988-89.

Sherwin was never very active in politics but lessons learned as a child listening to his elders gave him the courage and incentive to stick to his convictions which did not always follow strict party lines. He was well-read and well-informed; enjoyed discussing politics or most anything else. His book collections would probably stock a library.

Another love was music, with special admiration for the string section of an orchestra, most likely also born from family experience. His father played the violin.

Two deaths had a profound effect on Sherwin. First was when his buddy John Redshaw died young of a heart attack. The death of his brother Doug was also a very difficult time for him.

Sherwin has had numerous health problems thru the years. One very serious event was in 1997 after an afternoon of fishing with his family on the ocean near Hutchinson Island, Florida; he developed chest pain, was taken to an emergency room, where his heart stopped beating. He was resuscitated, subsequently had cardiac bypass surgery. He began his new life on January 1, 1998.

An illness causing a big change in lifestyle was a herniated lumbar disc as the result of a “missed stair step” in 2006. An epidural injection every four months kept him moving, but he was forced to spend many painful hours in his recliner. He read volumes and then more volumes as he recuperated. But various medical problems continued to follow him. Eventually in 2015 he had triple open chest surgery including a new heart valve, more stents, and removal of a lung cancer.

Recovery was slow and tedious but his recovery efforts were reasonably successful. In 2018 he was still enjoying Senior golf and even better were the get-togethers after the golf games where the ‘duffers’ tried to out-talk each other. Great friendships.

Sherwin was less able to participate in “kid” activities with his great-grandchildren than he was with his grandchildren. However, he spent many a Saturday morning with youngsters at the Children’s Museum, at McDonalds, etc. And he was always game to “take a nap” with each of his “great-grands.” Each child had a favorite book for nap time with grandpa. They were his pride and joy and again he tried to “keep up”. The children out-grew those activities about the same time that Sherwin’s health deteriorated significantly. They are now teenagers. Sherwin loved to play chess and he hoped to teach each of the young ones; he had some minor success. Following the 2015 surgery Sherwin had a daily obsession—which was to make a trip to the YMCA so he could exercise on the Nu-Step and “shoot the bull” with other old-timers—which he continued to do until December 2019. He also continued to enjoy his “lunches” with his golf buddies and “breakfasts” with square dance friends.

 In December 2019 bladder cancer and lung cancer ganged up on Sherwin. Despite his illness he accomplished his wish to travel to Florida for a last visit with some of his family. His next goal was to be able to celebrate his 92nd birthday which occurred on February 20. It was a quiet celebration; his body could no longer stave off his demons.

 It was a life well-lived. He lived it his way. He charted his own course. Son, brother, son-in-law, husband, father of two, father-in-law, grandfather of five, great-grandfather of five, uncle, cousin, brother-in-law, friend and more. We all love you Sherwin.

Sherwin’s cremains will be interred at Ft. Snelling National Cemetery at a later date, and a portion of the cremains will be spread by the family at his beloved “Nor-Ten.” May he rest in peace.

A Memorial Tree was planted for Charles
We are deeply sorry for your loss ~ the staff at Cremation Society Of Minnesota | St. Paul