(Community Matters) with condolences to the Mitchell/Minshew family – Betty, Michael, Milinda & Jason
Charles Beach Minshew died on Dec. 2, 2011 in Rockport, Texas. He was born Charles Mac Beach in Tecumseh, Oklahoma on January 7, 1917 to Bessie Davis Beach and James Harmon Beach. When Charles was three weeks old, Bessie died and he was adopted by her sister, Lorena Minshew in Sherman, Texas, thus one branch of the Beach family is named Minshew.
Charles graduated from Sherman High School in 1935. He attended Tyler Junior College,where he met Eloise Tyler, whom he married in 1937. Charles served in the 2nd Armored Division of the U.S. Army Infantry in World War II. He fought in the Battle at Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge, for which he was awarded the Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars. Recovering in London, Charles thought his war days were likely over and he would be sent home, but instead, he spent the last year of the war in Paris, writing the entertainment column for Stars and Stripes, the newspaper of the U.S. Armed Forces. The newly liberated Paris was the destination for most U.S. servicemen on leave in the European Campaign of the war.
Charles loved to tell stories! Charles regaled family and friends for decades with stories (often repeated and sometimes tweaked) of his entrepreneurship, which included promoting dances, musical shows and brewing his own recipe during prohibition. Wherever you visited, Charles had a story about it or a friend who lived there or something similar he had done. He told stories of fishing expeditions, of hunting, of breaking his leg while night skiing, etc. He told stories of his life on the road as a traveling newspaperman – the stint in Paris turned out to be fortuitous in more than one way.
Charles was a salesman. He worked for various publishing companies and newspapers, ensuring that racks in drug stores, bus stations and groceries were full of magazines, papers, pulp novels, and even, The National Enquirer. Charles also won many sales awards selling trucks for Steakley Chevrolet in Dallas. People bought what Charles was selling, because of the sparkle in his eye, the subtle lilt in his voice, and his handsome, friendly air.
In September 1953, Charles married Barbara Howard Wilcoxen of Durant, Oklahoma, who traveled with him for fifty-eight years for business, pleasure and relocation. Their life together was an adventure, including living in California, Dallas, Seattle, St. Louis, Sherman and Rockport. They lived for five years on a 42-foot sailboat, harbored in Seattle. Their home in Rockport, where they retired, has a boat dock on the bay, and a deck from which Charles developed lasting friendships with more than one sea gull. (His gull friends.)
As a lifelong sailor and fisherman, lakes, rivers and oceans were a huge part of Charles’ life. Many of his fondest memories were of Woodlake, the once amusement park in Denison, Texas that became the private retreat and soul of his family. He held anybody who would listen captive with stories of sailing on White Rock Lake or off the Texas coast or his and Barbara’s sailing journeys from Seattle to Alaska. On the Alaska trip, Charles and his friends set a record for the largest halibut caught in Glacier Bay, Alaska. Charles fished anywhere and everywhere he could. He also loved to hunt and remembered fondly several great bird dogs of his life.
A sculptor in Seattle once made a bust of Charles in a seaman’s cap because he personified an iconic image of the rugged outdoorsman, fisherman, Hemmingway-esque man. Yet, Charles could also tell stories about operas he had enjoyed or brag on the quality of the St. Louis symphony. Charles could and would talk about anything. He was the one in the room people gravitated toward.
Charles was predeceased by his parents—Beaches and Minshews—and by his siblings, who were often the co-stars of his larger-than-life stories: Juanita Beach, James Harmon Beach Jr., William Davis Beach, William Newell Beach, and Anna Maurine Snouffer. He is also predeceased by a grandson, Les Mitchell.
Charles is survived by his wife, Barbara Minshew of Rockport and by his children and their spouses: Robert and Honey Minshew of Sherman, Betty (Minshew) and Michael Mitchell of Sherman, James Minshew of Sacramento, CA, and Ron and Jan Minshew of Plano. Charles is survived by nine grandchildren and their spouses: Michael Mitchell, Jr., Marshall Minshew, Monica Minshew Cowsert, Milinda Mitchell, Jason Minshew, Avril Minshew, Emily Minshew, Joanna Minshew and Alexander Minshew. He is also survived by eight great-grandchildren.
Charles Beach Minshew was at home in any port. He had friends and family and strangers who became friends everywhere. He never met a dog or cat he wouldn’t pet – or talk to. More than one young child looked at him wondering if he were Santa Claus. In a way, he was.
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