Advertisement It’s common to see him razzin’ around town on his red Riva, and even more common to see him on his regular, pedal-power bike ’cuz he needs the exercise. Ah yes, exercise! For this spindly gent, it’s a staple diet.
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From home on West Grove Street shared with wife, Leota, Chuck pedals around town and frequently ends up at Redwood Café on Hwy. 44 for some folksy jawin’ — and a challenge. “I always ask the folks there if they would like to join me in a friendly contest of push-ups and sit-ups. I’ve never had any takers.”
Such was the case recently in Washington, D.C. Chuck and 12 others from Caledonia were Freedom Honor Flight participants visiting the World War II memorial. His good-natured challenge drew no takers; a few fellow travelers doubted his exercise routine. So in front of the memorial, Chuck put on a demonstration. Could it be doubters were blinded by Chuck’s artificial right arm?
The arm was lost 28 years ago in a quarry accident in La Crescent, Minn. “This (artificial limb) is the only thing I have, so I make the best of it.”
With a boundless sense of humor, Chuck tells: “I used to water ski. During an outing I took a spill and the arm came off. It was lost until a fisherman snagged it and thought maybe there was a human body somewhere near.” By this time, Chuck had “a new arm.”
Chuck was a paratrooper in the South Pacific during World War II, and has flown airplanes of the ultralight variety for more than 60 years. He took me to his hangar at the Houston County Airport and proudly showed me his aircraft — a Challenger (52-horsepower engine), a new Kolb (35- to 40-hp engine), and a damaged red Challenger hanging from the ceiling as a reminder of what could go wrong. Several years ago, the red one clipped some pine trees and went down. Except for bruises, Chuck went unscathed.
He’s already getting geared up for his annual solo flight — this time in the Kolb — to the Oshkosh Fly-In next July. “I’ve done this for many, many years. It’s a 160-mile flight during which I land once to gas up. I have a hand-held radio for directions, and just follow everyone else to Oshkosh to an area reserved for ultralight planes. I love flying — gives me something to do. And I meet many interesting fellow flyers, some who are 93.”
What else is Chuck into? Well, he runs marathons, in-line skates along the Root River bike trail, and enjoys skiing down Damnation Hill at Mount La Crosse.
“I’ve run more marathons than anyone in Caledonia.” Eighteen have been in the Grandma’s event in Duluth (Minn.) held each June. When he was 81, Chuck took first place in the over-80 group. He adds: “This is so inspirational. I run about three miles a day to get ready.” Marathons have been an avocation for 26 years, beginning with the annual Minneapolis event. The 26.2 miles start in downtown Minneapolis and end in St. Paul. He’s run 14 of them.
On his in-line skates, “It seems like I’m standing still with nothing on my feet. I use the bike trail from Houston to Rushford, and I wear knee and elbow pads because it’s easy to fall.”
On the ski slopes, Chuck usually is accompanied by friend Donald Denny of La Crosse. “We’ve been doing this for about 20 years, and sometimes we fall. It’s something you can always get better at. It takes us about 13 minutes to get to the top of Damnation, and just one minute to come down.“
With exercise as his staple diet, how does food figure in? “Food has never been a favorite pastime for me. I eat a little bit of everything, but not much of anything. When I sit and watch TV, I get real tired so I get up and exercise and feel real good again.”
We should all be so assertive — and as smart.
