'Grandpa Chuck' found niche as fix-it man
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A memorial service for Charles Wayne "Grandpa Chuck" Davis will be held at 5:30 p.m. Friday at the American Legion. Davis died of a pulmonary embolism at home on Nov. 8. He was 59. "It was a shock to us. He was a single father, so he was my mom and dad, and my best friend," said daughter Liz Stearns.
Davis came to Haines from Bend, Ore. in April 2001 to see old friend Bear Harrop and stayed. His daughter joined him a few months later.
Davis worked part-time for Cornerstone Home Healthcare as a home health aide, and as a repairman of small appliances, vacuum cleaners, and coin-op laundry machines. "He was a very talented and very nice man. If he couldn't fix it, he wouldn't charge you," Haisler Hardware's Jeff Haisler said. "He liked to tinker with pretty much anything. Radiators. Appliances. He was one of those people who was compelled to fix things. He never lost his patience and would keep at it until he had it figured out," Haisler said.
Stearns said her father would use parts from many broken vacuum cleaners to create a single new one. "They looked a little funny, but they worked."
Davis attended the Salvation Army Church. Lt. David Kyle recalled, "He was genuinely interested in and loved the people in Haines. Our conversations were about how he could make life better for himself and others."
Before church began, Kyle could tell by Davis's expression the moment his grandchildren arrived. "When they came in the door, he'd light up," Kyle said.
Davis was born July 18, 1955 in Burlington, Wash. and reared in Oregon by his mother, Frieda Davis. He left school in the tenth grade, joined the Navy at 17 and completed his training, but did not want to learn to swim and was honorably discharged shortly afterward, his daughter said.
Davis settled in Bend and operated a cabinet shop with a friend. He built waterbed frames, furniture, cabinets and vanities, and drove the small company's tractor trailer delivery truck around Oregon with his infant daughter in a car seat. He worked on appliances, played drums in folk and rock bands around central Oregon, and worked part-time as a security guard at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds. He appeared imposing, but was a gentle man. "He was a big teddy bear," his daughter said. She said Davis really liked racing demolition derby cars that he built.
Davis's life centered around his family and a few close friends. He helped with the delivery of his oldest grandchild and cut her umbilical cord. "He doted on his daughter and grandchildren," Jeff Haisler said.
The urn with "Grandpa Chuck's" ashes will remain with the ones he loved, right next to the television. "He always had it on. He loved sci-fi, so it was either that or the news," Stearns said.
In addition to his daughter Elizabeth, Davis leaves grandchildren Aireona Davis, Lynndsey and J.J. Stearns, and step-grandchildren Josh and Lisa Stearns of Haines; sister Bernette Davis of Eugene, Ore., and several nieces and nephews.
