Charles A. Marquette

We celebrate the full life of Charles Albert Marquette of Pulaski Drive, Pottsville.  Our beloved father, Charlie, left us days short of his 91st birthday, on Saturday, June 4th, only after making the world and his local community a better, gentler and more compassionate place. He faced a brief, challenging illness in Providence Place, Pine Grove with grace, courage and natural resolve, never ceasing to convey his eternal curiosity, sincere interest in others and civility to all those around him.

Charlie was born in Mount Carmel, the son of Albert Penrose Marquette from Burnside near Shamokin and Evelyn Minerva Bowers of Mount Pleasant and named after his great uncle, Civil War medal-of-honor winner, Charles D. Marquette. He grew up on Market Street in Mount Carmel with his older sister Beverly (‘Bev’) and younger brothers James (‘Jim’) and Carl (‘Butch”). In 1945, he entered Mt. Carmel High School, where he was affectionately known by all as “Chilly”. During his high school years, he was a 3-sport letterman. He graduated in 1949, excelling across football, basketball and track. Captaining in his senior year, he was a rare, fast-running, left-handed quarterback who daunted any opposing defense. He was also a punt-return specialist, and due to his blazing speed, held the school record for years. One of his favorite football memories was defeating Pottsville on their home field during the ‘48-’49 season with a late, game-winning, touchdown pass to teammate Bonesy Adams.

 In 1949-50, he left home for prep school at Cheshire Academy, Connecticut. His goal was to prepare for West Point or Yale. Unfortunately,  color-blindness eliminated the first, and a tie for a scholarship the latter. Charlie deferred his place to his good friend Hap Golden. Instead, he opted to head to Lafayette in Easton, PA in ‘50-’51. There, he quarterbacked for the Lafayette Leopards, earned a demanding engineering degree with a minor in History and roomed with lifelong friend from Minersville, George Vernonsky. During college, he helped with the Cass Township football team’s summer conditioning.

 A field trip to Gettysburg with his Lafayette professor and then history department chair, Dr. Edwin B. Coddington, author of the landmark book on the battle, The Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command, ignited a lifelong passion for “that hallowed ground” where his namesake had participated. One of his cherished college memories was making a roundtrip tour with Dr. Coddington from Easton to Gettysburg in his first Plymouth. Charlie later made an annual pilgrimage to Gettysburg with his brother Jim on the anniversary of the battle, becoming a fixture on the PCN battlewalks in his cavalry hat. The 125th Gettysburg anniversary in 1988 was a special year when Charlie attended with his brother, father and son.

 He had an ROTC scholarship while at Lafayette and after graduation did basic training in Fort Benning, Georgia, along with lifelong friend Donny Green, earning his jump wings and a marksmanship badge. He and Donny went on to serve together in the “Old Reliables”, the US Army 9^th Infantry. They traveled by troop ship to Europe in April 1954 and served through 1956 as Captains in the 39^th Infantry Regiment. Their unit was stationed in Zirndorf, then West Germany, protecting the Fulda Gap against Russian invasion from the east. While there, Charlie also quarterbacked the regimental football team and roamed on leave throughout Europe. His love affair with  Volkswagens began when he took one up and down the winding roads of the Alps. He continued to act as an army reservist in later years in Schuylkill Haven.

 Charlie returned to the US after the army in 1957, living in Ashland where he was a supervisor for John J. Cullen Mining and Tunnel Contracting Company and Sayre Incorporated. During the 1960s, he played a pivotal role in the design and construction of the Sharp Mountain Ski Area in Pottsville, which was a center of winter activity for the entire coal region. As Sharp Mountain’s first chief, Charlie also played a founding role in the startup of the Greater Pottsville Winter Carnival. He spent his summers working at Perk’s Electrical in Long Beach Island, New Jersey, vacationing there as well. Working for D.A. Kessler Contracting, he also supervised key elements in the construction of the stretch of Interstate 81 from Pine Grove to Harrisburg. In the 1970s, he was a manufactured-house designer both at Hallmark Homes, Pine Grove and Imperial Homes, Hegins. Later, he was a manager at Weiner Iron & Metal, Pottsville. He finished his career with a decade at World Resources Company, Pottsville, designing storage facilities which were shipped around the world up until his reluctant retirement in his mid 80s. After retiring, he dedicated his time to the upkeep of his historic caretaker’s home, part of the former Cloud estate. Charlie was a life-long member and greeter at the Evangelical United Methodist Church and an ardent supporter of the Schuylkill County Historical Society, both in Pottsville.

 He was preceded in his passing by his wife Peggy (Fox) Marquette. He is survived by his son Charlie Marquette and wife Lisa of Harrisburg, and his children from a previous marriage, son Jacy Marquette and wife Amy of Bloomsburg, daughter Catherine Marquette of Rome and two grandsons, Pascal and Marcelino Pichon-Marquette in the UK.

 A commemorative service for Charlie will be held at 11:00 am on Friday, June 10, 2022 at James E. Humphrey Funeral Home, 1112 West Market Street, Pottsville with the viewing before hand from 9:30am to 11:00 am. Charlie will subsequently be buried with Military Honors in Indiantown Gap National, Cemetery, at 1:30 pm on Tuesday, June 14, 2022.

Please share your memories and condolences with Charlie’s family by signing the guest book at www.jehumphreyfuneralhome.com.

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