Overlooking the magnificent shores of the Pacific coast, stand groves of ancient and majestic Sequoia sempervirens. Redwoods are the tallest trees on the planet, but no one can survive alone. They only thrive in family circles with increasingly wide and strong intertwined roots that stability even during the most powerful storms is assured and food is continually shared. Redwoods take care of each other.
On October 12, 2021, a tree fell in our forest. Our beloved and revered husband, daddy, daddy, Charles Frederick Hewitt, born June 19, 1946 in Alhambra, California, triumphantly entered Heaven, met his Savior, Jesus Christ, face to face and heard these words precious: “Bravo, my good and faithful servant! Let’s celebrate together! (Matthew 25:23 NLT)
When Chuck realized his days on earth were coming to an end, he spoke with his wife, all of his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, assured us of his undying love and reminded us to always take care of one. others. Like the redwoods he feasted on, caring for one another is something Chuck has intentionally grafted into generations of our family culture.
Chuck would not hesitate to tell anyone that the source of his love, hope, wisdom, and “everlasting optimism†was his faith in the Lord. He became a disciple of Jesus Christ in his childhood through the kindness and discipleship of those who serve in the Boys’ Christian League in Arcadia, Calif., And has remained a staunch believer throughout his life. The men of BCL (now Kare Youth League) taught him who he was in the Lord, that he was created with purpose, and that he could help others along the way. They also nurtured his love for team sports and equipped him for his vocation as a junior football coach for the next 30 years.
Chuck was captain of the Duarte High School football team when he spotted a beautiful girl from the drill team named Lila Jean Crandell. He took the advice of his trainer to pursue the girl with a healthy reputation and married her on April 2, 1966. A few months later, Chuck was drafted into the United States Army.
His typing ability and the technical skills he acquired growing up around his father’s television and radio repair shop met an immediate need for field boots in Vietnam. He served as a communications specialist and was in Saigon during the Tet Offensive of January 1968. Chuck suffered for a long time from physical illnesses due to the regular spraying of Agent Orange inflicted on him while serving his country, and was awarded 100% Service-Related Disability status by the VA in 2012. Our family expresses their gratitude to the Sheridan, Wyoming, VA Family Caregiver Program staff and others who have honored their services with great support, respect and kindness.
Chuck and Lila’s eldest son, Randy, was born in 1967, eight months before Chuck returned from Vietnam. In 1969, they welcomed their daughter Kimberlee.
A passion for culture and culture was planted early in Chuck’s heart and so he began his career at the LA County Arboretum. While there in 1972, he developed three varieties of rex begonias, including the “Lila Jean†and the “Hawaiian Freakout†still on display in the tropical greenhouse of the Arboretum that Chuck designed and installed.
Many garden clubs in the San Gabriel Valley have invited Chuck to speak and teach at their events and through this community service, Chuck discovered his love for teaching. Through Bill GI, he obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees and became professor of horticulture and forestry and later dean of agriculture at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California. He was a firm believer in the value of vocational education and by advising students and facilitating enrollment programs he helped hundreds of students complete their studies with a clear career direction. Several times over the years he would meet former students who thanked him for his help in guiding their academic and professional development to places like Bellagio, San Diego Padre Stadium, Santa Anita Racecourse, the Rose Bowl and Dodger Stadium.
Among his most treasured accomplishments he carried the title of Agricultural Teacher and his wall filled with plaques of appreciation and honor that he has received over the years for his immense support of 4-H and FFA. The 300 acre Mt. Sac farm became a playground and classroom for our family and nurtured Chuck and his children ‘s innate fondness for farming. This passion has continued through our generations and Dad wholeheartedly shared his wisdom and made sure all of his boys had tractors to help them achieve their dreams.
No one ever had to ask Chuck twice if he wanted to take a road trip. He loved to lose himself in exploration and particularly appreciated the diverse beauty of his home state of California, while regaling his family with botanical names of plants and trees and tidbits of history that were often linked to the role played by our previous generations of Hewitt and McFarlands. He firmly bound us to our earthly and heavenly inheritances and strengthened our purpose in walking the life always faithful, quick to forgive, looking to the future, never doubting, truly trusting and refusing to give up. Countless times we have remembered the motto of his life: “I can! And “Hewitt can do it!” inspired by the verse of his life: “For I can do anything through Christ, who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:13 NLT)
We describe him as possessing True Grit, which was most evident in his physical strength given the ailments and chronic pain that he overcame and persevered on a daily basis. We will not trust the long list of infirmities he faced because he did not allow them to define him and chose to joyfully glorify God with each of his 27,509 days. Those days multiplied when divine provision came from her brother, Robert, who literally gave his life for his brother in 1991 and gave him a kidney. The beautiful kidney worked perfectly until one day Chuck entered Heaven. Thank you, Uncle Bob, because of your invaluable gift, Daddy knew his great-grandchildren.
Chuck and Lila invested in raising their children and then the Lord called them on their next adventure – marriage and family ministry – which would be their main mission for the rest of their time together. Chuck and Lila lived and breathed the wise counsel of the Holy Spirit and were the vessels he used to save so many marriages in their sphere of influence and on missionary journeys to Nicaragua, the Philippines, South Korea. , Russia and Siberia.
When he retired from Mount Sac, the time was perfect for him and Lila to step in with their career experience in education and their hearts turned to families as director and administrator of the New Jerusalem Christian Academy in Phelan. , California, where they served homeschooled families for many years. . They did not know how their love and guidance to a multitude of couples and families would exponentially increase the size of their own families, blessing them beyond their imagination with many beloved spiritual children and grandchildren, including Raymond and Bonnie Millar, Aaron and Angela McGinty, Mike and Terri Leathers, Robert and Cheryl Boone and Roy and Kelly Eckerdt.
Always up for a new adventure and road trip, Chuck eagerly took his bride’s hand, hopped on the wagon with Kim’s family, and headed to Cowboy State in 2006. He s ‘found himself at home in a farming community and signed up to serve as the Arborist / Parks Superintendent for the City of Powell from 2008 to 2013. One of his favorite aspects of horticulture, alongside his heart of a trainer, was the management of the sports fields and he was incredibly happy to renovate many sports fields in Powell.
A dedicated public servant even in retirement, Chuck became chaplain of the Powell Police Department, the Wyoming Highway Patrol, the 72nd Excelsior New York Brigade of the Civil War in Northern California, and the Regional Composite Squadron of the Yellowstone Civil Air Patrol. He has also served on the Yellowstone Behavioral Board of Directors, the Powell Valley Healthcare Ethics Committee, the Grace Point Elders Council and as President of the Powell Ministerial Association.
Chuck, for the moment, leaves behind his beautiful Lila, whom he has faithfully cherished throughout their 55 years of marriage. He was delighted with their full quiver, which includes their sons Charles R. “Randy” and Lisa Hewitt of Susanville, Calif., And their daughter Kimberlee and Ronald Yount of Powell, Wyoming; Beloved grandchildren Charles “CJ” and Holly Hewitt of Janesville, Calif., Amelia “Mimi” and Preston Eckerdt of Mercer, Pa., Sarah Hewitt of Redding, Calif., Lilah “Lacy” and Zac Higgins of Centerville, Virginia, Hannah and Jack Antonucci of Susanville, California, Benjamin and Ariel Yount of Mercer, Pennsylvania, and Samuel Yount of Powell, Wyoming; and adored great grandchildren Blain, Adelaide, Grace, Felicity and Maya Eckerdt, Fletcher and Elladee Higgins, Quin, Archer and Theo Hewitt and Zeke Yount. Great-grandson Charles Hewitt IV “Charlie Bean” and grandson Jacob Yount met their dad in Heaven.
As our baby boys ran up to him and wrapped their arms around Daddy’s neck, he was also greeted by his parents Fred and Louise (Carey) Hewitt, parents Lila Bernie and Thelma (Schambers) Crandell who loved him like theirs, and his little sister Jeanie Greeran. He is also survived by his siblings Terry and Gary Milwood of Monroe, GA, Linda Eiselein of Coos Bay, Oregon, Jerry Greeran of Wrightwood, Calif., Robert and Janice Hewitt of Idyllwild, Calif., And many other members of family and friends.
Interment took place on October 19, 2021, following a hero’s escort to Crown Hill Cemetery in Powell by many of those first responders who lovingly looked after Chuck as he struggled continually against physical deterioration and whom he had loved and served as a chaplain. Our family is eternally grateful to the entire Powell health and safety community for the quality of life you have worked so hard to help sustain until its last breath, and we will adore you forever.
It is heartbreaking to close this chapter on the life of an exuberant man of God like our Daddy. You were a tour de force and a shelter for our family, and we will take care of each other, as you requested, as you have taught us, and like your sequoias. When the parent trees die off, the young sequoias continue to grow in the family circle, protecting, stabilizing and feeding each other through their roots. Redwoods take care of each other. It takes a forest to raise a mighty sequoia. Redwoods are stronger together. (Sempervirens Fund).
We’ll take it from here, Pop. Well done.
A memorial with military honors is scheduled for Jan. 4, 2022 at Grace Point in Powell at 2 p.m., followed by a reception. The service will be streamed live and recorded online at the Chuck Hewitt Remembrance Perpetual Memorial at facebook.com/groups/ChuckHewittRemembrance.
In lieu of flowers, our family invites you to honor Chuck by donating to the Kare Youth League, the Powell Medical Foundation, the Powell-Shoshone FFA Chapter or injured veterans organizations.
