Charles Dugan 1933-2022
Charles E. Dugan, 88, of Delia, passed away Feb. 15, 2022, at Stormont-Vail Hospital.
He was born at the family farm in rural Circleville to John and Lazetta Dugan, the oldest of their five children. He attended Ontario, Oak Grove and Circleville schools.
Charles left school at age 16 to help on the family farm. He was drafted during the Korean War and served overseas in Germany. While stationed there, he discovered a love of photography and was an avid photographer the rest of his life. Charles photographed many wedding and anniversary celebrations in the Delia and Rossville communities. He also helped take pictures for the Rossville High School yearbooks. He was a past member of the Holton and Topeka Camera Clubs.
He returned to the family farm following his military service. He later began working at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, where he was employed for 41 years until his retirement in April 1996. He was proud to have helped develop and build the first Hummer tire at the Topeka plant.
He was a member of Local 307 Rubber Workers.
In 1957 he met and later married Letha JoAnn Baldwin Hundley. They enjoyed 64 years together. At the time of marriage Charles welcomed becoming the father of JoAnn’s three little girls, Christine, Edy and Jeri Lynn, later adopting the girls as his own. The family started out living in the rural Circleville and Netawaka areas, and then moved to Delia, where they have lived for many years. Their son Charles Scott was born in 1961 and son David Lamoine in 1963.
Charles, as a youth, was a charter member of the Ontario Busy Bees 4-H Club, and became an avid supporter of the Delia Early Birds 4-H Club when his children joined that group. He served as a project leader and enjoyed helping with their 4-H events. He built many of the rabbit pens used during the Jackson County 4-H Fair.
As a sponsor to a 4-H club ski trip to Colorado he learned to ski, and enjoyed many trips with family to the Colorado ski slopes the following years. Charles always said he could dive like a feather and swim like a rock, but that did not detour him from purchasing a ski boat for the family and enjoying many summers camping and boating at Perry Lake.
He was a member of the Delia Fire Department and served on the Delia Fire Board.
A Christmas gift of a black powder pistol started him on a long enjoyment of black powder shooting. He was a past member of the Capital City Gun Club, the Santa Fe Trail Plainsmen Muzzleloaders, and the 3rd Battery B Civil War Reenactors. He was the proud owner of a six-pound field piece cannon and a 12-pound mountain howitzer cannon. He traveled to many Civil War reenactments, including Gettysburg.
He loved to talk Civil War and cannons to anyone who would listen. He later became a member of the Rolling Thunder Veterans group. He was a proud veteran and in May 2013, with his son Scott, he was able to go on the Veterans Honor Flight to Washington, D.C.
After 30 years in Delia, Charles and JoAnn moved to rural Delia, where he enjoyed going back to his farmer roots, using a tractor instead of horses. He liked attending the Goodyear Retirees monthly dinners, local coffee gab sessions and breakfasts at the Topeka Airport Café with other Goodyear retirees.
Charles is survived by his wife JoAnn; daughters Christine (Alan) Stanton of Topeka, Edy (Tony) Prescott of Delia and Jeri Lynn Walter of Topeka; son Scott (Mary) Dugan of Wakarusa; 11 grandchildren; 24 great-grandchildren; six great-great-grandchildren; brothers Bill Dugan of Holton and Robert (Sandy) Dugan of Lumberton, Texas; and sister Ethel Mae (Tracy) Caulk of Rockingham, N.C.
He was preceded in death by his parents, John and Lazetta Dugan; son David Lamoine Dugan; daughter-in-law Cheryl; brothers Richard Dugan of Soldier and John Dugan of Topeka; and one great-great-granddaughter. He was greatly loved and will be sadly missed by his family and friends.
A Celebration of Life will be held from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26 at the Museum of the Kansas National Guard, Forbes Field. Graveside services will be held at a later date.
Donations may be made to the Kansas Army National Guard Museum, 124 S.E. Airport Drive, Topeka, KS 66619; or the Delia Fire Department, in care of Chris Gordon, 4410 102nd Rd., Delia, KS 66418. A full obituary is also available at the Angels Above Cremation Services website: https://angelsabovecs.com/obituaries
(PAID OBITUARY)
