A Few Highlights of Charley's Life

Born at home in rural Huron, Missouri, on January 29, 1943, Charley was a middle child. There were two older  sisters, Bernice and Eva Darlene, and an older brother, Wayne. And there was a younger brother, Larry. 

He liked to tag along with his older brother on local hunting excursions, and since their father was a farmer, they were expected to do farm chores. Everyone worked hard on the farm, feeding the cattle, raising corn and alfalfa for the herd, and a garden for the family. That work ethic remained with Charley throughout his life. 

He attended a small one-room rural school where the teacher taught all eight grades simultaneously. He then went to Bolivar High School, Bolivar, Missouri, where he graduated in 1961.

Following high school, Charley went to the Missouri School of Mines in Rolla, Missouri, to study Electrical Engineering. From there he transferred to Ambassador College, Pasadena, California, where he graduated in 1968.

He married Linda Shriver in September 1968. They had two sons, David, born 1970, and Kevin, born 1972. He worked in the college Circulation Department as a student and continued as a full-time employee following graduation.

In 1978, Charley left to explore a new vocation in excavation. On December 7, 1978, he fell on a construction site in Tehachapi, California, and fractured his spine. This resulted in a compression fracture of his spinal cord and thus his life was changed forever. From that point forward he was a paraplegic. He went to Casa Colina Rehabilitation Hospital where he was fitted with short leg braces and a custom wheel- chair. He learned to walk with crutches and do wheelies on his wheelchair.

Eventually he received a settlement for his injury, which he used to relocate and buy a Pip Printing franchise in 1987, and started his own business. That proved to be a real challenge, but he continued in the printing business for twenty years until he retired in 2007.

During that time he had numerous accidents ranging from a broken hip (slipped on a wet floor in a restaurant), broken femur (slipped on sawdust in the garage), amputated and reconstructed right thumb (riding lawn mower), and a broken wrist (fell in hospital parking deck when getting a post operative check up on a previous injury). Around 1990, he also had brain surgery to remove a large hematoma caused by a hitting his head on an open kitchen cabinet door. His last accident consisted rolling his wheelchair while doing yardwork resulting in a torn rotator cuff. Through all of these accidents, he kept on keeping on. While it may seem that he was accident prone, in all fairness, most of the accidents resulted from walking on crutches or being in a wheelchair.

He and Linda were divorced in 1993. He lived alone for about five years, then he moved into Imperial Plaza independent living. He thrived there and made many friends until it was discovered that he had brain mass on May 2, 2017. A week later he had brain surgery,and it was determined he had a very aggressive form of brain cancer. He was moved from Imperial Plaza to Autumn Care of Mechanicsville where he died on August 3, 2017, almost exactly three months from the time of his diagnosis. Throughout his illness he remained courageous and of good faith, turning his future over to God.

Cards may be sent to:

Eva Zlab at 964 N. Holliston, Pasadena, CA 91104

ELLIOTT, Charley T., of Richmond, Va., age 74, passed away August 3, 2017, following a brief illness. He is survived by two sons, David C. Elliott of Ruckersville, Va. and Kevin A. Elliott of Evans, Ga.; two brothers, Wayne Elliott of Polk, Mo. and Larry Elliott of Columbia, Mo.; two sisters, Bernice Payne of Gallatin Gateway, Mont. and Eva Darlene Zlab of Pasadena, Calif.; and their children. He attended the Missouri School of Mines, Rolla, Mo., and graduated from Ambassador College, Pasadena, Calif., class of 1968. He owned and operated Pip Printing and Charley T’s Printing Company in Glen Allen, Va. A memorial service will be held at Imperial Plaza Auditorium, 1717 Bellevue Ave., Richmond, Va., on Sunday, August 13, 2017, at 2 p.m.