Charles William McLeland

Charles William McLeland, 101, of Lacey, WA went to meet the Lord on March 29, 2022. Charles was born in Marshalltown, IA on January 22, 1921 to Robert Nathaniel McLeland and Audrey (Rogers) McLeland. Raised on a farm in northern Iowa with his sisters Betty and Sandra, Charles learned the value of hard work and self reliance during the Great Depression. The family settled in Albion, where Charles attended Albion High School. It was while living in Albion that he fell in love with a pretty, Sunday School teacher, Frieda Asenath Harding. They married on November 27, 1941 in Marshalltown, IA. Charles went to work as a machinist to support his young family until the outbreak of World War II. Rosa Lee McLeland was born in 1942, followed by younger brother, Dale Marion McLeland in 1943. Charles entered the United States Army in 1943, training in Camp Roberts, CA before being shipped to Papa New Guinea and Japan. He served with the Signal Corps and was a distinguished marksman. His wartime experience included climbing palm trees to run communications wires and witnessing the tragic aftermath of the nuclear bombs in Japan. After returning from his military service, his wife Frieda was led to enter the ministry as a recorded minister with the Society of Friends, like her mother. The family moved to Newberg, OR so that both Frieda and Charles could attend Pacific College, later George Fox University. Charles worked as a meat cutter while attending classes on the GI Bill. They returned to the Midwest where Frieda pastored Friends churches in Salem, Muscatine, and Cedar Rapids, IA and Sturgeon Bay, WI. Charles supported her ministry by leading the singing, teaching Sunday School, and other essential tasks. Frieda was officially record in 1957 and ministered full time until 1976. She continued to take on small ministerial tasks and caring for her family until her passing in 1992. Sturgeon Bay held particular meaning to the family as the Friends church where they lived and worked was an early site where the hymn “The Old Rugged Cross” was sung in 1913. The hymn was much beloved and requested in their ministry. In 1989, the family returned to the Pacific Northwest to live in the Puget Sound area. Charles went to work at Ralph’s Thriftway as a helper clerk for nine years. He turned down multiple promotions, instead chosing to serve people and live a “simpler life.” Charles had a few cherished hobbies including fishing poorly, golfing adequately, and camping frequently. He passed on his love of the outdoors, Western history, and novel reading to his entire family. He was always involved with the care of a menagerie of family pets, including birds, rabbits, and a few pampered cats. He filled his retirement years with lawn care, car repair and socializing with his beloved neighbors. He traveled thousands of miles across the country, and enjoyed cruising to exotic locations like Alaska and Hawaii. In his final years he followed the far-ranging lives of his grandchildren and great grandchildren, and enjoyed watching a multitude of birds and squirrels from his living room window. He was famous in the family for his prolific consumption of breakfast sausages and hot coffee, sometimes relating that they were the source of his long life. He will be greatly missed. Survivors include his daughter, Rosa Lee of Lacey; son and wife, Dale and Janice of Newberg; sister Sandra Mason of Des Moines; four grandchildren and five great grandchildren. Please leave a message of condolence for the family.

Charles William McLeland

January 22, 1921 - March 29, 2022