Charles C. LaRue

Charles C. LaRue, 96, passed away on Thursday, January 26, 2012 at his home in Cornville. He was born on July 11, 1915 in Hillsboro , West Virginia to Charles B. and Mabel LaRue. Charles attended grade and high school in Hillsboro , WV. He attended college at Concord College in Athens WV and Syracuse University . He served our country for 23 years in the Army Air Corps and Air Force during WWII and beyond achieving the rank of Major. During the war he flew C-47s (and many other aircraft) in the China-Burma-India Theater. After retiring from the military he worked 15 years as a physical education instructor and coach at Keams Canyon on the Hopi Reservation. He deeply loved this job working with Hopi and Navajo grade school and junior high students. He was blessed with tremendous athleticism and he was recognized as one of the top 100 athletes in West Virginia\u0027s first 100 years. Late in life he loved walking and hiking and hiked the Grand Canyon numerous times. Charles belonged to Hillsboro Wesleyan Methodist Church. He was a Boy Scout leader and football player and loved rock collecting, art, beautiful things of all kinds and working with kids in sports. Charles never met a stranger. Charlie (Bus) will be deeply missed by us all. Charles is preceded in death by his parents Charles and Mabel LaRue and sister Isabel Michael. He is survived by his loving wife of 64 years, Dorothy LaRue; son Charles Thomas LaRue (Sarah) of Flagstaff ; daughters Valerie Hirschberg ( Gary ) of Anchorage , AK and Dona Sue LaRue (James Tomkinson) of Ashby , MA ; 7 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 10:00am at Westcott Funeral Home in Cottonwood. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Alzheimer\u0027s Research, http://www.alzfdn.org or Alzheimer\u0027s Foundation of America, 322 Eighth Ave. , 7th fl., New York , NY 10001 . An online guestbook is available to sign at www.westcottfuneralhome.com