Charlie was born March 9, 1942, in Jacksonville, the son of Charles and Grace M. Francis Ater. He grew up in Arenzville, later moving to Winchester.
Charlie joined the U.S. Army in 1961 and was a member of the 3rd Armor Division stationed in Germany. He went on to be a 40-plus year employee of Kordite/Nesco/Mobil Chemical/Pactiv and helped open the second plant.
Charlie was an avid outdoorsman and a life member of the National Rifle Association, fine upstanding member of the Two Rivers Jeep Club, the Studebakers Drivers Club, and a honorary member of the Vagabonds Car Club Illinois chapter.
He was preceded in death by his second wife, Suzy (Linda White) Ater, in 2003. He is survived by his son Charles "Jay" (wife, Stephenie) Ater of Alexander. One of his final acts was witnessing the marriage of his cherished granddaughter, Alex, to Cory Suhre. Charlie was engaged to Lora Van Winkle at the time of his passing.
Charlie is also survived by his brothers, Francis (wife, Kay) Ater of Concord, Burton (companion, Esther) Ater of Jacksonville; sisters, Jennie Castleberry of Carthage and Barbara (husband, Ron) Surratt of Arenzville; many nieces and nephews, and quite a few unrelated folks that simply called him "Uncle Charlie."
So, do me a favor and hug your Mom, call your Pop and tell him he's a stubborn son of a bitch but you love him anyway, kick one or more of children so they know you love them too. We all have an expiration date and nobody knows when it will happen.
One of the songs we picked to play during his services was this,,
I'm not a spiritual person but I like that song.
Has it really been 2 weeks? Seems like a lifetime ago in some ways and minutes in other ways. So far so good, I haven't fallen apart yet but I'm not done trying.
By this time last year I was ready to call 2014 a failure and was ready to move on to 2015. Well 2015 can kiss my ass too, bring on 2016.
