LONG OBITUARIES, Henry County, Missouri
====================================================================

LONG, Charles Henry 1918 - 1996

Charles Henry Long, 77, Clinton, died Monday, January 8, 1996, at Golden Valley 
Memorial Hospital, Clinton. Charles Henry Long, son of Preston Long and Estelle 
Rombold, was born January 17, 1918, on the family farm near the Methodist 
Church at White Oak. He was the fifth child and the second son in the Long family. 
He had six brothers and three sisters. Preceded him in death were an infant 
brother, William, Cecil, Ester Fae, Lee Roy, Loren and Raymond. Surviving are 
Clara Belle Odle of Texas and Ethel Mae Clary of Clinton. There were two boys 
born in White Oak on that snowy, winter night of January 17 and Charlie was 
lucky that the country doctor stopped his horse and buggy at the Long farm first. 
The neighbor baby boy died that same night. He married Ruby Irene Doll, June 22, 
1938. He and Ruby celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary this past year. On 
their 50th anniversary they had a large party planned, but Charlie had to take 
some time out for major surgery and in his usual, casual style he said that he 
was sorry that he had changed everyone's plans but that they could always make 
it up next year. Charlie and Ruby had one daughter, Nancy Jean, who was born in 
Clinton and lived in Ballard and Old Piper where her parents purchased the local 
gas station and later in 1950, the Old Piper store. Charlie first did trucking of 
livestock and grain and then decided that he wanted to be more at home than on 
the road. It was at that time that the gas station at Ballard and the Old Piper 
store became so important to his family life. The store supplied groceries to the 
local neighbors and became the meeting place for many families. Charlie also 
sold fertilizer and lime and spent much of the time delivering and spreading it to 
the farms in the area while Ruby ran the store and made sandwiches for many of 
those who stopped to chat or stock up for the week. This store and all of its 
activity became the center of the family for Nancy and later her children. The 
three grandchildren, R. C., Mike and Becky, spent many hours with their 
grandfather and grandmother, helping around the store, riding on the fertilizer 
and lime trucks, helping to mark the rows of grain by standing in the fields while 
their granddad drove the truck, and including them in almost everything that he 
needed to do. He dearly loved his daughter and grandchildren and influenced them 
in their early years, teaching them his love for the land and the outdoors, his love 
of hunting and fishing, his respect for others, his way of kindness, his care for 
his friends and family, his strong sense of honor and character, and his special 
way of humor. After 33 years at Old Piper, it was time to retire and move to a 
new family home in Clinton. The "dream home" was completed in 1984, with much 
of the design and construction handled by R. C. The move from old to new was a 
difficult adjustment at first, but with all the happiness and support from their 
old friends and their new, the home on Tracy became another gathering place and 
another home of joy. Charlie enjoyed his retirement because it left him more 
time to spend with Ruby and his family, and also to pursue his love for fishing, 
hunting, playing pool, morning coffee and chats with his friends, and time to 
spend with his great-grandchildren, Justin and Jeff, (R. C.'s sons), and Becky's 
two boys, Scott and Landon. It also gave him a special time to visit his grandson, 
Mike, who now lived with his wife, Lisa, at the Old Piper house, and relive so 
many of the so many of the childhood hunting and fishing memories that he had 
shared with his family. Retirement was also a time that he and Ruby could be 
together after all those years of hard work from lantern to lantern. Many years 
were spent together on opening day at Bennett Springs and now during 
retirement, every day could be an opening day if they chose it. Charlie leaves 
behind a wife, a daughter, three grandchildren; four great-grandchildren, two 
sisters, a few fishing and pool buddies and many other friends. But most of all he 
leaves behind a lot of memories that have shaped and influenced all of our lives, 
in ways we realize especially today and in other ways that we will understand 
our reflections of him in the future. He is now in heaven with the greatest 
fisherman of all. Goodbye, Charlie, Dad, Granddad, Greatgranddad, we love you. 
Funeral services were held at the Clinton United Methodist Church Thursday, 
January 11, at 1 p.m. with Rev. David Maggi officiating. "Take My Hand, Precious 
Lord" and "Precious Memories" were sung by David L. Mills and Peggy Arthur. The 
organist was Sam Lucas. Pallbearers were Howard Abney, Bob Long, Richard 
Grasty, Bill Singer, Richard Williams and Bob Montgomery. Honorary pallbearers 
were John Braun, Earl Gatzmeyer, Frank Henny, Everett Austin, Lee Earnie Doll 
and Glen Doll. Burial was in Englewood Cemetery, Clinton, under the direction of 
Vansant-Mills Funeral Home of Clinton.

====================================================================
USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing
free information on the Internet, data may be used by
non-commercial entities, as long as this message 
remains on all copied material. These electronic 
pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit
or for presentation by other persons or organizations. 

Persons or organizations desiring to use this material
for purposes other than stated above must obtain the 
written consent of the file contributor. 

This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb
Archives by the Henry County MOGenWeb
http://www.rootsweb.com/~mohenry/henryco.html
Contact the Henry County Coordinator for comments or corrections.
====================================================================