Norfolk City Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Bashara, Charles Vincent January 23, 2012
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Robert Woolfitt http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00034.html#0008401 March 9, 2022, 4:53 pm

Virginian-Pilot  January 25, 2012
Charles Vincent Bashara, of Norfolk, passed away on January 23, 2012, surrounded 
by his family.
A native of Norfolk, he was the son of the late Charles Joseph Bashara and Nellie 
Hoffler Bashara.  He was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy for two years before 
attending William and Mary Law School.  He practiced law in Norfolk for over 50 
years.
Mr. Bashara was a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Sons and Daughters of 
Lebanon.
Mr. Bashara is survived by his wife of 53 years, Catherine Virginia Nunn Bashara, 
of Norfolk; their six children: Charles L. Bashara and wife, Lois, Eileen B. 
Bernard and husband, Maurice, Suzanne B. Weaver and husband, Andy, Lisa B. 
Machamer and husband, Brian, Brian V. Bashara and wife, Denise, and Julie B. 
Graves and husband, Charles.  He is also survived by 21 grandchildren: Marguerite, 
Catherine, Julie, Maurice, Trisha, Jazmine, Emily, Charles, Catherine, Anderson, 
Annemarie, Julie, Steven, John, Sarah, Brian, Lawrence, Cristina, Vincent, Addie 
and William.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Blessed Sacrament Catholic 
Church, 6400 Newport Avenue, Norfolk, on Friday, 27 January at 11 a.m., with 
Father Joseph H. Metzger, III, officiating.  The family will receive visitors 
starting at 10 a.m. in the church.  Burial will follow the Mass at St. Mary's 
Catholic Cemetery.  H.D. Oliver Funeral Apartments, Norfolk Chapel, is handling 
the arrangements.
Memorial donations may be made to the St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, to 
Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, or to the charity of your choice.
Our dad always expressed to us how fortunate a man he was because of the 
generosity and kindness bestowed upon him by others.

Immigrant's Son Was A Fixture In Norfolk Courts For Half-Century.
Veteran lawyer Charles V. Bashara, who loved wearing fedoras and proudly telling 
courthouse staff that he was 80 and still working, collapsed in court Monday and 
died later that night.
Bashara fell and struck his head against a bench, according to witnesses.  But 
even then, he didn't lose his sense of humor, joking with paramedics as they 
helped him in Courtroom Two of General District Court, witnesses said.
His son, Charles L. Bashara, said his father suffered a stroke and died at Sentara 
Norfolk General Hospital.  He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Virginia, six 
children and more than 20 grandchildren, his son said.
Friends and colleagues said Bashara loved the law and recently earned recognition 
from the Virginia State Bar for 50 years of practice.
Born the son of a Lebanese immigrant family in their home on 49th Street in 
Norfolk, Bashara studied law at the Marshall Wythe School of Law at William and 
Mary, his son said.  He passed the bar exam, joined a Norfolk firm and he 
eventually started his own practice.
He handled a little bit of everything - criminal and civil cases as well as family 
wills and estates.  He became a fixture in Norfolk courtrooms for five decades, 
serving hundreds of clients.
Until a few years ago, he also walked to the courthouse from his West Bute Street 
office, his son said.  He regularly handed out cash to men outside the Union 
Mission.
"These are all good people," he told his son.  "They're just down on their luck."
When poor defendants asked for help, he often gave counsel for free.
"Give me your papers, let's see what we can do," his son recalls him telling many.
He also loved to sing.  "He was no Dean Martin," his son said, and laughed, "but 
he loved to perform."
Although the family's real estate holdings were the more profitable part of their 
business, his son said, he most enjoyed his courtroom work.  He typically arrived 
at the office at 6 a.m.  If his son, also a lawyer, was 10 minutes late, he'd get 
a call.
"Boy, you sick or what?" he'd ask.
Bashara also hired Peter G. Decker, III, to work in his law firm as a teenager.  
Bashara and Decker's father, Peter Decker, Jr., rode to law school together, the 
younger Decker said.
Decker, III, remembered Bashara fighting vigorously for his clients.  Decker 
eventually went to law school and into general practice.
On Monday, Decker was in court with Bashara, standing beside him when he fell.
"He was a courtroom lawyer," Decker said.  "That's the best way to describe him."

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