Week of April 29, 2015
Charles Albert Hand, Jr., age 78, passed away on Thursday, April 23, 2015 at CarePartners Solace Center in Asheville.
Charles was born in Portsmouth, Virginia on July 20, 1936, the son of the late Charles Albert and Mary Susan Thornton Hand and was also preceded in death by his sister, Sue Sly, and son-in-law, Robert Reardon. He graduated from Balboa High School in the Panama Canal Zone and later served in the US Army as well as the Reserves. Charles graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1958 where he received an Engineering Degree in Industrial Design. He worked at Lockheed in Macon, Georgia; was an engineer at NASA in Huntsville, Alabama during the 1960’s where he worked on the Apollo Space Program that landed a man on the moon; and also worked at Bell Laboratories in Niagara Falls, New York. Charles retired in 1993 after working as a naval engineer at the Charleston Naval Shipyard for 31 years. His hobbies included photography and building ships-in-bottles. He was a long-time member of the European Ships-In-Bottles Association and a Past Vice President of the American Ships-In-Bottles Association. Charles had many articles published about this intricate craft in ships-in-bottle magazines. Many of his models are on display in museums and private collections.
Charles is survived by his wife of 58 years Clelia Garrison Hand; daughters, Daun Stuart and her husband, Robert, of Summerville, South Carolina and Clelia Reardon of Charleston, South Carolina; and his son, Raven Daemeon Hand of Canton.
Family and friends are invited to attend Charles’ Memorial Service at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29, 2015 at Francis Cove Methodist Church in Waynesville with Reverend David Childers, Reverend Melissa Lowe and Reverend Hugh Russell officiating. The family will receive friends immediately following the service in the church fellowship hall.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to one’s favorite charity.
Wells Funeral Homes & Cremation Services of Waynesville is in charge of arrangements. An on-line memorial register is available at www.wellsfuneralhome.com.