Charles William Huber

On April 2, 2023, Charles William Huber passed away; beloved husband of Dorothy E. Huber (nee Burke); devoted father of Colleen Hicks and her husband Charles, Jr., Julie Young and her husband John, John Huber and his wife Lisa and Charles H. Huber; loving grandfather of Ryan and Sean Hicks, Jack, Jeffrey and Joanie Young and Maxwell and Dean Huber; brother of Charlotte Huber, Peggy Laubach, Stephen Huber and the late John and Louis Huber.

Visiting at the E.F. Lassahn Funeral Home, P.A., 11750 Belair Road (Kingsville) on Monday, April 10, 2023, from 3-5 and 7-9 pm. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Stephen Church (Bradshaw) on Tuesday, April 11, 2023, at 11 am. Interment Gardens of Faith Cemetery. Those desiring, donations may be made to the American Red Cross at www.redcross.org/donate

Charles William Huber was born in Perry Hall on Labor Day, September 7th, 1940. His parents,

Marguerite Mohr & John Huber, were of German ancestry, as were most of the people in Perry Hall at

that time, which was also known as “Germantown.” He grew up in a small house on Baker Lane with his

two older sisters, Charlotte & Peggy, & three brothers, two that were older, John & Louis, & one

younger brother, Stephen.

The Gunpowder River & the surrounding woods were his playground growing up & he continued to

enjoy long walks in the woods along the river throughout his life. He was a country boy at heart, whose

father taught him to hunt & fish and whose mother could cook anything he caught for dinner! He

passed that love of nature & care for the environment to his own children.

He met his wife, Dorothy Burke, at the “Hi-Fi Club” on Lennings Lane, In Rosedale, Baltimore County. He

would send her drinks & ask her to dance when slow, country ballads were played, but was generally

rather shy about talking to her on that first night. However, he did work up the nerve to ask for her

phone number, but she declined. However, later that same night, he came to her rescue when her car

would not start. He opened the hood & adjusted a few things, & the car started right up! He asked for

her number again & this time she gave it to him!

His family was thrilled that Charlie had found himself a girlfriend, but they were surprised that Dorothy

lived in Baltimore City – a “city girl!” Charles & Dotty had fun with that! They went to drag races,

demolition derbies, drive-in movies, long rides on dark country roads & traipsing through the woods -

experiences that were all new to Dotty! Their romance bloomed & they married on April 23, 1966.

Charlie worked for many years in the commercial construction business hanging drywall. He was very

good at math, even though he left school early at age 16. In addition to his full-time job, he would often

work side jobs hanging drywall on the weekends or in the evenings, as they decided that Dotty would

leave her employment at the C&P Telephone Company when they started having their four children –

Colleen, Julie, John & Charlie. They bought an end of group row home in Baltimore City with three

bedrooms in 1968 & stayed there until June of 2011, when they moved back to the “country” to their

home on Pfeffers Road in Kingsville, Md. The row home on Parkside Drive in Baltimore City was a nice

place to raise a family in the 1960’s into the 1980’s. They lived right across from Herring Run Park,

which was great for sports activities for the kids & room to explore. However, even back then, the city

schools were failing & they decided to make the financial sacrifice to send all their children to private

Catholic elementary & High Schools, which was a significant amount of money for a family funded by a

sole earner. There were no fancy vacations, new cars or restaurant dinners. McDonald’s & day trips to

Hershey Park were the highlights of our lives growing up! But he taught us the value of hard work, how

to save money & how to make it work for you. Every Friday night, the family would load into the car &

make the trip to Rosedale Federal Bank, so Charlie could cash his paycheck & add a little bit to his

savings account. He still had an account with Rosedale Federal until his death this month.

He was proud of his family & was happy his kids had all done well & made happy lives for themselves.

He provided a good foundation for his family with his faith, moral conviction & work ethic. Things

certainly got a little crazy on Parkside Drive with a family of 6 people, but the dysfunction was surely

part of the fun! I am sure that all four of us kids have our humorous & fun-loving personalities because

of how we had to interact with each other & with all the neighborhood chaos that always seemed to be

happening on our doorstep.

He was a lifelong member of the “Knights of Columbus” council located in Highlandtown, where he

would go every Wednesday with his Father-in-law, John J. Burke. He eventually became the Grand

Knight of that Council. However, due to declining membership, the Council was dissolved & the building

was sold in the early 2000’s. As a member of the Council’s deciding board of how to divest of the sale

proceeds of the building, Charles played an integral role in directing some of the funds to be put in a

trust that would make yearly contributions to the “Catholic High School of Baltimore,” where both his

wife & two daughters had attended. Charles, who had never gone beyond a few years in high school

himself, believed in education for women because he knew the world could be a tough place to survive,

especially for women. That trust should still be making a yearly contribution to this day, although it is

doubtful that Catholic High ever knew who directed that money their way.

Charles laid down his tool belt & retired from construction drywall at the age of 66. He was starting to

have some health problems & the physically demanding job was becoming too much. So he began his

new adventure of running his own recycling service. This is where he found his life’s work – he loved the

daily interaction with all the contacts he made, who faithfully set aside their metal recycling for him to

pick up on his weekly rounds with his blue truck. Many small businesses along the Pulaski Highway

corridor as well as his own parish of St. Stephen’s Church, would regularly call him to schedule a

recycling pick up. This humble man, with little formal education, successfully built a text-book business

model, complete with a business network that kept him purposed, busy & happy until his last few

months of life. His youngest grandson, Dean, labeled his truck the “War Wagon” & it was a fitting name

indeed! He diverted thousands of pounds of scrap metal waste from going to the landfills, sent to the

recycling yards instead. Charles was “green” well before it as cool to be so.

Charles had seven grandchildren & he got to see all of them grow well into their early teens to mid-

twenties by the time of this death. Of the grandchildren, only one of them was a girl, Joanie, so of

course she held a very special place in his heart. Because Joanie lived close by on the same road, he got

to see her grow up almost daily. She could do no wrong in his eyes & she loved to show him all her new

dance moves when she would stop in on her walk from the school bus stop. He was her most devoted

fan!

Charles lived a relatively active life with good health until July of 2021, when he became ill with the

dreaded Covid-19. The disease wreaked havoc on his system & although he survived the illness, it

wrought many other health issues in its wake. He had to slow down a bit & try to heal from the ravages

of Covid. He did rally & began to resume his weekly recycling pickups in the spring of 2022. He still

loved to watch the evening game shows with his belove Dotty & of course the Friday Night “WWE

Smackdown” events that she always hated, but Charles was growing weak. His body was failing him

even though he tried his best to help it regain strength. He never lost his mental acuity, and both his

hearing & eyesight were pretty darn sharp up until his last few days on earth.

We all love him & will miss him dearly. We will hold him in our thoughts as we go through life & hope

we will see him again. His loud laughter & good heartedness were infectious to all who met him.

Charles William Huber – may you rest in eternal peace.