Charles Rough, Sr., BHS 1938Raised in Burbank, California, he graduated from Burbank High School in 1938, and attended Santa Barbara College for two years where he earned an Associate of Arts Degree. He married Eddys Lee Beasley, his high school sweetheart, also from Burbank, in Montecito, California, in 1942.
While his wife worked at Walt Disney Studios, he worked for his father's custom wood & cabinetry shop, and then as the war began took over as a production supervisor for several companies producing training planes for the Army Air Force.
Drafted into the army, in 1944, he served in the infantry in the Diamond Division of General Patton's 3rd Army, in Europe, where he led a mortar squad. He saw considerable action fighting in three battle campaigns, including the horrific Battle of the Bulge, and earned a Purple Heart. His cartoon drawings that he did of the exploits and experiences of GI's during the war are at the Eisenhower Museum and the US Army Museum. He was honorably discharged in 1946.
Returning home from the war he became a custom home designer and builder with two of his brothers. Later he went into the California aerospace industry where he became a highly valued and completely self-taught mechanical and production systems engineer. During his career, he worked in the aerospace and marine systems divisions of various corporations in Southern California and out-of-state.
A few of the major projects that he played a key role in was the first Viking landing on Mars, the Athena test program for multi-warheads, launched from Green River, Utah to White Sands, New Mexico, the development and building of Riverine Patrol boats used in the Vietnam War, and the Septar Program, a 55 ft target torpedo boat for all US Naval fleets.
An inveterate inventor, one of his inventions led to his starting Pak-Craft Corporation, a recreational boat design and manufacturing company based in Pasadena, California, during the early sixties. With this company, he was granted various patents, both US and foreign.
He was a uniquely gifted and courageous man with a sharp intellect, wry wit and sense of humor, who was imbued with considerable God-given talent, and who lived life to its fullest.
In other words, he was a man for all seasons, who during his lifetime was a pilot, builder, inventor, designer, engineer, business entrepreneur, artist, painter, writer, author, avid reader, wine lover, fearless cook, and hopeless romantic, but most importantly, he was a deeply spiritual man with a kind, loving, gentle, and wise soul.
A devoted husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, he has left his family with a wonderful legacy and example of how to live and die with dignity, courage and grace.
He is survived by his wife of seventy years, Eddys Lee Rough; his two sons, Charles Jr. and Richard; daughter-in-Law, Patty Rough; his six grandsons, James, Jon, Sean, Chris, Charles III, and Alex; step-granddaughter, Kameron Davis, granddaughter-in-laws, Kendall, Ginger and Kaitlin and five great grandchildren (with one more on the way) Lucia, Ainsley, Scott, Elsa, and step-great grandson, Brayden.
His celebratory memorial service will be held on Saturday, July 28, 2012 at 11:00 am at Newton-Bracewell Chico Funeral Home.
The family is requesting that donations be made in Charles Rough, Sr.'s memory to the Paradise Hospice, in care of Newton Bracewell Funeral Homes, 680 Camellia Way, Chico, CA 95926.
July 11, 2012
Was one of the sons known as Rusty, who played trumpet in the BPBB in the '60s.
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