Charlie was born on May 31, 1935 to John and Violet (Turner) Seipel in Anthony Kansas where he attended school, raised a family, worked, farmed, was a valued member of the community and lifelong member of Hopewell Church.  Charlie passed away at the age of 87, on October 1, 2022 at his home west of town, peacefully, in the company of his family and friends.

As a young man, Charlie was in the Army Reserve for 6 years and along with his brother Harold, they have fond memories of turning summer camps into road trips to Colorado and Wyoming in his 1957 Chevrolet convertible, which as they discovered got very cold on the top of Pikes Peak.

One of his early jobs was working for the elevator at Attica Grain Company, where he met and married his first wife Joyce Reid.  Residing in Anthony, he worked for Plainview Schools in maintenance and drove the school bus for students.  Later he worked in maintenance for Unified School District 361. One of his responsibilities was ensuring schools were stocked with supplies. His children, Kenny and Connie both have childhood memories of traveling with their Dad to pick up and distribute supplies for the schools.

Charlie was an active, hardworking man who worked early to late every day.  He was most known as maintenance supervisor at Chaparral High School for over 35 years where he was involved in the construction of the school prior to taking great pride in maintaining the building in new condition for the next 35 plus years.  He was most proud of the relationships he developed with his employees, the faculty and the hundreds of students who saw Charlie daily in the hallways.  He was always friendly, willing to help, and happy to chat with anyone any time about anything.  Many, many students have stories of a time that Charlie helped them when they needed a hand.  From time to time, students on detention would be assigned to work afterschool custodial duties.  Several of those students have shared stories years later about how Charlie went out of his way to make them feel valued and teach them life lessons during a pivotal moment in their life.

While at Chaparral, Charlie drove the school activity bus all over the state.  If you were a student at Chaparral involved in football, basketball, cheerleading or band there is a good chance you spent a lot of nights and weekends riding a lot of miles in a school bus with Charlie.  He was always the lead driver because he was known as one of the best drivers with an uncanny sense of direction and could find every event location in every town efficiently in the days before GPS.

Ironically, out of the school bus Charlie developed a reputation as one of the slowest drivers on the road and that was usually because he would be talking to his passengers about things he saw on the road or just talking about things in general.  He may have been one of the original distracted drivers, years before cell phones were popular.

Charlie enjoyed several hobbies.  In his early days he was known to be a strong water skier and could be found at the lake most weekends with his '57 Chevy and matching boat. He was also a member of the Attica Saddle club, he and his horse Champ enjoyed trail rides and walking in parades.  Charlie enjoyed woodworking and he often built cabinets, bookcases, and many keepsake items for his family. He was an active member of the Skeeter Beaters Camping club and spent many summer weekends with his family and friends camping in Kansas and Colorado.  He rode motorcycles most of his life and when he hit his 80's his family finally convinced him to stop riding his Honda Gold Wing and transition to a three-wheeler Honda for his safety.

Charlie's main passion was farming and animals which comes from his youth as an active member of 4-H and on the family farm near Plainville school where he grew up farming and milking cows every morning at 5:30am with his brother Harold.  While working for the School District, he purchased a small farm on LL&G street. In addition to raising crops, he had hogs, sheep and milk cows and every morning and evening he would bottle fresh milk for neighbors. As his kids, Kenny, Connie, Mike, and Debbie got older, they became milking hands to help with the chores around the farm.  He had a soft spot in his heart for his pets and always had a favorite cat or kitten nearby for as long as anyone can remember.  In his early days of farming, it was not uncommon to see him on his small Ford tractor with a 3-bottom plow, or small disc driving across Anthony to farm one of his many small patches of ground around town, many of which he farmed for over 50 years until his passing.

Following his marriage to Doris (Dori) Cox in 1990, he purchased the former Birchenough farm 2 1/2 miles west of Anthony where he lived the rest of his life.  After he retired from the School District in 2000, he became a fulltime farmer eventually farming the former Elliott ground for the next 20 years.  When he was not on the farm, he could usually be found having coffee with friends at the coffee shop in town or taking tickets at Roadrunner Football and Basketball games so he could greet and chat with everyone.

Charles (Charlie) Seipel: Husband, Dad, Grandfather, Great-Grandfather, and Friend lived a great life.

Charles was preceded in death by his parents, John and Violet Seipel; former wife, Joyce (Reid) Seipel; grandson, John Michael Seipel; stepdaughter, Dawn Holmes; and step-granddaughter, Toni Holmes; and baby, Doreen Holmes.

Charles is succeeded by his wife of 32 years, Doris (Cox) Seipel; brother, Harold and wife Margie Seipel; children: Ken and wife Linda (Murrow) Seipel, Connie and husband John Riley, Mike Seipel, Debbie and husband Rick Betz, Darlene and husband Vincent Davis; 14 grandchildren: Alicia (Scott) Robertson, Charlie "Aaron" Eells, Chris (Laura) English, Matt (Courtney) Seipel, Jason (Brianna) Seipel, Travis ( Susannah) Seipel, Trishia (Dylan) Cooper, Treslyn (Greg) Welters, MiKayla Betz, Dwight Seipel, Nathen (Aspen) Davis, Jazzmine Davis, Adrien Holmes, Skyler Holmes; 24 great-grandchildren; and a host of nieces, nephews, extended family and friends.

Funeral service will be held 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, October 5, 2022 at Prairie Rose Funeral Home in Anthony.  Burial will follow in Spring Grove Cemetery, west of Anthony.

Viewing will be held 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Tuesday with the family present to greet friends from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Memorials in memory of Charles may be made to the Charles Seipel Memorial Fund in care of Prairie Rose Funeral Home, 602 E. Main St., Anthony, KS 67003.