Sixteenth Generation

8315. Charles Joseph "Charley" Chatfield was born on 18 November 1895 in Fruita, Mesa Co., Colorado, USA. He appeared in the census in 1900 in Rangley, White River, Picance Creek, Angora, Rio Blanco Co., Colorado, USA. He appeared in the census in 1920 in Chico, Butte Co., California, USA. Charley died Heart attack on 2 August 1986 at the age of 90 in Paradise, Butte Co., California, USA. He was buried on 6 August 1986 in Glen Oaks Memorial Park, Chico, Butte Co., California, USA. Find A Grave Memorial# 32456449.

Served first in the National Guard, and then in 1918 in the army during World War I, serving in France. (CO.H. 160th Infantry 40th Division. A.E.F.)

In Aug of 1986—while watching a televised baseball game—Charley jumped up in the middle of a play and had a heart attack. At the age of ninety, he died where we would all like to end up—in Paradise.

PARADISE (E-R) — Graveside services for Charles Joseph Chatfield, 90, of Paradise will be held at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday in Glen Oaks Memorial Park in Chico. He died Saturday in a ridge hospital.

Chatfield was born Nov 18, 1895, In Fruita, Colo., to Charles and Nellie Chatfield. He was educated in Colorado and Wyoming and graduated from high school in Montana. He came to Chico in 1913.

He entered the Army in 1916 and fought in the Mexican American War and in World War I. He came home in 1919.

Chatfield married his wife, Velma, in 1927, and they lived in Oroville for five years before moving to San Francisco and living there from 1935 to 1974. They retired to Paradise in 1974.

He worked for Westinghouse Electric Co. as a welder for 27 years.

A brother and a sister died previously. Survivors include his wife, Velma of Paradise; and a sister, Ina Fouch of Yuba City.

======================
Charley & Velma traveled the west visiting America's dams, herculean monuments to this country's ingenuity and hubris, Velma instructing Charley how to use the camera ("push the red button, Charley, push the red button…"), Charley taking reel after reel of color 8-millimeter movies of the panoramic views, all with no people in them. At seventeen, Charley worked on the Cody Dam in Wyoming; along with the weather, dams were his lifelong interest. The Chatfield Dam on the South Platte River in Colorado is named after his grandfather, I.W. Chatfield.

He belonged to camera club where members viewed one another's home movies and he had over a hundred reels of black and white film of dams throughout the USA—and one reel of the family.

Children: none

Charles Joseph "Charley" Chatfield and Velma Avis Turnbull were married on 30 April 1927 in Oroville, Butte Co., California, USA. No issue.
Velma Avis Turnbull, daughter of John Thomas Turnbull and Ruth Ann Howell, was born on 26 July 1905 in Malin, Klamath Co., Oregon, USA. She was buried in November 1991 in Glen Oaks Memorial Park, Chico, Butte Co., California, USA. She died Cancer on 7 November 1991 at the age of 86 in Paradise, Butte Co., California, USA. [Obituary] Nov 5, 1991: Chico Enterprise Record, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Velma Chatfield
PARADISE — A graveside service for Velma Avis Chatfield, 86, of Paradise will be held at 1:00 p.m. Thursday in Glen Oaks Memorial Park in Chico.

She died Sunday, Nov 3, 1991, in her residence. She was born July 26, 1905, in Klamath County, Oregon, to John and Ruth H. Turnbull. She attended schools in Oregon and moved to Chico in 1921.

Mrs. Chatfield graduated from Healds College in Chico. She married Charles Chatfield in 1927 in Oroville. Her husband worked as a ship builder, so the couple moved to San Francisco and lived there for 35 years. They moved to Paradise in 1974.

Survivors include a sister, Faye B. Edwards of Paradise; and two nieces.