Charles Michael Hornick

Chuck was such a solid, steady soul. Calm, cool and collected. It seemed like he never got flustered, and gave everything he did his full attention. There was a sentimental side too; it was obvious to everyone how totally devoted he was to his family. And underneath it all, a little bit of mischief, and always a twinkle in his eye.

Chuck grew up in rural Menominee, spending summers working on the family farms, fishing and catching snapping turtles on Lake Michigan, doing cannonballs into swimming holes in the woods. He was the middle child, between a big brother and little sister, and, based on some of the tales he told, the jokester of the family.

He played trumpet in his high school marching band and was active in several other student organizations. He graduated in 1955, and enrolled in Stout State University where he studied Industrial Education.

He paused his studies to join the Army Reserves: 6 months active duty plus 8 years of reserve, training every summer. During that time he attended tech school, trained to be a construction draftsman and was assigned to the Post Engineering Office, responsible for maintaining roads and other infrastructure. Chuck completed active duty and returned home just before Christmas, 1957.

He picked his studies back up, completed a student teaching assignment and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in June of 1960. Earlier, he’d met the woman who’d become the love of his life at a Sigma Tau dance mixer. They were pinned, later married, and designed and built their first home together. They would spend almost every moment of the next 62 years in each other’s company.

For the most part, Chuck was someone who set his sights on a goal, his feet on a path, and marched along faithfully, without distraction. But he made two uncharacteristically

spontaneous decisions that changed the trajectory of both their lives. First, though he and Bev had both accepted teaching positions and were due to relocate, Chuck noticed that AC Spark Plug was on campus, and out of curiosity arranged an interview.

They made him an offer on the spot. He back-burnered his teaching career and launched into data analysis, programming and system design work. This would become a 32 year career, spanning the merger with AC Delco under General Motors, and the acquisition of EDS. The second major diversion occurred in the late 1960s when GM began shifting its government work to California. Chuck had been offered a job in Kokomo, Indiana, but learned that the coworker assigned to California decided not to go, so jumped at the chance to take his place. He and Bev made an offer on a house in Goleta near Lake Los Carneros, sight unseen, and moved the family, now including two little girls (Tracy, 7 and Michele, 3) in January of 1973. Their new sunny-year-round home gave Chuck endless opportunities to exercise his love of being active and outdoors.

He remained an avid skier (always got a kick out of telling how he once took a frat bro’s dare and skied down a massive Olympic-sized ski jump - it didn’t end well, but there was no permanent damage). He played on the company golf team, would get out deep sea fishing whenever he could, was always first in the water on beach trips, whooping it up, charging in and body surfing or boogieboarding with the kids, even later in life. He took the family camping at El Capitan State Beach many summers, was quite a skilled nature photographer, and was rightfully proud of the beautiful gardens he so carefully cultivated – the envy of the neighborhood. He even rode his bike to work every day.

An advocate of work-life balance well before that was a common catchphrase, he insisted on being home for dinner and to help with homework every weeknight, and saved weekends for family excursions to the local mountains and beaches. He could often be found in his “home office” – a well-stocked garage work bench with table saw – working with his hands crafting all sorts of things out of wood and repairing everything himself. He also helped design and build items for Saint Mark’s, where he made sure the family attended Mass every Sunday. The smell of sawdust will forever bring his daughters back to that time.

Jumping at the early retirement opportunity that came in 1996 (age 55), he went full circle and revisited teaching, developing and running a wooden toy making class for SBCC’s Adult Education program. During those more leisurely years with Bev, after Tracy and Michele were off to college and starting families of their own, he spent many hours meticulously researching and creating travel itineraries – taking as much joy in putting together a road trip up the coast to explore Giant Redwoods and mining ghost towns as he did in some of their more ambitious journeys, like to Egypt, South Africa, China, Indonesia and Greece. And through it all, he tried never to miss a Packer’s game, enthusiastically rooting them on, cheese head and all!

Chuck, you built a strong character, a stellar career, a nest egg that carried you through. You built a healthy, happy, close-knit family. You built cabinets and treehouses and bike ramps and toy trucks. You built your girls up so they could fly. You were steady and strong, but tender, too, and always, always put family first. What you built lives on, and we know you are smiling, but we still miss you terribly.

Chuck was preceded by his wife, Bev, his parents, Joseph and Helen Hornick, his brother Ron, Ron’s wife Karen and his brother-in-law John. He is survived by his sister, Marlene, daughters Tracy Freeman (Paul) and Michele Carey (Joe), and four grandchildren: Cole, Parker, Kyle and Diana. Plus nieces, nephews and cousins.

Funeral Mass: Friday, August 28th, 11:00am, St. Barbara Parish, Old Mission. Lunch reception in Friar’s Lounge immediately following. RSVP to [email protected] by 8/7. Livestream link: https://www.youtube.com/live/ibyBnvmLLbE. In leu of flowers, please consider donating to Central Coast Home Health and Hospice, who supported Dad on-on-off for many years.