Charles Leroy Harper

CHARLES LEROY HARPER

PERRYVILLE, MO.

Charles Leroy Harper 81 of Perryville, MO died on February 13, 2021 after a brief battle with Covid-19 at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He was born on February 27, 1939 to Warren and Margret Harper. Charles was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Gail Piana and a daughter Beth Lawson. He is survived by his wife Vilma (Mungia) Harper and his brother Glenn Harper.
He is also survived by six children: Eric Harper, Gay Lynn Harper, Gant Harper, Hope Harper Smith, Mitchell Harper, and Maegan (Harper) Tombrello, two step-children: Axell Mungia and Hazell Mungia, numerous grandchildren: Keith Harper, Kyle Harper, Alex Harper, Sarah Myers, Cassidy (Freeman) Johnson, Jayme Jo Freeman, Britni (Harper) Lantz, Cole Harper, Meredith Nowling, Lillian Straw, Cole Smith, Caleb Smith, Liberty Smith, and Hannah Smith,  nieces; Jill (Piana) Schlueter, Jann (Piana) Brown and three great-grandchildren: Alexis Hart, Nikko Ronin, and Daniel Ryterski.
Charles was a restless soul that is best described as a “Rolling Stone”. He married Doris Kay Redmon in 1959 and fathered four children: Eric, Beth, Gant, and Gay Lynn. He later married Norma Jean Sampson (deceased) and fathered two children: Hope and Mitchell. Subsequently, he married Patricia Franklin and adopted his step-daughter Maegan.
Charles graduated from Belleville Township High School in 1957. While he didn’t excel in academics, he did in athletics. He lettered in Football, Wrestling and Track in his junior and senior years. He then joined the Illinois National Guard and started as a lineman on the Fort Leonard Wood Football Team.
Charles proved as adventurous in his career choices as he did his personal life. He began working as a United Mine Worker for Peabody Coal Company. He became a valued utility player and was proficient in operating every machine used in strip mining. The primary drawback to his job was being relegated to the third shift and working seven days a week for fifty weeks a year.
Thus, Charles entered a new phase of his life trying to find a perfect fit for his future occupation. Some of the avenues he tried but ultimately discarded were: salvage yard operation, autobody repair; auto, modular home, insurance, diesel engine and semi-truck sales. None of these efforts provided the financial security of his first working experience and he went back to the mines, so to speak, to earn a living.
Because of his vast knowledge of the operational capabilities of each piece of mining equipment and how they needed to work together for efficient strip mining, he moved from being a union worker to the management side of the enterprise for Arch Mineral. He worked in southern Illinois at Captain Mine and then Horseshoe Creek, until coal mining took a downturn. He then took another position with Arch Mineral and moved to West Virginia.
While in these mountains he took on greater management responsibility in being responsible for ever larger portion of the mining operation.  However, Chuck wound up running stripping machines again, as the managers ran the mining operation during a prolonged strike by the union, which turned violent. Shots were fired resulting in a fatality. He had to fly by helicopter to and from the mine to avoid the picket line and future violence.
There he met young mining engineer that would later offer yet a new opportunity. He retired from Arch Mineral and moved back to Illinois. The engineer he befriended, Michael Zervos, later became the president of Drummond Coal. At age 56, Charles was recruited by Michael to be a manager of a new coal strip mine (Pribbenow) near La Loma, Colombia, South America. Chuck became fluent in Spanish and spent the next 11 years commuting between Birmingham, AL and Colombia on a monthly basis.
At 67 Chuck moved to Collinsville and befriended Tom Lingenfelter, who was doing missionary work in Honduras. They became close and Charles accompanied Tom on some missions to central America as well as raising funds to support future similar future efforts. During this work hiatus, he became restless once again.
At age 69 when his innate stirrings of wanderlust beckoned, he earned a Commercial Driver’s License. He was employed by Gilster Mary Lee out of Perryville, MO as an over the road trucker. He plied this trade from coast to coast across the US and also made frequent trips to Canada. He more than tithed in his support of the central youth outreach mission effort. He continued to work to age 81, until he became recently medically incapacitated.
In lieu of cards or flowers, donations may be made to the ministry that Charles avidly supported: www.centralyouthoutreach.org
Due to current pandemic conditions, there will be no gathering.  The family will be having a celebration of life for Charles later this summer