Obituary of Charles Heal

Charles R. Heal, age 94 died March 1, 2012 in Hudson, Florida under the care of Gulfside Hospice after a short illness. Mr. Heal was born in West Wyoming, PA on August 10, 1917 to John G. & Mary Jane Phillips Heal. He graduated from West Wyoming High School in 1934. He graduated from Simmon's School of Embalming and Mortuary Science in Syracuse, NY in 1936. He apprenticed in Johnstown, NY at A. C. Cole Funeral Home. Unable to find work and being draft-eligible, he enlisted in the army in 1941 and served in the US Army 746th Field Artillery Battalion Battery B Company C in the European Theater. While in Northern Ireland preparing for the D Day invasion, he met and married an Irish girl Margaret Watt in Maghera. It was the largest church wedding the town had ever seen. Everybody turned out to see Maggie marry her Yank. He was discharged in 1945 and Margaret arrived from Ireland on a ship full of war brides in October. They moved to Saranac Lake, NY where Charles worked for Willis Currier Funeral Home. Daughter Jackie was born there in 1947. The family moved to Odessa, New York in 1949 where he worked for the Horton Funeral Home as a funeral director/embalmer. Their second daughter, Dianne was born in 1952. In 1962 Vedder and Scott Inc. offered him a job in Montour Falls, NY a short distance from Odessa. In 1964 he built the Heal Funeral Home on Church Street. He continued to work in association with Vedder and Scott Funeral Home in Montour Falls and also in their furniture store on Main Street until he retired in 1980 after Margaret's death. He then sold the funeral home to Vedder and Scott, which became their second location. In 1981 he married Nola Frycek and they moved to Texas. After a brief time they returned to Alpine where they lived until 1997 when the moved to Citra, Florida where she still lives. Charles had been a member of the Odessa Methodist Church, past president of the Lion's Club, member of the Odd Fellow's Lodge and a trustee of the Village of Odessa. He was a member of the Wyoming Lodge No 468, F. & A.M. and Council Chapter Consistory Scottish Rite Bodies in the Valley of Rochester. He was the Junior Vice-Commander of the VFW Post #8978 in Citra, Florida. He is survived by his wife, Nola, her 3 children: Marie (David) Piercey in Plantersville, Texas, Susan (John) Walter, Van Etten, NY, Fred Frychek, Spar, Florida; his 2 daughters: Jacqueline Kerschbaum, Bayonet Point, Florida and Dianne Palmer, Wake Forest, North Carolina. There are 10 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren. Mr. Heal will be buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Town of Catherine, New York at a later time. The family requests donations to the Hospice of your choice. To share a memory, "Light A Candle" or send the family a condolence, please visit www.vedderandscottfuneralhome.com