Charles "Charlie" Reichart

Charles "Charlie" Reichart passed away suddenly and peacefully at home on Friday evening, October 11, 2019. Charlie and his wife, JoAnne, lived for 47 years at their home, Windswept Farm on Rohrsburg Road, Orangeville and this past January they moved to Bailey Park, Benton.

Charlie was immensely likable and the definitive example of a people person. He seemed to know everybody and be known by everybody. Wherever he travelled, he uncannily ran into people he knew. He had a great love of the woods and wildlife of Pennsylvania. He could identify tree species by their bark alone. Birds, butterflies and deer would stop him in his tracks for closer observation. He instilled that love of nature in his children. His grandchildren could always count on him to be at their athletic events and celebrations of milestones.

Charles Edwin Reichart was born on April 21, 1936, the first of eight children of the former Charles Leroy Reichart and Marion Gertrude (Fritz) Reichart of Lightstreet. His surviving siblings (in birth order) are Paul E., R. Clair, Carolyn Bowman, Janet Robinson, Larry L., Gordon R. and Randy A.

As a teenager, Charles worked for his father, hauling logs out of the Pennsylvania forests to the family sawmill in Lightstreet. After he got his driver's license, he drove truckloads of wood crossties to the coal mines, returning with loads of coal for resale.

Charles was a 1954 graduate of the former Scott Township High School in Espy. He served in the US Air Force from 1955 to 1958 as an aircraft mechanic with duty assignments in Japan and Hanscom Field, MA, and was named airman of the month multiple times.

Upon return from military service, Charles began his sales career as an Allstate life insurance salesman at the Sears and Roebuck Store in downtown Bloomsburg. As his career progressed, he sold life insurance for New York Life and Educators Mutual with his office above Eudora's Corset Shop. Charles then switched gears to work as fuel sales representative for the LaBar Truck Stop in Buckhorn and then All American Truck Stops of Milton. Together with his wife, he sold Shaklee products since 1971.

He married his high school sweetheart, the former JoAnne Evelyn Schneider of Carrol Park, Bloomsburg upon her graduation from Penn State University. Charles and JoAnne were married for 59 years.

Charles and JoAnne travelled widely through sales awards from Shaklee Corporation. Destinations included Austria, China, Switzerland, England, France and throughout the US. They brought their children along on the 1979 trip to Austria, planting in them the seeds of global curiosity and engagement.

Charles is survived by his wife JoAnne and three children: C. Todd Reichart and wife Bonnie Bassler of Princeton, NJ; Holly L. Ray and husband Todd C. Ray of Hummelstown; and Christopher D. Reichart and wife Mary (Crockett) Reichart of Mechanicsburg; as well as five grandchildren: Benjamin Ray and wife Leslie (Miller) Ray of Gettysburg, Kristen Ray of New York City, Chad Ray of Hummelstown; Cal Reichart of Las Vegas, NV; and Cade Reichart of Mechanicsburg.

A celebration of Charles' life will be held at the Orangeville Fire Hall, where he was a life social member, on Saturday, October 19 from 11:00 a.m. through 3:00 p.m. Doors will open at 11:00 a.m., there will be a service from 11:30 a.m. to noon, followed by a meal and social. Friends and family are heartily invited.  The McMichael Funeral Home, Inc., of Benton is honored to serve the Reichart Family.  For online condolences, please visit our website:  www.mcmichaelfuneralhome.com  In lieu of flowers, contributions honoring Charlie's life may be made to the Animal Resource Center, PO Box 439, Bloomsburg, PA 17815 (nokillarc.org/donate.html)

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