I'm so happy to see how many people loved the big, bold, loud Chuck.
He was truly one of a kind and will never be able to be replaced.
I'd like to share some things about Chuck that not too many people many know.
Chuck considered himself to be shy. He told me that he was extra loud to cover up his shyness.
The first time I met Chuck, Jeff S. was introducing him around in the Winnetka office.
He peeked around the doorway of my office and kind of waved hi. Didn't say a word.
He had short hair, and was wearing a polo shirt. I remember thinking he was a BIG one! :-)
Chuck loved Laurel and Hardy.
One of his favorite skits was Laurel drinking all of a soda he was supposed to share with Hardy.
"But Ollie, my half was on the bottom!"
His favorite color was green.
He would deny this, but if you asked him to pick out a color for anything, he always picked a shade of green.
Chuck was color blind. He had trouble with blue and purple, red and orange, and shades of brown.
Maybe green was his favorite cause he could always see green ok!
One of his favorite things to do was take his son Brad to Oberweis for ice cream.
Chuck's favorite flavor was apple strudel.
More on food...Chuck loved anything made with bananas, especially banana bread and banana milkshakes.
The first time we went to the McHenry Steak and Shake he asked for a banana milkshake. Well, they didn't make them.
So then he asked if he brought in bananas, would they make him a banana milk shake? Of course they would!
We walked over to Dominick's, bought 2 bananas, and then had yummy banana milk shakes at Steak and Shake.
And from then on, we would stop at Dominick's first to pick up the essential bananas before going to eat.
Chuck dearly loved movies.
He was always such a kid when we went, so excited no matter what we were going to see.
Believe it or not, he liked musicals. His favorite was Grease.
Whenever he saw a glimpse of it while flipping channels, we had to watch the entire thing, even if it was 1 am.
Another thing on tv that we had to watch whenever he saw it was Blues Clues.
Chuck and I would both make Blue's sounds along with her. He would surprise me with a stuffed Blue now and then.
One Sunday morning we were watching VH1 and saw the silliest show - Puppy Videos.
They had 10 puppies playing in a room in front of a screen. They played videos on the screen.
Chuck got such a kick out of that we watched the whole show - 2 hours of puppies playing in front of videos.
Then he kept looking for it for weeks after, but it must have only made it on one time.
He loved to sit and listen to me play the piano.
I haven't played for years, and the only thing I could remember were these simple little Bach songs.
I'd play everything I could remember, and he would beg me to play them again and again.
There were only 2 people in this world that Chuck wouldn't curse in front of - Mae and my mom.
Chuck adored the Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, country music, polka and Gary Numan's song "Cars".
One thing that Chuck loved were babies.
Whenever he saw a baby, no matter where he was, grocery store, restaurant, Chuck had to make that baby smile.
He would go to elaborate lengths to get that baby to light up.
Chuck always wanted the house to smell nice.
He would drag me to the dollar store to get Glade plug-ins. We got potpourri pots, essential oils and scented candles.
He was always running around the house, plugging things in, refilling stuff, sniffing, and saying "Doesn't that smell good?!"
He was extremely proud of being Lithuanian. He had a reverence for Lithuanian amber.
We were always on the look out for Lithuanian amber jewlery.
Whenever we'd see some, he would stand a while and admire it.
We never bought any, just searched it out to appreciate the craftsmanship and beauty.
The car that Chuck always wanted was a Cadillac STS in diamond white.
We rented one of those in Vegas one trip, and he kept talking almost non-stop about how much he loved that car.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, it had a governer set to 110mph.
Chuck was very religious. He had a firm belief in God.
We didn't go to church that often, but when we did, Chuck got a lot out of it.
He swears that one time a miracle happened.
It was time to put your contribution in the plate and he went uh oh - he didn't think he had any money in his pocket.
To his surprise, when he checked there was $21. He put it all in and was delighted to give God a blackjack.
From then on he always gave $21 so he could give blackjack to God.
Well, I just wanted to try to give a glimpse of a Chuck that not everyone knew.
I miss you very much, my big pookie.
Love always, your little pookie.