Born on Aug. 17, 1933, in Troy, N.Y., Charles Edwin Welles III brought great joy to his father and mother, Charles and Mary V. Welles. As a young child, he lived with his parents in both Bennington, Vt., and in Bermuda. Sadly, at the tender age of 6, he lost his mother after she succumbed to pneumonia in 1938. Charles attended a Bennington one-room schoolhouse, The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, and the South Kent School in Connecticut, where he managed to graduate with grades sufficient to earn his admission to Yale College. During his teenage years, Charles gained a stepmother who loved him, Gertrude “Johnne” Talbot.
At Yale, Charles majored in American Studies. After his Yale graduation in 1956, he worked at National City Bank. Life as a banker was not for him, because — as he explained — he did not want to have to wear a white shirt on days when he preferred to wear a blue shirt. And so, he returned to Yale to study art history, specifically American decorative arts. He struck up an acquaintance with the recent Vassar graduate, Elizabeth Bassett, while the two were studying in the Yale Art History Library. The two married on July 1, 1960, at the Walpole Meetinghouse with a reception at the home of Elizabeth’s parents, Charles “Chuck” and Elizabeth “Betty” Bassett, in South Bristol.
Charles and Elizabeth had four children together, Chase, Edwin (Charles Edwin IV), Giles, and Talbot. While their marriage ended amicably in 1976, Charles and Elizabeth continued an enduring friendship, spending many summers and almost every Thanksgiving and Christmas together in South Bristol with their children and grandchildren throughout the years until Charles’ recent passing.
In September 1966, Charles started his career as an English teacher at Hopkins Grammar School. Previously, he taught Latin at Tuxedo Park School from 1961-1964, and English to students in Pori, Finland, as a part of a Fulbright program from 1964-1966. At Hopkins, Charles taught generations of students with flamboyant enthusiasm and enjoyed the intellects and friendship of his many esteemed Hopkins colleagues.
After his retirement from Hopkins in 1998, Charles made another life for himself in Homer, Alaska, where his friends, Butch and Lucy Cutting, spent the summers. Charles adventured around the state with his friends and son, Edwin, his wife Elizabeth Hagerman, and their two sons, Benson and Colman, in Homer.
Charles always made sure to remain close to his East Coast family and friends. As the dark Alaskan winters proved challenging, Charles sojourned in the gentle, winter breezes of Maine after Elizabeth graciously invited him to stay in her South Bristol home. He visited with his son, Giles, and his wife, Malawi, in their home in Takoma Park, Md., on his way to and from Alaska. Grandsons Thomas and Grant fondly remember him playing with and reading to them. He also visited his son, Chase, in New York, and enjoyed discussing literature with his granddaughter, Hannah, and hearing riddles and jokes from his grandson, Alden. He was “Grandpalaska” to Sam and Charlie, sons of his daughter, Talbot, and her husband, Thomas Mason. He joined Talbot’s family for several winter vacations in Vermont, Canada, and Taos, New Mexico, where he skied at the age of 80 with his grandsons. During the winters of 2020 and 2021, Charles shared wonderful dinners with his South Bristol neighbor and son, Chase, and his wife, Annette. During his stays in South Bristol, Charles was also fortunate to gain as a friend, Francis Hewins, who joined him for drives across the country from Maine to Alaska and throughout New England.
Prior to his departure from this world on June 12, 2023, Charles attended the graduation of his grandson Charlie from the Coast Guard Academy on May 17, 2023, enjoyed a Hudson River cruise on the retired John J. Harvey fireboat on June 4, 2023, watched his grandson Alden marry Alicia Mason in Prospect Park (Brooklyn, N.Y.) on June 5, 2023, and spent time with many family members. He concluded his adventures on this earth — knowing his family and friends loved him — in Lenox Hospital in New York City. He had been looking forward to his 90th birthday celebration in Homer, Alaska, on Aug. 17, 2023.
There will be a memorial for him at 11 a.m. on Oct. 28, 2023, at the Old First Church Cemetery in Old Bennington, Vt. Any donations in his memory may be made to the Hopkins School (Hopkins School Development Office, 986 Forest Road, New Haven, CT, 06515); the Walpole Meetinghouse (Walpole Meetinghouse — Windows Campaign, P.O. Box 47, Walpole, ME, 04573); or the Kachemak Heritage Land Trust (KHLT, 315 Klondike Ave., Homer, Alaska, 99603).
