Letter to a Saint

Your dad was great guy.  As a punk 16 yr. old in the early 80's recovering from chemical dependency, I sat in many meetings and enjoyed hearing your father's stories and experiences that helped get me through another week (or sometimes day) of sobriety.  He always had a way of making people smile, with his sense of humor and genuine caring attitude.  At seventeen I moved out of the house to a home that Chuck rented to several other young men that were trying to get their lives straightened out.  He endured our irresponsible ways in the area of keeping the place clean, not to mention the 1/8 inch of cigarette soot that stuck to the windows and everything else.  He also helped find several of us jobs in the area with the help of contacts he had at local lumber yards, etc.  I remember telling him years later that I was getting married one Sunday morning at a meeting he attended each week on 3NW at the hospital and he turned to another guy that had lived at Chucks place and had gone through a divorce like himself and said "Hey Phil, Andy's getting married!, got any great advice for him?"  "….go with your feelings Andy!"  (They both thought it was pretty funny.)

Anyhow, he was always a guy I respected and looked to as a father myself not having grown up with one.
I remember he seemed to read a lot  & was inspired by guys like Gandhi & Jesus.  He fixed things we broke at his place without grumbling too much (even though he was pissed…rightfully so!)

He gave me rides to school sometimes when my car broke down, and was always friendly & cordial even when he knew I was going on a date with his daughter later that week.

I wish I still kept in contact with all my old housemates, I'd know they'd have loved to offer their thoughts and memories.

Just know this, he touched so many lives, more than you will be able to quantify from a web page blog.  I'm now a well adjusted father of four with 30+ years of sobriety due in part from guys like Chuck willing to let God use them to make this world a better place.   He will be missed.   

God Bless the Chuck Christianson's of the world.

Love
-Andy Dosch