Charlotte Decker passes away

Charlotte Eleanor Decker
Sept. 23, 1914 ­- March 25, 2009

Charlotte E. Decker, 94, died peacefully Wednesday at Corvallis Manor in Corvallis. Born Sept. 23, 1914, in Oakland, Calif., she was the daughter of Earle L. Menker and Charlotte Anne Manhire Menker. Charlotte studied at Mills College and received her Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Stanford University in 1936. She worked as a clinical laboratory technician at Stanford Clinic in San Francisco and at Providence Hospital in Oakland, Calif. She married Fred W. Decker in New York City on Oct. 3, 1942, where Fred was called for active duty in the Army Air Corps to teach meteorology to Air Force pilots during World War II. In the fall of 1946 the family came to Corvallis, where Fred worked as a professor in the physics and atmospheric sciences departments of Oregon State University. The couple has three children, Charlotte “Jane,” William “Bill,” and Lorraine “Rainy.”

Charlotte served as a teacher at Oakland’s Chinese Methodist Church Sunday School and later at the United Methodist Church in Corvallis. She was a member of Grace Lutheran Church for more than 40 years. She was an active volunteer in PTA, Camp Fire Girls, 4-H, Boy Scout Mother’s Club and OSU Folk Club. After Fred’s retirement from OSU, the couple moved to Washington, D.C., where he served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education under President Reagan and she enjoyed all of the embassy parties.

Charlotte was a devoted wife and homemaker, tending a productive home fruit and vegetable garden that was shared by many friends. However, her roses were her pride. Her love of travel began while her father was an executive with Southern Pacific Railroad and enhanced by Fred’s sabbaticals. She relished her connection with her British cousins, Fred’s Swiss relatives and international students, cultivating an appreciation of other cultures.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Homer “Bill” Menker; Charlotte is survived by her husband of 66 years, Fred; her daughter, Jane, of Tucson, Ariz.; son and daughter-in-law Bill and Janet Decker of Sunnyvale, Calif.; daughter and son-in-law Rainy and Gene Takalo of Damascus; four granddaughters; two great-grandsons; one sister-in-law; one niece; and one nephew.

The family requests memorial donations in Charlotte’s name be directed to the Grace Center for Adult Day Care, Benton County Historical Society and Museum or Eternal Perspective Ministry in care of McHenry Funeral Home, 206 N.W. Fifth St., Corvallis, OR 97330.

A funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 29, at McHenry Funeral Home. Online condolences can be made via www.mchenryfuneralhome.com.

(H/t: Jeff Kubler)