Charles Mahoney

Charles "Chuck" Mahoney was born on March 18, 1928 in Geneva, New York, the son of Frederick and Hazel Mahoney. He died June 17, 2016 in Port Charlotte, Florida. His parents and siblings, one brother, Donald (killed in WWII) and five sisters are deceased. Reading Haliburton's books as a youth led Lindy (nickname at the time) to a lifetime interest in travel. By age 18, he had hitch-hiked to all 48 contiguous states, Canada and Mexico, and later traveled to about 80 countries, many on educational assignments. He graduated from Geneva High School in 1946, went on to Colorado A&M to earn a B.S. Degree in 1953, M.S. at the New York State College of Forestry in 1955, and PhD from Syracuse University in 1965. His military service New York State Guard, the Army Air Corps (now USAF) with service at the Pentagon, the Alaskan Air Command and Air Force Reserve. He was a member of a Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. He served as a Ranger-Naturalist with the National Park Service at Mount Rainier (7 seasons), Lassen, Dinosaur, Acadia and Olympic National Parks and Yellowstone as a Research Scientist. From 1955-1967, he was a Professor of Biology at the State University of New York at Geneseo where he taught biology courses, including an interdisciplinary (with art instructor) course: Marine Biology and Painting at Bar Harbor, ME and Woods Hole, MA. Community activities included his small role in the planning and building of the Geneseo Methodist Church. It was at Geneseo that he met the light and love of his life, Helen Chamberlain, in 1955. They were married two years later at the Caneadea Methodist Church and recently celebrated their 59th anniversary. Their daughter, Carolyn (Harry) was a counselor at Chadron High School and has two children, Garrett and Leanne. Their son, Dave (Lisa), is an auto designer with Ford Motor Co and has three children, Devyn, Kaylin and Ian. Chuck's family was always the greatest joy in his life and he loved outings such as camping, hiking, climbing, skiing and rafting. Family activities, combined with great friends, a love of teaching, world-wide travel, classical music, summers in the National Parks, mountaineering, etc. often led him to state, "I am the luckiest guy in the world." As a Professor of Resource Conservation at Colorado State University (1967-1987) he was charged with starting the Interpretation and Conservation Education Majors at CSU. He served nearly 35 years at Pingree Park as Instructor/Director/Coordinator in the summer camp programs or Instructor in the Elderhostel Programs (the latter at Pingree and the YMCA of the Rockies). He developed the Environmental Conservation course (NR120) offered to several thousand students at CSU over the years and, hopefully, produced a large cadre of better stewards of our environment and the nation's natural resources. He authored a number of publications, taught Honors courses, led several African Ecology Tours and participated in many overseas assignments. Dr. Mahoney was the recipient of numerous awards and honors for excellence in teaching and advising at Geneseo State, Colorado State and the Elderhostel Programs. In 1979, he was elected "Fellow" in the Explorer's Club. Lifelong interests included a love of classical music, athletics (basketball with the Alaskan Air Command, handball until nearly age 80 at CSU) and mountaineering, climbing nearly all the major peaks of the Pacific Northwest and several of Colorado's 14'ers. He was also, of course, a devoted RAM fan! In retirement, he was a faculty member in the Semester at Sea Program and taught courses while sailing around the world. Two years later, he was a volunteer with the International Executive Service Corps and designed a curriculum training natural resource managers at the new Independent University of Bangladesh. With the "Poudre Golden K" Kiwanis group, he had been active in many of the Club's projects (SAINT driver, Headstart, Habitat, etc). but especially as a volunteer at the Larimer County Food Bank for 25 years and several years with Friends of the Library. A Celebration of Life Service will be held at the First United Methodist Church and is scheduled for Saturday, 7/2 at 2:00 p.m. If inclined, contributions can be made to World Vision, Mercy Ships, Finca, etc. for international relief of the world's most needy.