First Posted: 2/3/2013
Charles Joseph Poppa Chuck Karichner, age 81, a lifelong resident of Hughestown borough, died Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013, in Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, where he had been a patient for the past several weeks. He had been in ill health for some time.
Mr. Karichner was born in Hughestown, son of the late George and Stella Moss Karichner, and attended Hughestown High School. He had been employed in the coal-mining industry at collieries in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties for some time. Prior to his retirement in 1995, he had been a heavy-equipment mechanic with Pagnotti Enterprises for more than 40 years. He was a member of the United Mine Workers of America.
Poppa Chuck, as he was known to family and friends, enjoyed fishing, cooking, canning and repairing old cars and was a die-hard Yankees fan. He liked to bake, and his friends and neighbors received most of his baking creations.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, Anna Mae Lewis Karichner, who died in 1975; by a twin sister, Charlotte J. Chairge, and an infant son, Charles J. Karichner.
Surviving are his longtime fiancée, Elizabeth Maureen Connell, at home; a daughter, Mrs. Cheryl Kurre, and her husband, Joseph, Pittston, and son, Charles Jeff Karichner, and his fiancé, Laurie Stead Hammon, Hughestown; sister Joan Daniels and her husband, Albert, Hughestown; grandchildren, Keri Karichner and her fiancé, Mark Chapman, and Charles Hunter Karichner; great-grandchildren, Gia and Alex Chapman, all of Hughestown; several nieces and nephews.
Funeral was held Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013, from the H. Merritt Hughes Funeral Home Inc., a Golden Rule Funeral Home, 211 Luzerne Ave., West Pittston, with Mass of Christian Burial in Immaculate Conception Church Worship Site, Corpus Christi Parish, West Pittston, with the Rev. Msgr. John J. Sempa, pastor, as celebrant. Interment was in Memorial Shrine Cemetery, Carverton.