Charles Edward Ardinger passed away on January 3, 2023, at the age of 80, after a brief hospital stay at Gundersen Hospital in La Crosse, Wis.
Charles was born on July 7, 1942, to Ralph and Clara Ardinger in Norfolk, Va. He graduated from Spring Grove High School in 1960. After high school, he joined the U.S. Navy. On July 2, 1965, he married Georginia Leader in San Francisco, Calif. His various duty stations included Recruit Training, Great Lakes, Ill.; Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Orange, Tex.; USS Mattaponi A0 41, San Francisco; CHB Subic Bay, PI, Danang, Vietnam; USS Graffias AF 29, San Francisco; USS Catskill MCS-1, Long Beach; River Assault Squadron 15, Boat Captain of Tango 151-11, Mekong Delta, Vietnam; U.S. Naval Training Center, Hancock, Mich.; U.S. Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and Correctional Center, Corpus Christi, Tex. After his 22 ½ year retirement from the U.S. Navy in June 1980, he returned to the Mabel area and bought and remodeled his grandmother’s house in Hesper.
He was a member of the American Legion Color Guard and Memorial Detail. He had worked for Jimmy Brown’s Tree Service and Ardell Peterson. He also maintained the Hesper Lutheran Cemetery and oversaw the veterans headstones, and loved riding in his golf cart visiting his Hesper neighborhood, and friends. I know I will miss him doing the cooking, washing the clothes, filling the coffee pot with water, shopping for groceries, opening the mail, and wrapping packages to send, to just mention a few things.
He was a member of the Hesper Lutheran Church, life member of the American Legion, AMVETS, Disabled American Veterans, Military Order of the Purple Heart, Mobile Riverine Force Association, VFW, and VVA; and a member of the Fleet Reserve Association, USS Graffias, USS Mattaponi, and Guantanamo Bay Association. He was past commander of the American Legion Post 299 and the VFW Post 5769 in Mabel and past treasurer and membership chairman of the Mobile Riverine Force Association.
Charles is survived by his wife Georginia, son Charles Ardinger, Jr. (Teresa), cousin Rita Anderson, nephews Doug (Kristy), Brian, and Greg; and other nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents Ralph and Clara, grandparents Julius and Hilda Selness and Nellie Ardinger, his brother and sister-in-law Ralph and Ingrid Ardinger, and father and mother-in-law Russell and Belle Leader.
Fair winds and following seas.
Funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Friday, January 13, 2023, at the Hesper Lutheran Church in Hesper, Iowa, with Pastor Dave Werges officiating. Visitation will be from 4-6 p.m. at the Hesper Lutheran Church in Hesper and one hour prior to services at the Church. Burial will be in the Hesper Lutheran Cemetery. The Mengis Funeral Home in Mabel is assisting with arrangements.