Uncle Chappy

On Monday, my great Uncle Chappy, suffering from Alzheimer's disease, living in a hospice center, and having recently broken his shoulder, passed away. My father's email about Uncle Chappy was nicely written, listing sweet memories of him, and I thought I should pass it on:
Our family participated in pretty many family get-together picnics at Uncle Chappy's home in Honeybrook.
He is the one who made the shelves for your tea-sets that are still in my attic, waiting for you to have room to hang them.
He is the one who traveled more than fifty miles to present his views about WWII and Pearl Harbor survivorship, (along with Pop Pop Schrack) to Brandon's boy scout troop.
He is the one who played Santa Claus at our family gatherings when I was young. At that time he had dark wavy hair, and was a handsome fellow.
He was the one who helped his children and their cousins (me included) make home-made root beer and sassafras -- not exactly a success.
When I was young, we would often get together at his old apartment in Modena for Thanksgiving dinner.
The sight I remember, is Chappy always helped with the dishes, after those meals.
He worked in the steel mills of Modena for Lukens Steel, a hard life for sure.
He was a good father to his children, John, David, and Joel.
He was the husband of Aunt Gertrude (Trudy). I am her "favorite" nephew.

Uncle Chappy did not talk much with me, but I always remembered that he held the record as the largest baby born at Reading Hospital for some time. This impressed me as a child because it was hard for me to think that someone old had once been a baby. But of course at that time, I thought 10 was a very old age to be. I know that Uncle Chappy will be missed.