Charles Christian Todd was a big man with a big heart, in more ways than one. His medical condition of enlarged heart, complicated by diabetes, pneumonia and kidney failure, combined to end his days, but his generosity and friendliness made those days rich for family and friends, who describe him as having a “heart of gold.” He was born in San Antonio on Dec. 19, 1940, and passed to his reward inSan Antonio on Oct. 3, 2018.
Called “Chris” or “Charlie” by family and friends, he emerged from a generations-old Texas family with branch roots in Germany and the old South, then followed the Herff School-Page-Brackenridge route to manhood. After roughnecking on offshore oil rigs for a while, he served proudly in the US Marine Corps.
He was particularly proud of his service on the USS Gunston Hall during the 1962 Cuban
Missile Crisis, and enjoyed periodic reunions with old shipmates. After military
service, he began work as an apprentice carpenter, eventually working up to master
carpenter and even branched out and became a millwright through his work
experiences.He married his beloved wife, Ursula Schieler, a native of Stuttgart, Germany, in
1967. They enjoyed over fifty years of shared experiences and travels with their
family. Despite his busy work life, he found time to take trips with his wife and
children, go fishing and hunting with friends and family, grow his garden and to
make barbecue that drew folks from far and near.
For many years, he worked as foreman on many projects. He helped build the
landmark Tower of the Americas, as well as numerous commercial buildings
around the city, as did Joe Winter, his grandfather before him. Such jobs took him
as far away as California, Utah, Nebraska, and Tennessee, to name a few places. In
Tennessee, he was enthralled walking Civil War battlefields and imagining the
people and history recorded there that went with the sights he was seeing. Fellow
workers loved to travel to out-of-state jobs with him, as one of his hobbies was
cooking. People in general were astounded to see and experience the appetizers,
soups, and main dishes that big, gruff-looking man could produce in the kitchen.
Friends were delighted when he proved to be as adept at cooking a delicate
flounder just right as he was at disassembling and overhauling a mammoth
municipal power generator.
Loyalty, generosity, and love defined him. Being with family and friends was what
made him happiest. Sometimes it seemed that his friends could fill the Alamodome, he had so many. Many reading this might have been recipients of
his open-handed gifts of venison and feral hog meat brought back from hunting
trips. Many of us also remember relaxing under his patio roof while he stood in
clouds of billowing wood smoke, happily tending a heavily laden grill, getting a
generous barbecue dinner ready for us visitors. Many will never forget his stuffed
jalapenos.
To demonstrate his versatility and old Texas pride, one of his proudest
accomplishments was winning First Place in the famous VFW chili cook-off in
2012. A periodically gruff exterior could not hide the solid gold interior for long,
as people who came to know him soon found that he was one of
those unselfish souls who “would give you the shirt off of his back.” He was
widely recognized as a down-to-earth friendly man who thoroughly enjoyed the
company of his many friends, all of whom have expressed profound sorrow at
losing him. His natural generosity was wide and unflagging, as many can attest. In
all his nearly 78 years, I’ve never known him to refuse when asked for a favor. Not
once. You could always count on a warm welcome and a cold glass whenever you
arrived at the house of this hospitable man. Now we pray that The Carpenter from
Galilee is welcoming one of His own.
Chris is survived by his wife, Ursula, son John Christian Todd, and daughters
Peggy (Robert) Huber, and Leslie (Rick) Edgerton, grandchildren Darrell (Holly)
Cardwell, Steven (Laura) Cardwell, Coty Huber, Jennifer (Matt) Delgado, and
Richard Moczygemba, great-grandchildren Daylen and Davin Cardwell, and
Correna, Brennen, Mason, and Haylen Cardwell. Also mourning his passing are
brother Gary (Carol) Todd, loving sister Susan (Aaron) Tondre, nephews and niece
Michael (Lori) Todd, Jeffrey (Kim) Todd, Kevin Tondre, and Tanya (Paul)
Freeburg; grand nephews and niece, Evan and Nathan Todd, Kolten Tondre, and
Taylor Freeburg, along with many cousins and good friends.
All of us are left with a permanent void in our life with that salt-of-the-earth big
man gone. But it will only seem to be permanent.
In John 11, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, and said, “I am the
resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and
everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
(11:25-26)
Visitation will begin Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at 9:00am with a service at 12:00pm at Delgado Funeral Home, 2200 W. Martin St., San Antonio, Texas 78207. Funeral procession will depart Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at 1:00pm for interment at Ft Sam Houston National Cemetery at 1:45pm.
