Charles ‘Chuck’ Gawthrop Shoemaker of Kennett Township
Charles ‘Chuck’ Gawthrop Shoemaker, 93, of Kennett Township, died Feb. 24, at Kendal at Longwood.
He was born to William MacClean Shoemaker, Jr. and Mary Hickman Gawthrop on Dec. 26, 1923 in Kennett Square, the youngest of three children.
At the age of 6, he moved with his parents to Wilmington, where he attended Alexis I. duPont School then Wilmington Friends School. In the late 1930s, the family purchased a property on Marshall Bridge Road in Kennett Square where Chuck continued to live until the late 1990s. He graduated from the George School in 1942 and that fall entered Swarthmore College and enrolled in the Naval V-5 program. Chuck received his commission in February 1945, began active service as a flight cadet in the Naval Reserve in June and was training as a carrier-based night fighter pilot for assignment to the Pacific when the war ended.
In May 1945 he married Joann (Jody) Brosius of Wilmington. In 1946 he matriculated to the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree. In 1948, he joined Joseph Brosius, his father-in-law, in the family lumber business, Brosius & Smedley, Co. and in 1966 was instrumental in merging it with the company of his boyhood friend, James T. (Bud) Eliason, of J.T. & L.E. Eliason Inc. to form Brosius-Eliason Co. of New Castle and Wilmington, Delaware. At the time of Bud’s death, Chuck became Chairman of the Company and continued in that role until 2008.
As a lifelong resident of Kennett Township, he served 12 years as a supervisor and, having earned the Boy Scout rank of Eagle while at Wilmington Friends, served as scoutmaster of Troop 57 and on its board, and the board of Wilmington Friends. A birthright Quaker, Chuck was a member of the Kennett Monthly Meeting of Friends where he served as treasurer, auditor, clerk of the trustees, and a member of several committees including one that restored and maintained Old Kennett Meeting.
He and Jody were members of Kennett Golf and Country Club and a charter member of Greenville Country Club where he enjoyed tennis. For many years he and Jody sailed from the Chesapeake Bay to the coast of Maine in their Concordia Yawl “Condor.” Chuck was a member of Wilmington Power Squadron, the Quiet Birdmen Association, and the George Washington Society.
He is survived by two sons, Peter of Townsend, Mass., and Joseph (Jay) of Portland, Ore. He was predeceased by his son, Charles, in 2007, and wife Jody in 2012. He is also survived by five grandchildren: Andrew, Charles, Anna, Sarah, Alexandretta and three great-grandchildren.
A Memorial Service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, April 29 at Kennett Monthly Meeting, 125 West Sickle Street. In lieu of flowers please send remembrances to Kennett Monthly Meeting, P.0.Box 122, Kennett Square, PA 19348.
Online condolences may be made by visiting www.griecocares.com
Arrangements by the Kuzo & Grieco Funeral Home, Kennett Square.
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