Charles Kuepfer

Charles Lloyd Kuepfer (Chuck), age 92, of Chippewa Falls, passed away on Sunday, November 24, 2024 at Dove West in Eau Claire with his daughter by his side.

Charles was born in Chippewa Falls on March 10, 1932 to Charles R. and Melissa (Hayden) Kuepfer. He attended the Chippewa Falls Senior High School, Class of 1950. Charles joined the US Army in 1949 and served his country during the Korean War. After his service, his jobs took him overseas to many amazing places. He worked in electronics and communications, and was a part of the Missile Test Project out of Cape Canaveral, FL. He spent a lot of time in the Bahamas, and Ascension Islands as well as Kwajalein Atoll. Specifically in Kwajalein, he worked on the Nike Zeus anti-ballistic missile. This missile was designed to destroy incoming Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile warheads before they could hit their targets. During these island travels, he developed a love of diving. He spent countless hours exploring underwater.

He was always the ‘first one in the water, and the last one out’. His favorite dive was the wreck of the Prinz Eugen. This was a Nazi German warship that the US won as a battle prize. It was part of the nuclear tests at the Bikini Atoll. After the blasts, it was being towed to Kwajalein Atoll and it rolled over and sank. He also created an underwater camera. He actually modified a pressure cooker to create a housing for a regular camera. He took hundreds of pictures and later in life, actually put on slide presentations of his underwater adventures for his kids’ grade school classes.

His work brought him all over the world to places including New Zealand, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Scotland, England, Holland, Japan and Brazil just to name a few.

Because of all the stamps in his passport, they literally had to add pages to his passport! In 1965 he went to Bergen, Norway. He was going on an assignment in the Arctic. While waiting to depart he had a few days to check out Bergen and it was then that he met his ‘Little Norwegian’  Vally Handeland. He had a couple more adventures but soon returned to Norway and started the next chapter of his life. He and Vally were married in Bergen in 1966 and started their family. They later moved to his hometown of Chippewa Falls and has lived there ever since.

He was a man of many trades and the best handyman! Chuck was in business for himself building numerous houses over the years and was a member of the Local Carpenter’s 1074 for many years. He and his son Steve were able to share time on the East Coast working in the late 1980’s-early 1990’s living in Chuck’s motorhome; and he was instrumental in Steve becoming a 3rd generation carpenter.

He was active in several organizations (too many to list) including being a large part of the building of the Chippewa Area Hockey Arena. He was also a long-time member of the Chamber of Commerce in Chippewa; you would see him each year pulling the float for Pure Water Days parade, and in recent years he used his 1969 Buick Convertible, this he enjoyed tremendously.  One of his favorite organizations was being an Ambassador for Chippewa Falls. 

Chuck lost his wife Vally suddenly in 1993. He eventually retired from construction and began spending a lot of his winters in Indialantic Florida near his sister Lois and Brother in law Red.

For many years he would drive motorcoach from Chippewa Falls to Florida and has made numerous trips back and forth. On yet another adventure, he made his way to Alaska several times, and he then drove motorcoach for Princess Cruise Lines for a while.

Chuck was a gentle man who would always greet you with a smile and typically a funny story. Our hearts are filled with so many fond memories and endless things to laugh about. He was the BEST at laughing at himself, and couldn’t wait to share a story of how he did something goofy! We called these things “Chuck-isms”, and boy are there some doozies!!

Charles is survived by his children Steve (Heidi) Kuepfer and Melissa Kuepfer; his grandsons: Hunter, Nate and Isaak Kuepfer; his sister Ruth Boyle and many nieces and nephews.

His wife Vally preceded him in death in 1993, as well as his brother and sister in law Robert and Joan Olson and sister and brother in law Lois and Maurice (Red) Atwood.

Being such a generous soul, he donated his body to the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

A celebration of life will be held at a later date as well as a burial at Forest Hill Cemetery with full military honors.

We would like to thank the people at Interim Hospice, specifically Tina Adams, as well as the staff at Dove West who took such great care of our dad!

Cremation Society of Wisconsin, Altoona is assisting the family. Online condolences may be shared at www.cremationsociety-wi.com.