Charlotte Louise Hesse

Link to Charlotte's Funeral Service on the St. John's Lutheran Facebook Page: https://fb.watch/7mjTM8vc-Q/

Charlotte Hesse, 87, of Cedar Falls, passed away Friday, July 30, 2021, at The Deery Suites. She was born January 11, 1934, in Kansas City, MO, the middle daughter of Charles and Sophie (Scharnhorst) Herbert. She married, Vernon Hesse, on September 11, 1953, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, in Cedar Falls. Charlotte graduated from Cedar Falls High School in 1952 and from UNI in 1981. She was a member of St. John Lutheran Church.

Charlotte is survived by her husband of 67 years, Vernon, her four children, Christina (Gaylon) Isley, Bill (Kathleen) Hesse, Chuck (Lisa) Hesse, all of Cedar Falls and Mary (Sean) Wetjen of Williamsburg; eight grandchildren, Catherine Isley, Will Isley, Audrey (Tom) McGarry, Steven (Charlie) Hesse, Allison (Jerod) Fisher, Andrea Hesse, Richard Wetjen, and Charlotte Wetjen; five great grandchildren, Dexter, Finn and baby boy McGarry, due in November, Hannah, Kellen, and Baylor Hesse; a sister, Celia (Benn) Dunnington, of Iowa City and several cousins, nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, sister, Colleen Shearer, and two children in infancy.

Visitation will be 4-7 p.m., Monday, August 9 ^th , 2021, at Dahl-Van Hove-Schoof Funeral Home, in Cedar Falls, and one hour before services begin, at the church, on Tuesday, August 10 ^th , 2021. Services are scheduled for Tuesday, August 10 ^th , 2021, beginning at 10:30 a.m., at St. John Lutheran Church, with burial in Greenwood Cemetery, both in Cedar Falls. Memorials may be directed to St. John Lutheran Church, Cedar Falls Municipal Band, or Cedar Valley Hospice. Online condolences may be left at www.DahlFuneralHome.com.

During her high school years, Charlotte enjoyed riding her horse, Rex, driving her Wily's jeep, riding her Indian motorcycle and was a proud member of the Cedar Falls Municipal Band. At this time, she was hired as a bale wire tier for neighbor, Vernon Hesse's, custom baling business. She "sang like a bird," while doing her job traveling up and down the fields.

After her marriage, Charlotte, worked as a secretary for Marshall Young, Plumbing and Heating. The she began work on the farm and raising children.

When her children were younger, Charlotte, sewed matching holiday dresses for "the girls," and their dolls and matching vests and bow ties for "the boys."  She crafted and sewed several large-sized Raggedy Ann dolls for teachers, childhood friends and cousins. Charlotte also enjoyed crafting and sewing fabric panel Pilgrims, Santas, fish, turkeys, geese, chickens, loons, ducks and tractor pillows for herself, children and grandchildren.

In 1978, Vern and Charlotte, became owners/operators of the Aplington Livestock Sale Barn. (until 1982) The farm crisis hit and Charlotte acquired a real estate license, selling real estate for Bill Ramsey Realtors. She was also hired to deliver the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier at this time, which she did for 17 years, retiring in 2002. She was a fierce competitor during the Courier contests. Her winning prizes included cash, a television, bicycle, DVD player and not one but THREE cars! Charlotte was co-owner/operator of Hesse Sweet Corn for over 50 years.

Charlotte had many strong character traits. She was fiercely independent and competitive, very determined and motivated, stubborn and frugal, feisty and spunky. Charlotte was also opinionated and outspoken yet could be supportive, encouraging, compassionate, kind, thoughtful, caring and loving. By necessity, she could figure out how to do and how to repair anything.

Education was important to Charlotte. She insisted her children earn a college degree. After attending classes herself for 17 years, Charlotte graduated from UNI in 1981, earning an Elementary Education teaching degree. She substitute taught for several years.

Charlotte chauffeured her children to their numerous sports, dance and music lessons and activities for many years. She and Vernon enjoyed supporting and encouraging the children and grandchildren by attending most of their sporting events, music concerts and recitals and dance recitals.

With Charlotte's encouragement, her children and grandchildren learned to enjoy nature and the outdoors through their chores, farm work, 4-H projects, and scouting. She loved to mow the expansive lawn at night, bundled up in a hooded sweatshirt with the headlights on bright. Charlotte loved to deer hunt, partner in hunting, fishing and trapping adventures and the occasional taxidermy project with the children and grandchildren.

Charlotte knew the importance of learning how to swim, earned her Water Safety Instructor certificate and became a swim instructor. She insisted her children follow suit. Charlotte was disciplined at cleaning and swimming laps in the front yard, in-ground pool. Many fond memories were made each summer in the pool with the children and grandchildren.

Besides swimming laps to stay fit and active, Charlotte was a runner, attended Zumba and faithfully attended Jazzercise 3-4 times a week for 31 years until age 86.

Grandma Charlotte or Grandma Char, as she was affectionately known, enjoyed baby-sitting and spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. When babysitting the grandchildren, she would hike down the road to visit the neighbor women, carrying the grandchildren on her back in the army surplus pack as she carried her own children while working around the farm.

Charlotte was a voracious reader. She enjoyed shopping for, purchasing and reading used magazines from the Waterloo Public Library and shopping for new-to-her books at Goodwill and Trinkets and Togs.

Watching old western movies on television occupied much of Charlotte's time in the winter months. She especially enjoyed movies starring, "the Singing Cowboy," Gene Autrey. Charlotte created a catalog of 65 Gene Autrey movies she had watched which included a brief summary of each movie, date filmed, actors and list of songs sung in each movie.

Charlotte wintered in Port Isabel, TX, with Vernon for many years. They enjoyed participating in the many activities the park had to offer. They traveled to Europe and Hawaii and loved to travel to both South Dakota and Texas to visit relatives and ancestral farms.

Charlotte's primary passion was music. She enjoyed playing the oboe, saxophone, harmonica, ukulele, guitar, accordion, organ and piano. Charlotte purchased many of these same instruments as gifts for her children and grandchildren. Most of all, she enjoyed playing the piano and singing with her family.

Charlotte had a beautiful singing voice and loved to sing, often times singing harmony. Despite her dementia, she knew and sang every last word of all songs, up until a week before she passed away. Charlotte loved to sing with her family. Favorite songs included, "Show me the way to Go Home/Hesse Family Song," "You are My Sunshine," "Deep in the Heart of Texas," "The Auctioneer Song," and "Mama, Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be Cowboys." She enjoyed watching and singing along with musicals. One musical family tradition was singing Handel's, "Hallelujah Chorus," during the family holiday get-togethers. Mary would accompany the family choir on piano, Charlotte would sing alto, children, spouses and grandchildren sang their respective vocal parts.

Charlotte's faith was foremost throughout her life. For many years, she sang in the church choir, participated in Bible studies, faithfully read her daily devotional books and enjoyed attending church most Sundays. Because of her faith, we know she is at peace and singing in the Angel choir!

Looking back on Charlotte's life and all she accomplished, she was an incredible woman and successful mother. She raised four happy and successful children into adulthood. Her goal was to raise two daughters to become music teachers and two sons to become farmers. She got her wish and more as the next generation of musicians, teachers and farmers are pursuing their dreams.

Charlotte experienced an abundance of experiences and blessings in her well-lived life. Her legacy is strong and will live on through her family for generations to come.