Charlene Gunter

Charlene went to join God on 27, July 2015, at 2:00 p.m. after a valiant eleven and one half year battle with cancer. She was born July 5, 1947, to Horace Samuel and Mildred Elizabeth Zook Menchey in Altoona, Pennsylvania, who predeceased her. She graduated from Allegheny College in 1969 with a bachelor's degree in communications and was a proud member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. Charlene received her Master's degrees in Business Administration and Management in 1979 from Webster College.
After college she worked for the Altoona School District as a secondary English teacher. After three years she relocated to Jacksonville, Florida to join her best friend from childhood, Martha Parsons Hess. Southeastern Aluminum Corporation was her new job. When she left Jacksonville in 1976 she had become the first woman on their corporate letterhead as Sales Administrator.
While in Jacksonville, she met and married her husband, Captain Billie Gunter, a Naval Aviator. They married on August 17, 1974. Billie deployed on his last six month cruise in January 1975 and Charlene took a four month leave from work to follow the ship in the Mediterranean. While there, she became an active volunteer assistant to the Director of the USO, Naples, Italy and traveled with her to set up USO fleet canteens in Palma de Mallorca and Barcelona, Spain, in Cannes, France and in Brindisi and Catania, Italy.
When orders came, they were off to their future home in Kingsville, Texas as executive officer and commanding officer of Training Squadron Twenty One(VT-21) from 1976-1979. Along with squadron obligations, Charlene volunteered as head interviewer for Navy Relief Society. She also assisted in fund raising for the American Cancer Society.
It was a whirlwind of activity with Charlene falling in love with dove and quail hunting and her first bird dog, a Brittany spaniel, named Cadie.
The next two duty stations took Charlene and Billie to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and New York, New York where Billie had command of the Navy Recruiting Districts at both places. When retirement loomed in 1982, there was only one obvious choice for a permanent home and that was in Kingsville, Texas.
They both went to work after his retirement at the NAS Kingsville Ground Training Department training young student Navy Pilots in the flight simulators. Charlene was schedules supervisor when she retired in 1995 after thirteen years of working with the finest young men and women in the world.
Charlene continued to volunteer for The American Cancer Society and one year she chaired the door-to-door campaign and other fundraising projects. She was a life member of the Kingsville Women's Club, assisted in the inception of Seller's Market and Animal Rescue Kleberg. When the new hospital was built, she was appointed to the Physician's Recruiting Board and was assigned to Dr. and Mrs. Gilberto Sosa from the Bronx, New York. Needless to say, they selected Kingsville and he was Charlene's loving and caring doctor until the day she died.
Another extensive project was the birth of the Kleberg County Skeet and Trap Range. Both avid shooters Charlene and Billie worked tirelessly, along with many others, to help build the range. She was secretary of the club for many years.
Left to cherish her memory are a stepdaughter, Diana (Joe) Donnell of Nacogdoches, Texas and a stepson Robert (Stephanie) Gunter and their daughters Madison and Mc Kenzie. She is also survived by her cousins Linda Miller (John) Skipper and their sons Jason (Jodi) of Bedford, Pennsylvania and Christopher Skipper of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. Other close cousins include Thomas Zook of Hesston, Kenneth Miller of Chambersburg, Sam and Emanuel Miller of Huntingdon and Sally (David) Hancock of Altoona, Pennsylvania. She is also survived by her best friends and caregivers Charlie Barrera, his sons Charlie and William, Norma Donnell and their extended family. Jilma Vidaurri and Patti Wolfe extended her life with a constant supply of special food that she could eat.
Charlene was predeceased by her second mother, Constance Zook (Emanuel) Miller. Her life was totally enriched by her nine dogs, her only children. In lieu of flowers she fervently hoped her friends and family would see fit to support the Animal Rescue Kleberg, whose members volunteer tirelessly to care for all animals. Their address is ARK, 225 E Henrietta Av., Kingsville, Texas, 78363.
A memorial service will be held at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, August 1, 2015 at the Turcotte-Piper Mortuary Chapel.
Services are entrusted to Turcotte-Piper Mortuary, 205 General Cavazos Blvd., Kingsville, Texas.

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