Charlene Culbertson, 90, of Athens, passed away on July 7 at O’Bleness Ohio Health Hospital. She was born in Flint, Michigan to the late Raymond and Ethel Runyan Boyd.
Many valued elements in Charlene’s life can be summarized by two C’s — children and camping — and 1 T — travel.
She taught for about 30 years, mostly in first and second grades, in Nelsonville, Athens and Lansing, Michigan. She loved her kids deeply, often giving them jackets, shoes and other items of apparel when the need arose. Many of her students stayed in touch with her long after graduating. Also, she was leader of a girl-scout troop, often camping with the girls. She and her husband, Hugh, were foster parents for five Athens-area kids. She and Hugh became especially close to five Asian students at Ohio University, all of whom lived at their home for about a year while in school. And, the Culbertsons hosted a Swedish exchange student for a full year, 1980.
Charlene loved the outdoors, camping often during her 64 years with Hugh. Unfortunately, a fall from a camper in 2015 left her partially crippled, requiring major back surgery. However, her faithful family took her and Hugh camping in their home state of Michigan several times after this. They hauled campers all the way to the west coast of the U. S., Canada, and back home three times as she took good care of Hugh who attended academic conferences. Later in their career, she accompanied Hugh as he lectured in the Philippines, Canada, China, Thailand, Germany and New Zealand. Other trips took them to Scandinavia, Switzerland and other beautiful places in Europe. New Zealand and Switzerland qualify as their favorite countries outside the U.S.
Charlene is survived by husband Hugh and two children, Steven, an apartment custodian who now lives in The Plains, and Karen Graves of Nelsonville, a recent retiree after 30 years as an employee at Hocking College in Nelsonville. Charlene also took great pride in their three grandchildren, Jamie Poore (Dale Sheets) and Annie Poore (John Dumm), of Nelsonville and Rob Poore (Crystal), a resident of The Plains. And she has played a significant role in raising six great grandchildren: Aubrey Haybron of Nelsonville, Novalee Sheets of Nelsonville, Elliot and Briar Poore of the Plains, Madison Poore of Nelsonville and Aurora Dumm of Glouster, Ohio. Nova and Aurora, both under six months old, were a special source of joy in her declining weeks. This lady was much loved, partly because of her humility. She never sought the spotlight or tried to play the role of big shot.
A funeral service will be 11 a.m. on Thursday, July 13, 2023 at Hughes-Moquin Funeral Home with Rev. Robert Martin officiating. Burial will follow in Athens Memory Gardens. You may call upon the family at the funeral home on Wednesday, July 12, 2023 from 4-7 p.m. In lieu of flowers, contributions to the Nelsonville-York Alumni Scholarship Fund may be made at the funeral home or on their website. You’re encouraged to sign the online guestbook, send the family a note of condolence or contribute to the scholarship fund at www.hughesmoquinfuneralhome.com.
