I was shocked and sad to hear about Charlene’s illness and passing. Charlene “Punk” was one of my best friends who I met in junior high school. We loved the Supremes and driving through MacDonalds and other hangouts. We had many good times together in and out of school. I remember when she got her Volkswagen which was a stick, but she could only handle the clutch while I moved the stick. I will miss her dearly especially when I go back to Springfield to visit. Love you.......Connie (aka Little Skinny).

Posted by Connie Lakin on April 14, 2023

My heart aches cause a part of it is with Charlene. She is my best friend from the age of 10 years old. We went to 5th & 6th grade at Withrow School in Springfield. We went to Jefferson Junior High and Feitshans for one year, then graduated Southeast High in 1969. She laughed with me at the silliest things....we understood each other to the max. We LOVED The Supremes and knew one day we would be recognized for our great voices and signed by a famous record label to record all the harmony we produced. We wore our black cotton jackets that we named our ODCT coats. (OUR DREAM COME TRUE) WELL, needless to say, nobody ever "found" us cuz we didn't go on the road. The farthest we walked was to 9th & South Grand to Steinburg Baum's!!! When asked once by a young passer-by on a bike if we were Surfers or Greasers we had NO IDEA what the kid was talking about. We were into playing our 45's over and over and over and slowing them down to 33 1/3 (?) JUST TO FIGURE OUT THE WORDS!!! Then before you knew it we both got married thinking we knew what was in store. Had our children, always worked and always LAUGHED with each other and sang our "oldies". We never looked older to each other.... even after 50 YEARS had passed. It was EVERYBODY ELSE that aged when we went to class reunions. Not us. She was a BEAUTIFUL person, inside and out and her generosity was beyond anyone's imagination. We loved PURSES, PURSES, and MORE PURSES. Her Margherita POOL parties were enjoyed by people from EVERYWHERE!! Charlene had more friends, true friends, than anyone else I know. She shared Hawaii with me and swam in the Pacific!!! I know she gets to swim now whenever she feels like it... HEAVEN is whatever you enjoy the most. I will be ON THE BEACH....... watching her in the water.

Posted by Jan on April 10, 2023