PERSALL, Faren "Charles"

PERSALL, EVERETT, LEWIS, BALLANTYNE

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 10/11/2014 at 01:48:21

Obituary ~ Faren "Charles" Persall
September 27, 1956 ~ September 08, 2014

Faren Charles was born on his father Gary's birthday on September 27, 1956, in Big Rapids, Michigan. The pair shared a special bond which each maintained with visits and frequent phone calls. Charles was joined by two younger sisters, Joy and Ruth, whom he cherished.

The place Charles called home was New Mexico. He got to live in this 'Land of Enchantment' for the majority of his youth. His family moved to Lamar, Colorado where his dad was a ranch foreman and cowboy. Gary, Charles's dad, claimed Charles was one of the best cowboys he'd ever seen.

At the age of 8, Charles was baptized into the Community of Christ church. His faith played an integral part of who Charles chose to be. Charles held several priesthood offices and accepted his first call while still in high school. While in high school Charles was involved in numerous activities including, football, track, choir, school musicals, FFA, and student government. His senior year Charles was elected to class Vice President, he was Student of the Quarter, and was a member of the livestock team which won the National Livestock Judging competition.

After high school good friends from church camp convinced Charles to attend Graceland, so Charles worked for a semester to save enough money before heading to college. In January of 1976, he loaded up his blue LeMans and headed for Lamoni, Iowa. He only intended to get a year or so of college with the hope of making a little more money and obtaining a little better job in the future. He fortunately, fell in love with Graceland, fell in love with learning, and he fell in love with Katie. Charles blossomed at Graceland. The activities he became involved in included, choir, Campus Ministries, intramurals, track, and student government. For student government Charles served as the House President of Stewart Manor for the school year of 1977-78. He graduated with a degree in Psychology in 1980.

Faren Charles and Catherine "Katie" Everett married on August 23, 1980, in Pasadena, Texas. Not only did Charles gain a wife but he became part of a huge family. One of Charles's talents was music and this included song writing. His song "Texas Girl" depicts how he felt about Katie in the chorus as he states "For a Texas girl that I love so."

In 1983, Charles started his career in Education and taught at Pearland High School in Pearland, Texas. Charles taught and inspired Industrial Co-op students for 25 years. These students he took to contest each year believing they could achieve. In 2000, Charles received Pearland's Outstanding Teacher Award.

Charles however claimed that his greatest accomplishment was his children, Kelsie born in 1985, Charlie born in 1987, and Catelin born in 1992. At church camp in 2007, the congregation was asked to write a letter to someone special, Charles chose to write a letter to his children. Here he wrote, "I will love and cherish you as my child for all my life. You will always be incredibly special to me. I cherish any and all moments I spend with you and when you are away I am pining for the time when we are together again."

Charles walked Kelsie down the aisle on January 24, 2009, to marry Benjy Lewis. Not only did Charles approve of Benjy for Kelsie but found a great friend and family member in Benjy. They enjoyed friendship, long conversations, music, and football. On October 18, 2011, Charles became "Papa" to Payton Harvey Lewis. Catherine RaeAnn "Catie Rae" was born September 10, 2014, just two days after her Papa's death. He tried hard to hang around to see his first granddaughter but some believe he saw her first. Charles fiercely loved, laughed, and believed in the strength of those found in tough times.

Another love and talent Charles acquired was raising Southdown sheep. In 1992, Charles bought Kelsie her first Southdown lamb for a 4-H project. Charles being raised on ranches always maintained a love of animals and the country life. Kelsie enjoyed the experience a lot and her dad was hooked. Lifelong friend, Clark, joined Charles and family to form Persall-Ballantyne Southdowns', a sheep raising and showing business. The kids did the showing of the sheep and won numerous championships across the states of Texas, Iowa, and Missouri.

Charles found a passion for learning along his life path and continued his education throughout life. His studies included a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Graceland College in 1980, a Vocational Teacher Certification from Texas A & M University in 1985, a Master's of Science in Multicultural Studies in Education from the University of Houston - Clear Lake, (his master's thesis paper was awarded the Outstanding Research Award for U of H in 1996), a Supervision Certification Vocational Administration from the University of Houston in 2001. In 2013, Charles began working on his PhD in Psychology with an emphasis on student learning.

Charles came to Graceland University to teach in 2008, in the Education and Psychology Departments. This was a dream come true for Charles. He loved his job, working with students, the farm he bought, and raising sheep in Iowa. While teaching as a professor he had the opportunity to travel with two Education Winter Term groups, going to Jamaica in 2012, and Zambia in 2013. While at Graceland, Charles was nominated three times for the Graceland University Alumni Excellence in Teaching Award.

Traveling Charles held as a favorite activity. For example, annual trips were made to his beloved New Mexico and to Sionito church camp in Bandera, Texas. Numerous other trips included Disneyland, up the California coast, Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon, Colorado, Rocky Mountains, Mesa Verde, and the Navajo and Hopi reservations in Arizona. For Charles there was never a mountain too steep, just a new challenge and an adventure waiting to be discovered.

Charles is survived by his wife, children, grandchildren, parents, sisters, son-in-law, mother-in-law, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews, uncles and aunts, cousins, and some special friends that he considered family. His life will live on in the memories of his family, friends, and students that he loved. One of our favorite quotes is from one of the songs Charles wrote, "Knowing my blessings I find the reasons to carry on."

A memorial fund has been been established in Charles's name for students in the Edmund J. Gleazer School of Education, Lamoni Campus, Graceland University, Lamoni, Iowa.

Memorial services will be held at 3 p.m. Community of Christ Church, Lamoni, Iowa, with Kelly Everett, Clark Ballantyne and Pete Persall officiating. Interment will be made at Rose Hill Cemetery, Lamoni, Iowa.

SOURCE: sladefuneralhome.com/webcast/24239

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, October of 2014

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