On October 20, 2017, Charles "Chuck" Terrill went end of show, as they say in the circus. He died peacefully surrounded by friends and family.
Chuck was a soldier, a sailor, a circus hand, a raconteur and a flaneur. He was born March 17, 1951, in Detroit to Lena Nelle McMinn and adopted by Carolyn and Kenneth Terrill of Sebewaing, Michigan.
He grew up on the family farm and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1969. He served three tours of combat in Vietnam, his first with the Big Red One 1/5 Bravo Battery, where he rose to the rank of E5. His wartime experiences made him a lifelong progressive who believed the Constitution protects all citizens, not just the powerful. In the early 1980s, he worked with the Vietnam Veterans Leadership Project (VVLP). He was chosen by Senator Slade Gorton as an official state representative to the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on November 13, 1982.
After the war, Chuck traveled the country working in bars and oil fields, and on boats in the Gulf of Mexico. In the late 1970s, he found a passion for the circus and traveled for several seasons with Carson and Barnes and Kelly Miller Bros. circuses. He also worked one season with the red unit of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus.
Chuck moved to Seattle in 1980 to see Mount St. Helens erupt and, with the exception of one year in northern California, never left. Throughout his life here, he bought, sold and collected antiques and weirdabilia. He and his partner, the late Roger Hinen, spent nearly 20 years on the hunt up and down the West Coast. Few things delighted him like a good "find." He had a wealth of knowledge on a wide range of topics and was generous in sharing what he knew.
In 1986, he traveled to North Carolina to meet his birth mother Nelle and his younger brother William "Bill" Goniwicha. His mother died in 2004. His warm relationship with his brother continued until Chuck's death. He often said that becoming part of his birth family completed him.
He is survived by a large circle of friends and a devoted family of choice, including Irene Svete, his wife of 29 years. Other survivors include his birth brother William Goniwicha and his wife Patricia; nephew and namesake Charles "Tony" Goniwicha, his wife Wendy, and their daughters Haley and Taylor; niece April Davis and her husband, Ryan; and two goddaughters, Lydia Noyes and Gretta Collins. He is also survived by his son Andrew Terrill and his adopted brother Clarence Terrill, his wife Judith and their children, John and Colleen.
A memorial will be held November 10 at 4:30 p.m. in the West Hall of the Century Ballroom ( 915 E Pine St, Seattle, WA 98122 ). In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in his honor to the American Civil Liberties Union ( https://tinyurl.com/ACLUmemorials ).
“And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.”
-- Raymond Carver, Late Fragment