Charles E. “Red” Lewallen

Charles E. “Red” Lewallen, 93, a Tippecanoe resident for most of his life, died at 9:58 p.m. on Thursday, February 19, 2009, in Miller’s Merry Manor, Plymouth.

Born at home in Tippecanoe on January 3, 1916, Red was the son of Charles and Ida Mae (Overstreet) Lewallen.

When he was about 4 or 5 years old, he got typhoid fever. It nearly killed him. His natural-colored tawny hair fell out and came in a dark red color, remaining a fiery red for decades.

He and his wife of nearly 69 years, Marjorie I, Sanner, both graduated from Tippecanoe High School with the 17-member class of 1933. He was the Valedictorian and she the Salutatorian.

There were only two school athletic teams at the time: baseball and basketball. Red was on both of them.

After graduation, Red went to work for the Nickel Plate Railroad for the next seven years. He started out repairing and replacing the track, but transferred to the carpenter crew building bridges.

Red and Marjorie were married on Sept. 7, 1940, in the Lutheran parsonage in Warsaw.

They lived for a time in South Bend where Red had a job making self-sealing gasoline tanks for aircraft at the Ball Band plant in Mishawaka. He was also a member of the Civilian Conservation Corps.

He was paid well, but, in 1945, he came home from work and told his wife he had quit his job in order to go to barber school.

And so he did. After graduating from the International Barber School in Indianapolis, he went back to Ball Band and worked part time at a barber shop in Mishawaka. He then quit his day job again and plied his trade and his shears in Argos and Plymouth at (one-chair) Red’s Barber Shop (first on Ind. 10 in Argos) and then in Plymouth (on Center St. in what is now Uncle Doug’s) for 37 years, from 1945 until 1982.

Red liked to fish and was a Cubs fans. He did stained glass work and enjoyed playing Rummikub and working word puzzles. He read anything he could get his hands on. The couple spent many winters in the Bonita Springs area of Fla.

Red is survived by his devoted wife, Marjorie, and their three sons: Larry K. (Nancy), Southmont, N.C.: Charles E. (Carol A.), Plymouth, and Phillip (Christine M.), Bonita Springs, Fla.

Eight grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews also survive.

He was preceded in death by two brothers and a sister: Russell and Gale Lewallen and Lois Baugher.

Friends are invited to share their memories of Red with his family from 3 to 6 p.m. on Sunday, February 22, 2009, at the Johnson-Danielson Funeral Home, 1100 N. Michigan St., Plymouth. Calling will continue after 7 a.m. Monday in the absence of the family until time of services.

Funeral services will be held on Monday, February 23, 2009, at 11 a.m. in the funeral home. Pastor Rod Ruberg of the Riverview Community Church of Tippecanoe, where Red was a member, will officiate.

Interment will be in the Tippecanoe Cemetery, Tippecanoe, IN.

Memorial gifts in Red’s memory may be made to the Riverview Community Church, 3780 State Road 110, Tippecanoe, Indiana 46570 or to The Center for Hospice and Palliative Care, Inc., 112 S. Center St., Plymouth, Indiana 46563