Former Bainbridge Island resident Charles Leland “Charlie” Drum died on April 13, 2016, at the Legacy Hopewell House Hospice, in Portland, Oregon.
Charlie was born in McFarland, California, on April 10, 1930, to Delmer and Veda Drum, and grew up in Covina, California with his older brother, Keith (now deceased), and younger brother, Clarence.
In 1949, at the age of 19, Charlie and Donald Prince — his best friend since kindergarten — traveled together to Anchorage, Alaska to experience life in the last frontier.
In 1950, they both were hired by the Alaska Railroad (ARR) and Charlie enjoyed a successful ARR career, rising through the ranks from brakeman to conductor to yardmaster and eventually becoming a trainmaster.
In 1957, on the Christmas Eve ARR passenger train to Fairbanks, Alaska, Charlie met a beautiful redheaded single mother, Lorrayne Heglund, and they married on April 18, 1958.
They had two children, Lucie and Charles E., in addition to Lorrayne’s children from a previous marriage (Norman, Merrilie, Rosemary and Laurie).
In 1977, Charlie was recruited by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), U.S. Department of Transportation, and worked out of the Seattle, Washington, regional office before returning for a two-year stint with the Alaska Railroad, eventually retiring in 1987.
Including two years’ service with Army Rail during the Korean conflict, Charlie was a railroader for 37 years.
In 1999, Charlie and Lorrayne moved to Woodburn, Oregon, and, after Lorrayne’s death in 2006, Charlie spent 10 wonderful years with his kind and lovely second wife, June.
Charlie was an avid outdoorsman, camper and baseball fan (Anchorage Glacier Pilots, Seattle Mariners) and became a skilled golfer, including winning the Meadowmeer Golf and Country Club championship on Bainbridge Island.
He is survived by his wife, June; brother, Clarence; children (Lucie, Charles E.); and stepchildren (Norman, Rosemary, Laurie, Candyce, Bruce and Ray Anne), and numerous grandchildren and nieces and nephews.
A memorial service was held on June 4 at the Simon-Cornwell Colonial Chapel in Woodburn, Oregon.
