Charles Winfred Ryder of Salem, NH, passed away on Monday November 2, 2009 after fighting a long and courageous battle against cancer. He was born on October 13, 1918, in Oak Park, IL, the only child of Harold W. and Grace H. Ryder. As his birth occurred at the height of the 1918 flu epidemic, his father was not allowed to visit his wife and new child in the hospital. He moved to Elizabeth, NJ, with his family, where he graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1937. Immediately after graduation, he went to work for the Western Electric Company as a draftsman. While employed by Western Electric, he studied at both the Newark College of Engineering and Brooklyn Polytechnic College.
In 1958 he was transferred to the Western Electric’s facility in North Andover, MA, and became a resident of Salem, NH. He retired from Western Electric as a Senior Engineer in 1981. He married Eleanor Vogel of Lawrence, MA, in October 1960. He was a member of the former United Presbyterian Church of Lawrence. He was most recently a member of the Christian Fellowship Church, Lawrence. An avid video photographer, he volunteered much time and effort to videoing church services for shut-in members of the church’s congregation. He also did videos for friends at numerous weddings and other functions. He and his wife enjoyed entertaining friends at a wide variety of social functions, both at their home in Salem and at their summer cottage in Old Orchard Beach, ME. For years, the highlight of the summer was the annual picnic for the church’s AIM (Adults in Motion) fellowship at their cottage in Maine.
During World War II, he entered the U.S. Army Signal Corps in 1944, quickly rising to the rank of master sergeant on the basis of experience he gained at Western Electric before entering the service. The majority of his time in the military was spent at Fort Dix, NJ, and later in Italy, where he was a signal supply supervisor, in charge of 85 enlisted men, 50 Italian civilians, and in excess of 300 prisoners of war. He returned to civilian life in 1946 and resumed employment with Western Electric. Charles was a thirty-second degree Mason, and was affiliated with many Masonic groups including: John Hancock Lodge, Daylight Lodge, High Twelve, Pentucket Lodge-Royal Arch, Scottish Rite Valley of Lawrence, Haverhill Commandary, Rose Croix Valley of Lowell and Massachusetts Consistory. He was also a member of Allepo Shriners and a lifetime member of Telephone Pioneers.
He is survived by his wife of 49 years, his cousin-in-law, Ruth Lange and by a great many loving friends. He was the last surviving member of his family.
ARRANGEMENTS
Friends are invited to call from 3 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, November 4th at the Charles F. Dewhirst Funeral Home, 80 Broadway, Methuen. A Masonic Service will be held at 8 p.m. A funeral service will be held on Thursday at 11 a.m. at the funeral home with burial to follow at Bellevue Cemetery. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the Merrimack Valley Daylight Lodge, c/o Robert Kegley, P.O. Box 991, E. Hampstead, NH 03826, the Christian Fellowship Church, 93 E. Haverhill St., Lawrence, MA 01841 or to the Amedisys Hospice Services, 1 E. Commons Dr., Unit 33, Londonerry, NH 03053.