STELPSTRA, Charles (Chuck)

The Camp Verde Bugle, Camp Verde, Arizona Saturday, October 04, 2008 Charles Stelpstra, 89, of Cottonwood, Ariz., died Oct. 2, 2008, in Prescott, Ariz. He was born Tjerd Stelpstra on Oct. 30, 1918, in Prospect Park, N.J., to Dutch immigrant parents, Klaas (Nicholas) Stelpstra and Kaaske (Clara) Douma. He was recorded as Charlie on the 1920 census, but was known as Chuck after moving to Arizona in 1963. During World War II, he served as a machine gunner with the infantry in Europe. He was captured in Luxemburg during the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944) and survived more than five months as a prisoner of war in Germany. He married Theresa Dykstra, March 1941, and they raised three sons. Theresa died in 1989. A social man with a gift for storytelling, he will be missed by all his family and his friends at Pine Shadows and Cottonwood Village. He is survived by two sons Sid (Mary) Stelpstra of Clarkdale and Robert (Linda) Stelpstra of Cary, N.C.; eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Services will be held at Cave Creek National Cemetery in Phoenix on Friday, Oct. 10, at 12:30 p.m. An online guestbook is available to sign at www.westcottfuneralhome.com.