Charlie Phelps Celebrates 108th Birthday

Charlie Phelps is old enough to remember a time before circular saws, microwave ovens and sliced bread. The Severna Park resident celebrated his 108th birthday on June 27.

His friends and family members gathered to honor him during a June 25 meeting of the Retired Handy-Persons Breakfast Society (REHABS) at Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church. The group has met weekly for 34 years to enjoy fellowship and perform maintenance around the church and its grounds, saving Woods Church thousands of dollars in costs each year.

Into his early 100s, Phelps served as the REHABS leader.

“All of us who know Charlie recognize that this was truly a calling for him, a way to serve his church and community in a very special way, doing what many would consider really impossible,” said REHABS member Bob Royer.

Being of service is one of five principles to which Phelps attributes his longevity. The other four principles are staying active, having good nutrition, maintaining a positive attitude, and connecting with friends and family members. Beyond those five, there are even more.

“It’s almost impossible to name them all,” Phelps said of his tenets.

During the June ceremony at Woods Church, Colonel Ed Rothstein, secretary of the Maryland Department of Veterans and Military Families, shared remarks. Former Woods Church Rev. Nancy Lincoln Reynolds recited a poem. The REHABS and gardening groups presented Phelps with a plaque that member Jim Luck handcrafted from a solid cherry plank.

As a surprise, the Woods Child Development Center ushered in a group of young singers, including two of Phelps’ great-grandchildren, Luke and Charlie.

Fellow REHABS member, or “rehabber,” Bill Brooks took the podium to share facts about Phelps’ life.

Phelps was born in Philadelphia in June 1918. As a student at Doylestown High School in Pennsylvania, he got involved in several extracurricular activities including the football team, camera club and Benzine Ring, a club for chemistry and physics students.

“As all of you know, or maybe not many of you know, benzine plays a prominent role in gasoline performance,” Brooks told the crowd. “This might explain why Charlie was always so comfortable carrying an open container of gasoline in the back of his Subaru.”

In 1938, Phelps applied and gained acceptance into the National Farm School, an innovative school for scientific and practical farming in Pennsylvania, which is now Delaware Valley University.

Phelps’ draft number was pulled during World War II, and he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1944. He had basic training in Miami Beach, followed by a stint at Amarillo Army Air Field in Texas, before being transferred to Douglas Aircraft Company in California.

“These troops were trained by factory engineers on advanced field maintenance, hydraulic system troubleshooting and engine replacement,” Brooks said. “This allowed them, in addition to normal procedures, to repair aircraft on the front-line dirt runways in Europe and the Pacific.”

He served as an advanced multi-engine maintenance specialist until the end of the war and married Helen Glenn. Eventually they would have four children, five grandchildren and more than five decades together before Helen died in 2008 at the age of 89.

Following the war, Phelps started a tree-cutting and removal company with his brother, Alvin. He was in his late 60s or 70s when he started his second career as a commercial and residential real estate agent.

Seemingly every family member and friend can recall seeing Phelps with a leaf-blower in his late 90s.

“He loved using a leaf-blower at the West Severna Park community beach,” said his daughter Susan.

Royer closed out the ceremony with thoughtful words for his friend.

“Charlie, there are some people whose lives are measured not by the titles they’ve held but by the lives that they quietly touched. You’ve been one of those people,” Royer said. “For decades, your steady hands built, repaired, planted and cared for this church. More importantly, your humble heart and kindness have been an example to all of us.”

Reflecting on the day and the surprises planned by his friends and family, Phelps said, “It’s amazing. I can’t say enough.”