CHARLES HALSTED

PROLOGUE
Charlie Halsted, "Chick"

In the New York summer of 1959, a man named Charles G. Halsted excitedly walked across the stage of his graduation ceremony. It was at Ossining High School. He didn’t see the whole picture at this time, but after this day a beautiful path would unveil itself as Charles would go on to become part of our countries Nuclear Weapons Program.  

Four years later in 1963, Charles walked the stage again, this time at the Maritime College of Fort Schuyler, graduating with a Nuclear Science degree. He would spend half the semester in the classroom, and the other half out to sea learning about the many involved tasks required by the large ships and the nuclear reactors that powered them.

Charles adapted well to the concept of class time split with hands on learning. He was immediately able to put to use all the practices he learned so they would become locked in his memory.
 

The Atomic Energy Commission recruited Charles to work at their Oak Ridge Tennessee’s National Laboratory. Charlies friends were in shock when they learned he’d be moving from New York to Tennessee. They told him he was nuts; that he would never survive the south as a Yank from the north! Turned out he loved the folks in the south, and they loved him! They got along great!

Later, Charles took an opportunity that brought him back to New York City, within the AEC (Atomic Energy Commission) Field Office.  It was a great part of his experience and career, however in 1971 when he got a chance to return south, he took the transfer to the Savannah River Plant in Aiken South Carolina.

Charles made many great friends in Aiken. Friends that would learn to call him Charlie, or Chick as his family called him and later he became Hawk. Charlie continued his love for boats and boating as he had enjoyed with his father. He was fascinated by motors. He even commandeered a boat named Fascination. There was a lake in Aiken that he towed his boat to with his friends often. Not only did Charlie have an affinity for boats, he also loved cars. He had displayed in his home a collage of all the cars he owned. They were all classy cars, among them were several BMW’s and Cadillacs.

His friends would joke at work, “Charlie, we saw you were at the mall this weekend! Your car was all by itself in the furthest parking spot from the building!” Charlie would be damned if he was going to let someone put a ding or scrape in the paint of his automobile.

CHAPTER FOUR
Charles Halsted

By the early 1990’s, Charlie had been around the world hob knobbing with senior government officials. He once was a part of an integral team who entered a foreign country where he was assigned to personally explain to their government why they need to decommission their Atomic Weapons Production immediately.

Eventually Charlie came to a fork in his career where he was requested to report to duty at the Pentagon for his new assignment. He at the time held at a high position in the United States Department of Energy Headquarters, (DOE as it’s known). DOE is responsible for many things, to include building our nation’s Nuclear and Atomic Weapon Systems. Charlie was the Director of Facilities in Defense Material Productions. Think Uranium and Plutonium.

Charlie had at least three relationships with females that had reached a serious status in the past. After the last promising love ended, he chose it best for him to live a life devoted to his career and country. He would wake early, arriving at the office an hour or two before anyone else; and he would stay long past everyone had left for the day. By the time Saturday rolled around he would get on his road bike and pedal. The work stress would dissipate with each of the 30+/- miles he pedaled. By Saturday evening he would start to wind down and enjoy a bit of relaxation, perhaps accompanies by a glass of fine scotch in front of the television. Come Sunday, the tension and stress of the coming week's duties would build.

Corporate dinners, eating on the go, stress, and not a lot of time for physical activity turned Charlie into less of the slim and trim man he once was. So, when Charlie was presented with this fork-in-the-road career choice, the offer to commute to the Pentagon each day or retire, he did as Yogi the Berra would do. He looked at his options, weighed the outcomes, and decided.  It was the year 1994. Charlie figured if he continued down this path, it would eventually kill him. He choice was retirement. Retirement landed him at his four-bedroom, 2,400 square foot dual car garage home in a highly desired neighborhood of Damascus, Maryland.

Retirement allowed him to spend his entire summers in his favorite place in the world—Upper Saranac Lake, where he had been vacationing to his families summer cabin since the early 1950’s.

In the start of his retirement, he also built an immaculate and elaborate model train village. Some of his train engines he even had professionally hand painted.

Charlie also continued to log miles on his road bike, averaging 8,000 miles per year. He was getting healthier, happier, and in better physical condition every day.

One week Charlie was getting his home painted. This had him eating out more frequently due to the paint fumes. A creature of habit, he almost always chose his local go-to Italian restaurant.


 

Charles was born in Ossining, NY on May 23, 1941. He graduated Ossining High School in '59 and attended the Maritime College at Fort Schuyler, graduating with a degree in Nuclear Science in 1963. His career started with the Atomic Energy Commission. Upon being hired he continued his education at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge Tennessee. From there he went back to work at the AEC Field Office in New York City in 1963. In 1971, he transferred to Savannah River Plant in Aiken South Carolina and completed his career at the DOE Headquarters in Germantown, MD in 1994 as director of Facilities for Defense Material Productions. Since retirement, Charlie spent his summers at upper Saranac Lake, a place where he and his family vacationed since the early 1950’s. Charles G. Halsted Jr. passed at his summer home on Upper Saranac Lake, NY on June 29, 2020. He was 79 years old at the time of his passing.

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