Charles Hubbard
Charles Hubbard , Jr., 100, of College Park, GA passed on February 25, 2011 after a short illness.
Mr. Hubbard was born on a sugar cane plantation on Donsville, LA on October 31, 1910. Farm work dominated his youth. He graduated high school in 1928 and spent most of the 1930's criss-crossing the country doing seasonal labor from Maine to Florida and from Virginia to California. Mr. Hubbard often stated "When you come from a sugar cane farm, just about everything is fun."
During World War II, he served as a Merchant Seaman. He acquired further education in blue print and construction engineering at Rutgers University and earned a certification in 1953.
Mr. Hubbard was a 33rd Degree Prince Hall Mason and a member of Celestial Lodge #36 in Red Bank, NJ and a past Exhalted Leader, Bates Lodge 220 IBPOE of W. Red Bank, NJ.
He retired in 1975 from positions as a construction superintendant and as a business manager for AFL-CIO Local 472. He was a lifelong, dedicated, union man.
He made a living by utilizing his commanding voice, yet it was surgery for cancer of the larynx in 1980 that would forever change his method of communication. Surgery would not rob him of his influence. It opened new avenues for his commitment to community. He spoke utilizing esophageal speech, made possible via pioneering surgery at Sloan Kettering Memorial hospital. After his surgery he was an active member of the Garden State Nu-Voice club, a laryngectomy counselor and served as a liaison between doctors and patients.
He lived in New Jersey for more than 40 years before moving to College Park, GA. He was a longtime member of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Tinton Falls, NJ and Friendship Community Baptist Church in College Park, GA. He was married to his first wife, Earnestine Kegler Hubbard, who proceeded him in death in 1983. He married Consuella Smith Hubbard in 1987. He raised 5 children. He has 16 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
When Charles moved to Georgia in 1987, he became an active member of the Greater Atlanta Voice Masters. He was a familiar face in almost every Atlanta area hospital, where he spent time talking listening and counseling cancer patients, including his laryngectomy patients. Patients and families referred by their physicians, came to his home where he spoke to them. He said of the visits: "I talk with the family as well, because the entire family is involved in recovery."
Mr. Hubbard, throughout his extraordinary life, was called to serve actively in his communities and lived an active life until a recent illness. His favorite pastimes included, politics, reading, working in his yard , Texas Hold'em poker and surfing the internet. He kept in regular contact with friends and family via email, Facebook and his cell phone.
While in New Jersey he was active in policies, the Elks, and also the Masons just to name a few. He has always been an active church member. At 96 years old, he is still active in community activities, drives his car daily, wears glasses only for reading, splits his own fire wood while working in his yard. He enjoys playing Texas Holdem, Poker, and surfing the web. He also has the latest cell phone so that his family can keep up with him!
His visitation and funeral service will be held at Friendship Community Baptist Church in College Park, Georgia on Monday March 7th 2011 at 11 AM. The internment will take place at Forest Lawn Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to The Greater Atlanta Voicemasters or the Charles Hubbard, Jr. Scholarship Fund. Contact Gus Thornill's Funeral Home Inc. 404-768-2993 for more information.