Charles Byron Ketzscher, II died at home Wednesday, July 14, 2021. Home was North Little Rock, where he was born, September 23, 1956, to the city multigenerational families of his father Byron Ketzscher (1928-2004) and mother Betty Jo Evans (1928-2014) and reared with his sister Shannon in neighborhoods Levy and Lakewood.
To the end, Chuck had a great story-telling gift particularly of his teachers and fellow students from Lakewood Elementary, Ridgeroad and Lakewood Jr. Highs’, and NLR Northeast High School, Class of 1974. His senior year, Chuck not only was a finalist in the Arkansas High School Debate Championship but was also voted Arkansas High School All-State Football Defensive Tackle, all 170 pounds of him. (Little Rock Central Tiger standout, Razorback All-American, and Green Bay Packer All Pro Offensive Guard, Leotis Harris remembers the three toughest guys he played against as Ed “Too Tall” Jones, “Mean” Joe Greene, and ole Northeast Charger Number 77.) For six of those summers, he was an apprentice journeyman electrician for his dad and dad’s brother, Jack, at North Little Rock Electric Company founded in 1919 by his grandfather, Eric Louis Ketzscher (1887-1954).
Chuck graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1979 where he was a faithful Sigma Nu brother. About 1980, he earned a broker-dealer license from the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission and there followed a twenty-five year plus carrier, specializing in selling Arkansas State municipal bond s worldwide, first at T.J. Raney & Sons, Inc. and retiring from Stephens, Inc.
He enjoyed floating the Buffalo River; duck hunting with his dad; fishing especially for bonefish and tarpon on Caribbean flats with Shannon’s husband Lonnie James; and all athletic events Razorback. He was confirmed into Lakewood United Methodist Church in 1966. For the last decade Chuck suffered from progressive and debilitating neck, back and spinal issues; these were the long and painful days of his life but he persevered through them with his customary grit.
He is survived by Shannon and Lonnie and their children Brandon (Maggie) and Savannah, all of Charleston, South Carolina; wife Michelle Hogue Traylor, and their son, Charles Byron Ketzscher, III (Charlie), his father-in-law, Robert M. Traylor, Jr., and at last count, 42 cousins, brothers and sisters-in-law and nieces and nephews. A casual celebration of his life will be held Tuesday, July 20, 2021, at 11:00 a.m. at the open-air pavilion at Lakewood Lake No. 3, 4500 Lakeshore Drive, North Little Rock, where many of Chuck’s heroics and theatrics were displayed, with the Rev. Roy Beth Kelley officiating and Davis Hendricks accompanying. An internment of his ashes will be at Rest Hills Memorial Park.
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