Charles Allen Kowalczyk

Charles Allen “Chuck” Kowalczyk passed peacefully from this life to the next on Sunday, March 16, surrounded by his family. Born on August 9, 1960, Chuck was the first of three children born to Carl Kowalczyk and Ganell Burke Kowalczyk.

Early in life Chuck was faced with the challenges of renal disease, a condition that throughout his life required vigilance, courage and sacrifice from both him and his family to manage, but he would not allow it to limit him in any way. If anything, it spurred him to give his all to whatever he did, whether at work or play.

Chuck was a native Austinite, a 1980 graduate of McCallum High School and a self-taught master mechanic. He was a bright inventive, entrepreneurial problem-solver who enjoyed tackling complex questions and mapping out solutions. Truth be told, he was a workaholic. Whether he was on the job, helping a friend repair a car or a boat, or frying the Thanksgiving turkey for the family his standard was perfection and he worked hard to achieve it. It was sweet to be on the receiving end of such skill and dedication. His interest in all things mechanical and technological led him to try several business and trade opportunities, including 10 years as proprietor of a family- owned machine shop and ultimately led to the position he held from 2001 until the time of his death as a respected Electrician II for the City of Austin Water Utilities Electrical Maintenance Department.

Son of an avid fisherman, Chuck developed a life-long love for fishing and being on the water as a youngster. He spent many days with a line in the water enjoying the outdoors with his dad and frequent weekends at lake-side camping sites with the whole family. His true passion, though, was deep-sea fishing, a skill he developed as a young adult while working summers as a deckhand on charter fishing boats on the Texas coast. He and his brother were race car enthusiasts, working on several competition cars in the Central Texas area in the 1980’s and once co-owned a Chevy II and dragster. Chuck’s abiding wish was to live in the country and work his own land, as he often did for friends. That wasn’t to be, so he settled for owning a cow.

In recent years Chuck focused on family time and vacationed with his parents and siblings in Alaska, Hawaii and the Mexican Riviera building treasured memories with those who loved him most. He will be deeply missed but so dearly remembered for his kind heart, his strength, his fight and his love for family and friends.

Chuck is survived by his parents, his brother Todd and wife Sheryl of Austin and their children, Brad Kowalczyk and Cara Addison (Travis); and his sister Carla McMahon of Greer, S.C. and her children Michelle Schultz (Zach) and Timothy and Michael McMahon

A visitation will be held at Cook Walden Funeral Home from 6:00-8:00 in the evening on Wednesday, March 19, 2014, services will be held in the Cook Walden Colonial Chapel at 1:00 in the afternoon on Thursday, March 20, 2014. In lieu of flowers donations may be sent to American Cancer Society at m.donate.cancer.org or National Kidney Foundation at www.kidney.org. Condolences may be sent to www.cookwaldenfuneralhome.com.