Christopher Holland Castle

Christopher Holland Castle was born July 23, 1950, in Bethesda, MD. Chris attended high school at Norfolk Academy in Norfolk, VA where he excelled in athletics, being nominated to all-conference teams in football, basketball, and baseball. Upon graduating from Norfolk Academy, Chris followed a family tradition of service in the U.S. Navy, entering the U.S. Naval Academy and receiving his commission as a naval officer upon graduation in ’72. Following graduation, Chris married his high school sweetheart, Nancy Castle (née Weller). Chris and Nancy eventually settled in Fullerton, CA where they raised their three children.

After serving five years in the Navy, Chris joined Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, MI where he earned an MBA at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. Chris eventually left Ford to join Hughes Aircraft in southern California and later, Raytheon Technologies, where he worked until retirement in 2016. Chris also found fulfillment as a professor in the Department of Business at Fullerton College where he taught for twenty years, retiring in 2020.

Chris was the youngest of four children, having two older brothers and a sister. As “the baby” of the family, he benefited from his efforts to keep up with his brothers, in part explaining his exceptional athletic prowess demonstrated later in life. Another quality attributable to having older brothers was a toughness resulting from such episodes as the time he learned to ride a bicycle at the age of four when his brothers repeatedly pushed him down a hill until he stopped falling. For Chris, life became the school of hard knocks, courtesy of his loving sister and two loving (but not terribly charitable) older brothers.

Chris’s love of family was evidenced in too many ways to list. His nearly twenty years of coaching youth sports for his children including soccer, baseball, and basketball is just one example. Another is the years he served as manager of his son’s band, Astray, a group that performed with success in several area venues.

While Chris’s family was always his primary source of joy, the zest he demonstrated for numerous other pursuits spoke volumes of his boundless enthusiasm for the outdoors and fellowship. He and Nancy loved traveling internationally and did so regularly. He also made numerous cross-country motorcycling trips with his oldest son, Nash, and his brother, Bill. Add to that, trips to the desert to practice marksmanship in addition to countless fly-fishing excursions, always accompanied by his dear friend and Naval Academy classmate, Charlie, (with whom he solved many of the world’s political problems). Occasional trips to a casino with Joe (another classmate), Charlie, and Chris’s son-in-law, Wayde, were among his many beloved outings and escapades. But the centerpiece of Chris’s social life was the 2-week vacation at a home in Sandbridge (Virginia Beach) with family and many invited friends, an annual tradition spanning well over twenty years.

In retirement, though, nothing gave Chris greater pleasure than time with his five amazing grandchildren, all of whom resided within close proximity. Chris’s love of spending time with his grandchildren was matched only by the love his grandchildren had for spending time with him. Chris’s big and imposing stature was most befitting a man with such a big and imposing love of life. He will be sorely missed by all who knew and loved him.

Chris passed away July 15 of this year after a courageous battle with stage 4 lung cancer. Chris is survived by his wife Nancy, his sons, Nash and Alex, his daughter, Alison Castle Masuko, a son-in-law, Wayde Masuko, a daughter-in-law, Tiffany Castle, his five grandchildren (Christopher, Julian, and Florence Masuko and Dean and Reagan Castle), his brother, Bill (Lake Forest, IL), and his sister, Katherine Castle Swann (Moseley, VA).

In lieu of flowers please consider a donation in honor of Christopher H. Castle to either:

The St. Jude Memorial Foundation-Crosson Cancer Institute

100 W. Valencia Mesa Dr.

Fullerton, Ca. 92835

714-992-3033

Online donations can be made to http://stjudememorialfoundation.org

Or

The American Cancer Society

1-800-227-2345

Online donations can be made to donate.cancer.org