Charles Edward Gaul

Charles Edward Gaul, known to everyone as Joe, was born February 2, 1942, in Detroit, Michigan, and passed away peacefully on June 9, 2026, surrounded by his family after fighting ALS with remarkable grace and courage for more than four years.

There is a quiet poetry in the fact that Joe came into the world in the same Detroit hospital where, five years later, a girl named Audrey would be born — the woman who would become the great love of his life. Joe graduated from Bosse High School in Evansville, Indiana, and attended Indiana University in Bloomington, graduating from the School of Business with a Bachelor of Science in 1966. True to form, he skipped his own graduation ceremony, stepping directly into service in the US Army – Military Intelligence.

It was in the Army that Joe met Doug Gurka — who would become not only the man who introduced him to Audrey, but his brother-in-law and lifelong friend. After a brief and certain courtship, the two married on August 9, 1968. For 58 years, theirs was a partnership of uncommon depth — a love story that became the quiet center of everything their family was built around.

After leaving the Army, Joe joined Owens Corning Fiberglass, where he would spend more than thirty years. The family settled first in Houston, Texas, where Amy and Mark were born. In the early 1980s, Joe took a characteristically bold detour — uprooting the family to Kentucky to try his hand at cattle farming, creating an all-natural beef company well ahead of its time. It was a chapter rich with meaning: Joe and his family sharing precious time with his dad on the farm, building memories that would last long after the fields were left behind. When corporate and city life called him back, he rejoined Owens Corning and moved the family to Memphis, Tennessee, where they have remained and put down roots ever since.

At his core, Joe lived by a simple but powerful creed: work hard, play hard.

He brought the same full-throttle energy to his sales calls as he did to the boat dock, the travel itinerary, and the dinner table.

At Owens Corning, Joe was far more than a salesman. He was an innovator, a patient listener, and a mentor — someone who understood that business, done well, was about people first. He never stopped being curious about the world.

Joe believed, with conviction, that almost everything started with a solid spreadsheet. He could build one for anything — vacation itineraries, long-term financial goals, retirement projections, family logistics. If a spreadsheet couldn't fix it, well… he was already working on one that could. Right up until the end, he was itching to put together one final spreadsheet.

Joe loved a good college football game. A devoted Indiana University Hoosier through and through, he lived to see his beloved team win the national championship and savored every game — best enjoyed with good company, a cold beer, and a pizza shared with whoever was willing to sit beside him.

Joe's love of travel was contagious. He took his family to Disney World several times, where "It's a Small World" was a non-negotiable — every single time. An epic road trip out West in the family station wagon and a train journey up the East Coast were each carried out with characteristic enthusiasm — and more than a few detours to a historic battlefield along the way. He and Audrey also traveled overseas together, visiting multiple countries in Europe; a wanderlust that took hold in their children and grandchildren alike.

But it was the summers at Crystal Lake that perhaps shaped the family most deeply. Joe showed his family how to go a little faster on the water, explore slowly on land, eat bountifully at every meal, and love fiercely at all times. That reverence for nature and unhurried beauty lives on in his children and grandchildren today.

Joe is survived by his devoted wife, Audrey; his children Amy and Mark, and their spouses Justin and Shelly; and his six grandchildren: Lauren, Gracie, Lucas, Crosby, Lily, and Ian. He leaves behind a wide and loving extended family of brothers- and sisters-in-law, cousins, nieces and nephews, grand-nephews, and a loyal circle of friends whose lives are richer for having known him.

Joe is preceded in death by his parents, Cathryn (Young) Gaul and Laverne "Ed" Gaul, MD, and by his beloved siblings, Judy and Jeff.

Joe's family would like to thank his caregivers and medical teams from Washington University, Semmes Murphy and the VA for their compassion and diligence in helping him navigate a full life with ALS. They also wish to thank family and friends for their support.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Joe's honor may be made to

Tunnels to Towers or ALS research.

Joe's legacy is written in the marriage he and Audrey built together,

in the unconditional love he gave his children and grandchildren, and in the way he moved through the world — with generosity of spirit, humility, unshakable optimism, and an appetite for life that made everyone around him want to live a little bigger.