Charles Richard Norris

Visitation will be from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 25, at Hodgson Funeral Home, Rock Island. Funeral services will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Monday at the funeral home. Interment will follow at Greenview Memorial Gardens, East Moline, with military honors bestowed by American Legion Post 227, East Moline. Memorials may be made to the American Heart Association.

Chuck was born March 6, 1925 on Big Island, Milan, IL, to Charles and Bertha Norris.

At eighteen years old, Chuck joined the Navy Amphibious Force and served on L.S.T. 358 Landing Ship. This was a sister ship to the L.S.T. 325 that was docked at Moline in 2008. Chuck served on 358 through three invasions during World War II and was authorized to wear three European Theater battle stars and service medals. In later years, he enjoyed keeping in touch with his Captain.

After the war, Chuck married Dolores “Dee” Bartell on September 6, 1947. Early on, he farmed in Mercer County. Chuck had been a precision grinder, and served as a union committeeman at the former Farmall Plant in Rock Island. After leaving Farmall, Chuck worked as a Real Estate Broker in Illinois and Iowa, owning and operating Chuck Norris Realty in Coal Valley for 20 years.

Chuck was an avid horseshoe pitcher, and was instrumental in getting the Moline Triangle Horseshoe Club started at Riverside Park in Moline. Over the years Chuck won many awards, along with first place in his division at the World Horseshoe Tournament in Columbus, Ohio in 1992. In 2007, he was inducted into the Illinois Horseshoe Pitchers’ Hall of Fame.

Chuck also loved to travel, hunt, and fish. He and Dolores enjoyed the cabin he built on Leisure Lake in Maquoketa, Iowa for many years. He was a past member and president of the Moline and Reynolds Horseshoe Clubs, and a member of the Horseshoe Pitchers Association, the LST Association, and the East Moline American Legion. Chuck was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, and friend. He will be lovingly missed.

Chuck is survived by his wife of 65 years, Dolores, daughters and sons-in-law, Sheryl and Alan Wright and Pamela and Barry Deditch; grandchildren, Stacey Edgcomb, Michael Wright, Joel Wright, Serena Moore, Crystal Bessmer, Jeremy Fox; 13 great grandchildren, and a cousin, Helen Heber, and numerous nieces and nephews.

His parents, brothers, James, Raymond, and Arthur Norris, a sister, Myrtle Norris, and a granddaughter, Dawn Michele Wright, preceded him in death.

Condolences may be left for the family at www.hodgsonfuneralhome.com.