Charles William Bedeau St. Clair III

Charles William Bedeau St. Clair III, Charlie to most of his old friends, passed away on January 14, 2014, having lived since 1995 with a severe short term memory deficit and passing from complications of throat cancer.

Charlie was born on November 8, 1947, in East St. Louis, Illinois, the only son of Charles W. B. St. Clair, Jr. and Mildred L. Brooks St. Clair. He moved to the great state of Texas in 1961 when his father was transferred to the Alcoa plant in Point Comfort. Since it had been up to him to shovel the snow and keep the coal feed for the heater at the appropriate level, Charlie relished moving south and he took to life in small town Port Lavaca with great gusto and became the typical “Texas redneck good ole boy”. Jack Motley, an old high school friend of his, memorialized Charlie in one of his songs titled “Where Have All The Good Ole Boys Gone?”. Charlie was a 1966 graduate of Calhoun High School and in July of 1968 he was drafted into the Army. Following boot camp at Ft. Bliss in El Paso, Texas, he was stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where he served out the entirety of his two years attaining the rank of SP 5. After his discharge, he returned to Port Lavaca and went to work for Kingfisher Marine. Following his time at Kingfisher he worked for various other area construction firms, Brown & Root and Rexco among them. From time to time his jobs would take him away from Port Lavaca and he was always most anxious to return to his beloved home town.

Charlie’s parents preceded him in death--his father in 1980 and his mother in 2011. He is survived by three children: Melissa St. Clair Fenoglio (Cody) of Temple; Charles (Chip) St. Clair IV of Belton and Jason St. Clair (Alysha) of Port Lavaca. He is survived by 8 grandchildren: Preston and Cameron Parker, Cade Fenoglio, Kaitlyn, Pierson and Kyli St. Clair, Saydi St. Clair and Easton Power. He is also survived by three sisters: Joyce St. Clair Taff (Tom) of Longmont, Colorado; Lynda St. Clair Dierlam- Briggs (Charlie) of Houston and Peggy St. Clair Record (James) of Victoria. Also his maternal Aunt Edna Brooks LaBrier (Gene) of Chesterfield, Missouri, his Uncle Randy Burton (Linda) of Salem, Oregon, and St. Louis, Missouri, and his Aunt Earlene Brooks of Eustis, Florida, a host of nieces, nephews and cousins also survive him.

The family will receive friends at 1:00 pm on Saturday, February 8, 2014, at the Richardson-Colonial Funeral Home in Port Lavaca. A memorial service will follow at 2:00 pm. Following the service his ashes will be interred in the Port Lavaca Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Hospice of South Texas (605 E. Locust Ave, Victoria, Texas, 77901-3933) or to a charity of donor’s choice.

Words of comfort may be shared at www.rosewoodfuneralchapel.com.