Chuck was born in 1917 in Waukon, Iowa. He received his Civil Engineering degree from Iowa State University in 1940 and went on to work at the Great Northern Railroad. Chuck volunteered for the Navy in 1943 and became a Naval Officer, serving with the Seabees in Newfoundland and the South Pacific. In all, Chuck served three years during WWII, coming home in 1946. After the war, Chuck went back to work at the Great Northern Railway and he and his wife Lucille would live in St. Paul, Minnesota, Minot, North Dakota, and eventually Seattle, Washington, where Chuck became Director of Engineering for the Seattle region of the Burlington Northern Railroad.