Earle Charles Schuhmann, Jr.

Roanoke, Texas - Earle Charles Schuhmann Jr., known as Charles, age 83, died peacefully at home Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022, of natural causes.

He was born June 26, 1939, in San Angelo to Earle Charles Schuhmann Sr. and Geraldine Jerrie” Schovajsa Schuhmann. During World War II, the family moved to Waukegan, Illinois, where Earle was a chief petty officer for physical training in the Navy. There, their second child Frank was born in 1942.

The family returned to Texas and settled in McCamey, where Charles began his convenience store career stacking and straightening potatoes for a small grocery store. He attended McCamey Elementary School and Junior High and played clarinet in the high school band. Little sister Geraldine “Jeri” Ann was born in 1946. In 1955, the family moved to Odessa, and Charles graduated from Odessa High School in 1957.

Charles joined the Air Force and earned a certificate of proficiency as a weather observer. He served four years in Germany. After returning to Texas, he worked in the grocery business, becoming a manager trainee for 7-Eleven Food Stores in 1961. Charles married Mary Michele Martin on Aug. 31, 1963, in Odessa. Their son, Earle Charles Schuhmann III, was born in 1965.

Charles excelled with 7-Eleven and was promoted to manager of the El Paso District, which included all of New Mexico. During the 1960s, Charles remembered many “firsts” for the convenience store chain, including 24-hour stores and the hiring of female employees. He later served as regional manager for other convenience store chains, including Red Coleman and Stop-N-Go.

On Jan. 15, 1975, Charles married Karen Lucille Norman in El Paso. They had a daughter, Sidney Sheree Schuhmann in 1977 in Dallas. Charles owned his own store in Dallas, Jeane Street Superette, and ran poker games in Wylie, where the family lived. The final years of his professional career were spent working for Fidelity Investments, and he relocated to Roanoke when Fidelity built offices in Westlake.

Charles loved hunting, fishing, boating, cards, motorcycles, and a stiff drink. He loved rock ’n roll music and saw Elvis Presley in concert in Las Vegas. Charles was a Dallas Cowboys fan and a proud Texan. He was a proud grandfather to two girls, Etta Grace Schuhmann and Julia Michelle Levesque.

Left to cherish his memory are his son, Charles Schuhmann, and his wife, Erika, and their daughter, Etta, of Plano; his daughter, Sidney, and her husband, George Levesque, and their daughter, Julia, of Abilene; his sister, G.A. “Jeri” Schuhmann, and her wife, Virginia Swanson, of Seattle; and his former wives, Michele Blessner, of Odessa, and Karen Schuhmann, of Sedona, Ariz.

A graveside service will take place at 2 p.m. Friday, December 9, 2022, at Miles Cemetery under the direction of Lange Funeral Home with flower arrangements by Ballinger Florist.