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Obituary for Charles Dobrunick
Charles Dobrunick was born on April 4, 1916, in Fredericktown, Pa., to Vasily and Maria Stoyka Dobrunick. He was the sixth of fourteen children, and though there was never much money he had many fond memories of his youth.At nineteen years of age he joined the U.S. Navy to escape a coal miners life, and retired as a Chief Metalsmith after twenty years of service. His time at sea took him around the world to ports in China, India, the Philippines, South Africa, Guam and Hawaii among others. The next twenty years were spent at the Lawrence Radiation Lab in Berkeley where he was instrumental in revamping the heating and cooling system on the hill.Always a good athlete in his youth, he took up golf at age forty and played for the next forty-eight years. None of the other family golfers could ever beat him, much to their frustration, and his delight! Another favorite pastime was playing Senior Softball in Concord, Calif. He was his teams pitcher until the age of eighty. He was also a wonderful storyteller sharing tales of childhood and Navy life right up to the end.Charles was predeceased by his wife, Harriett, in March of 2009. They were married for sixty-nine years and both enjoyed his Navy career, traveling, bingo, and spending time with family. He is survived by children, Ronald (Sue) Dobrunick, of Battle Ground, Wash., Carolyn (Joe) Brown, of Angels Camp, Calif., Karen (Gene) Cardoza, and Lisa (Dave) Galloway both of Vacaville; grandchildren, Rick Dobrunick, Colleen Zimmerman, Wendy Hays, Steve Tietsort, Michelle Takacs, Michael Cardoza, Megan Wahl, Matt Galloway, Jenna Galloway, Braden Calkins; and thirteen great-grandchildren. Also surviving are sisters Sophia Gregory, Wilma Heyman and Eva Crayne.He was amateur golfer, baseball player, artist, musician, poet, birdhouse builder, and sprinkler inventor who loved to play the Blue Danube on his snare drum and kazoo simultaneously! He will be dearly missed.Friends are invited to a visitation on Tuesday, July 5 at 10:30 a.m. with a service to follow at 11:30 a.m. at McCune Garden Chapel, 212 Main St., Vacaville. Burial will take place at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery, 5810 Midway Rd., Dixon. Donations may be made to the National Kidney Foundation, 30 East 33rd St., New York, NY, 10016 or the American Heart Association, 1400 N. Dutton Ave., Ste 20, Santa Rosa, Calif. 95401.
