Volunteer enjoyed work with board of elections

7/3/2006

OAK HARBOR - Charlotte R. Baldwin, a homemaker who was well-known here for her years of volunteering as a poll worker for the board of elections, died yesterday at the Riverview Health Care Center. She was 92.

The cause of death was not known, but family members said she was a resident in the senior center hospice since 2001.

She was a community volunteer who gave her time to a number of charities, including her church and senior citizen groups. Mrs. Baldwin, though, was particularly known for her work with the Ottawa Couny Board of Elections.

She worked as an election day poll worker for more than 25 years, her son, William, said.

"In a small town where people come to vote and spend a lot of time talking to people at the polling station, my mother particularly enjoyed that kind of atmosphere," he said.

Born Charlotte Schlunz in Oak Harbor, she attended Davis Business College in Toledo but had to withdraw after a year because of a lack of money during the Great Depression, her son said.

A lifelong member of St. John Lutheran Church, she had an unshakable faith in God, her son said. He noted that his mother's spirit and desire to volunteer was founded in her faith and in her conviction and commitment to her church.

She married Nelson Baldwin on March 14, 1936, and the couple settled in Oak Harbor. Her husband died in 1983.

She was an active member of her church and a 50-year member of the Oak Harbor Order of the Eastern Star.

Surviving are her sons, William, Gary, Dave, and Carl; six grandchildren; four great-grandchildren, and 20 step-great-grandchildren.

Visitation will begin at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Crosser Funeral Home, where Eastern Star services will be at 7:30 p.m. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Thursday in St. John Lutheran Church. The family suggests tributes to the church or a charity of the donor's choice.