Charles Dasher Blume was born in Foley, Florida on the 18th of July 1949. The fifth child of Charles Victor and Louise Blume grew up in the small North Florida town of Perry, nurtured, cared for and teased by his older siblings Mary Ann, Elizabeth, Madelaine, and James. He graduated from Taylor County High School, in the class of 1967.
After graduation, Charles enrolled in the Florida State University as an undergraduate and began his lifelong love of the school and its Seminole Football team. He was joined at FSU by his best friend and partner in crime Bill Williamson, also a graduate of Taylor County High School. At Florida State, Charles studied urban planning and development, a discipline in which he would eventually achieve a master’s degree. During the summer of his junior year, Charles met the love of his life, Susie Saunders at the Wentworth Hall Lodge in Jackson Village, New Hampshire.
The following year Charles took a break from his studies at Florida State and in the waning days of the Vietnam War, enlisted in the United States Army. After completing basic training, Charles was ordered to the Defense Language School in El Paso Texas. At this school he was trained to speak and read Vietnamese. Shortly after graduation, Charles was deployed to the Republic of Vietnam as a member of the 509th Radio Research Group, Army Security Agency where he would meet another lifelong friend, Greg Banicki. As a linguist, Charles was personally responsible for the interception, decryption, and translation of enemy communications. During his rest and relaxation to Hawaii in December 1973, he was joined by Susie and they were married in a small service aboard Fort Shafter. After a brief honeymoon, Charles returned to complete his tour of duty in Vietnam. As a respected Specialist in his unit, he was instrumental to the planning, organization, and execution of his unit’s redeployment to the Continental United States during the final year of the war. For his expert organizational and tactical prowess, he was awarded the Bronze Star medal at the conclusion of his tour.
After his Honorable Discharge from the Army, Charles completed his education at Florida State and continued serving his state and country as a Veteran’s Service Officer for the State of Florida. In this capacity he connected hundreds of his fellow veterans with the benefits they earned through their service. Charles would spend much of his professional life as the Executive Director of the Apalachee Regional Planning Council in Blountstown, Florida. In this capacity he served nine counties in Northern Florida, helping to develop sustainable industries along the coast and inland, always with an eye to protecting natural environment of the State that he loved. In addition to his service to his home state and his country, Charles also served God, most notably at his church, The Chattahoochee First United Methodist Church. Throughout his life after re-locating to Chattahoochee, Charles served on multiple committees, utilizing his expertise as an administrator for the benefit of the Church he loved and its parishioners.
Charles retired from State service in 2014 and divided his time between his grandchildren, travel and enjoying many Florida State football seasons. The highlight of his life was his grandchildren. He and Susie happily followed Jason and Lori from one end of the country to the other, enjoying watching their grandchildren grow in California, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Florida. Always the servant, Charles spent his last years lovingly caring for his beloved wife of forty-seven years. Charles was a generous friend, a fierce defender of his country, and a beloved Husband, Father, Uncle and Papa. He was reunited with his mother and father on the 15th of October, Two Thousand Twenty.
Charles Dasher Blume is survived by his siblings Mary Ann, Elizabeth, Madelaine, and James, his loving wife Susie, his son Jason and daughter Lori and his most prized grandchildren Conner and Mackenzie. He leaves a legion of friends and extended family who were touched by his service, kindness, good cheer, generosity, and love. His awards and decorations include: The Bronze Star, Vietnam Campaign Medal, Vietnam Service Medal and Meritorious Unit Citation.
Services will be held on Thursday, October 29, 2020 in the Tallahassee National Cemetery at 11:00 AM Eastern Time with Rev. Mike Hutcherson and Rev. Mike Kramer officiating and McAlpin Funeral Home directing. The family has requested that social distancing and masks are observed at the graveside service.
