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Charles Arthur Wilford, 93, died Friday, March 18, 2011 at his home in Murrells Inlet. His two daughters, Linda Wilford and Lorraine Perry, were present with him at the time, as was his wife of 68 years, Dorothy Wilford. He was born in New York City on June 5, 1917 to Karl Wilford of Bohemia and Margarethe Jablinowski of Germany. He attended Stuyvesant High School in New York City, then City College of New York, class of 1938, where he was an outstanding football player. During his college years he earned some money renting seat cushions at Lewisohn Stadium, and got to listen to the era’s top opera singers there. He played professional football briefly before becoming a high school teacher. He went back to school himself for a Master’s Degree from Columbia University. He married his childhood sweetheart, Marie Pfeiffer, but she and their child died in childbirth. When he got a teaching job in Scotia, New York, near Albany, he met Dorothy Van Valkinburgh, and they were married on December 23, 1942 while Charles Wilford was in the Army, stationed in Madison, WI. He made use of the German language skills he learned at home and on family visits to Germany to serve in the OSS intelligence services after the surrender of Germany. Mr. Wilford taught English and German at Sleepy Hollow High School in Tarrytown, NY from 1946 until 1976, and he and his family lived in North Tarrytown and then Ossining. Mr. Wilford also coached football, and he taught for one year at a high school in Mosbach, Germany, as an exchange teacher in the Fulbright program. The Wilfords moved to South Carolina in 1984, living in Garden City and then Murrells Inlet. Mr. Wilford stayed active until his last few weeks of life. He enjoyed swimming, skied into his 60’s, golfed into his late 80’s, and when he could no longer ride his bike, he switched to a 3 – wheeled bike, and was still able to greet his many friends as he rode around the Woodlake community. Mr. Wilford enjoyed music, plays, movies, reading, travel, and perhaps he was best known for loving to tell good stories and jokes. Mr. Wilford is survived by his wife, Dorothy VanValkinburgh Wilford; daughter, Lorraine Perry and husband Norman, also currently of Murrells Inlet; daughter, Linda Wilford and her husband Randall Ham; granddaughter, Jennifer Perry; grandson, Jason Perry, his wife Danielle and their child, Mr. Wilford’s great granddaughter, Kamryn. He is also survived by one of his cousins, Herbert Zuleger and predeceased by his other cousins on both his mother’s and father’s sides. A memorial will be planned by the family. An online guestbook is available at: www.goldfinchfuneralhome.com Goldfinch Funeral Home, Beach Chapel is in charge of the arrangements.

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Charles Wilford

June 5, 1917 - March 18, 2011