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In memory of
Charles "Chuck" Henry Strube
July 26, 1946 - August 18, 2021
Jul 26, 1946 - Aug 18, 2021
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In lieu of flowers
Please consider a donation to Provide blind son Daniel a braille typewriter.
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Charles's obituary
Chuck had a close personal relationship with Jesus. When he lived he shared his testimony with everyone. We thought we would honor him and share it with all who knew and loved him. Miracles, God’s plan, and the testimony of Charles Henry Strube, in his words
July 26, 1946 Charles Henry Strube was born to Henry and Laura Strube at Muskegon Hospital.
Charles had just been born and was whisked away by the nurses. They were gone so long, his mom began to worry. Henry, his dad, asked the nurses where his son was? The nurses said they were afraid to bring him to his mom because of how he looked. He had a big hole in the middle of his face; his nose and mouth were all one. Henry stated he didn’t care what he looked like; “my wife thinks her child is dead!” Charles was brought in to his mother and she loved him just the way he was. God had a plan for this boy and he was brought to Blodgett Hospital, where a surgeon did the operation to give him a nose, a mouth and clarity of speech. He was so thankful to the doctor who did the surgery and to the Crippled Children’s Foundation that helped them pay for his parents’ needs. Charles has seen many children that have had the same surgery, yet still have a lisp and cannot speak clearly, commonly known as cleft pallet.
Eight years later was the next miracle in his life. Charles was raised on a farm. His responsibilities were to do chores and feed the cows; but was tired one day and didn’t. His father called his son and Charles hid in the haystack. After no answer, his dad picked up a pitchfork to feed the cattle. He walked toward the haystack, not realizing Charles was there and struck the hay to give to the cattle. He then realized he had caught his son below the knee with the tool. Dad told him to run into the house and get fixed up by his mom. Laura hadn’t realized why Charles had just run up to his room. Dad came in terrified that he had almost killed his son. They called him down and cleaned his wound with peroxide so it wouldn’t get infected. By a miracle, he was able to later run in track, wrestling and softball.
In 1964 his life would change again. He had been going to a small church for Sunday School when a young man named David Gibson kept after him to come to the Boys Brigade Club. There he met Lloyd Potter, who changed his life. On the way home, in the back of his Suburban, he led Charles to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. He was his mentor that started him in his new walk with God. Lloyd put him to work doing several things at church. That is where he started teaching Sunday School and coaching softball at a boys’ club that he was part of. One year later, he was baptized in Twin Lakes, on a cloudy, chilly day, but when he came up from being dunked; the sun came out from under the clouds and shone brightly. He knew he was changed. One day Mr. Potter noticed that Charles would look at him as if he (Mr. Potter) could do no wrong. Mr. Potter told him to take his eyes off of him and put them on Jesus, because Jesus would never fail him, but man would. He was right. Two weeks later when Mr. Potter was gone and Pastor Bruce Beach had taken over, Pastor Beach stepped in to encourage Charles to attend Grand Rapids School of Bible and Music.
The next chapter of his life began in the fall of 1969, at what they affectionately called Griz Boom Grand Rapids School of the Bible and Music. He was waiting in line at a picnic to get food when two cute girls asked if they could cut in because someone was following them, and they wanted to stop them. Their names were Connie Brown and Dianne Smith. Turns out Charles’ roommate David knew Connie Brown, so he set up a “blind date”—David and Connie along with Charles and Dianne to go bowling. Then to continue it, Charles and Dianne went on another double date with Connie and another fellow (who had a car). From that time on, Charles and Dianne were inseparable. In 1970 Dianne and Charles were married. Charles had said he would never live in Grand Rapids, but as God had a different plan, he started at Gordon Food Service where he would get his next miracle.
In 1974 at Gordons, Charles was driving a Hi-lo, hauling a stack of Kellogs Cereal, and a box fell off the pallet about twenty feet in the air. He climbed up to replace the box, slipped and took a nose dive into the cement floor and shattered his right wrist. He woke up in the hospital and asked when they were going to do surgery. but it was all done. The nurse told him he did a “bang-up job” of breaking that wrist. He was off all summer, but it was a miracle that he lived through the accident.
His last miracle was when he and his wife, along with their daughter and seven grandchildren went on a Caribbean Cruise. When he was taking the luggage back into the house after the cruise, he realized he was quite out of breath. When they were going to pick-up their dog Sparky, the next morning, he told Dianne he should call the doctor. The doctor did some tests and told him to get in an ambulance and go to the hospital immediately. He said he was too busy and had two things to do first! After he left and did the first errand, he started to feel chest pains and decided he had better listen to the doctor. So he went, and found out the next day, that he had five blocked arteries! He was dispatched to Spectrum Health where the doctor told him if they hadn’t given him blood thinners, he would be dead. He had quadruple by-pass surgery. Later when he talked to his own doctor, his doctor said that he hadn’t gotten any sleep that night after Charles left his office, wondering what had happened after Charles left, instead of going straight to the hospital in an ambulance.
Charles believes God has a plan for everyone and we don’t understand it at times. He was thankful for the years God had been there for him. He called himself a walking miracle. We hope you enjoyed his testimony. His wife and children will be happy to know how many people read his final testimony. God Bless.
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In lieu of flowers
Please consider a donation to Provide blind son Daniel a braille typewriter.
$35.00
of $700 goal
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In lieu of flowers
Please consider a donation to Provide blind son Daniel a braille typewriter.
$35.00
of $700 goal
Recent contributions
Recent contributions
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Created with love by
Larry Dorris (Charles's brother-in-law).
