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CHARLENE ANASTASIA MCCABE GIDEON
November 27, 1925 - April 28, 2016

Charlene was born November 27, 1925, at home near the Burr Oak Township, Winneshiek County, Iowa to Anthony A. and Loretta Agnes (Mullaney) McCabe.  She was baptized and confirmed at the St. Agnes Catholic Church. Charlene graduated from the Canton High School and earned an Associates Degree from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.  She taught in one-room, county schools for a short time before moving to California where she worked and lived near her brother Francis in San Francisco before entering the United States Army Air Corp, which was later transformed into the United States Air Force. Before and during her time stationed in Cheyenne, Charlene held a private pilot’s license and nearly completed her commercial pilots’ license teaching flying lessons, crop dusting and flying the airmail in Iowa and Minnesota, and then she learned to fly glider planes in Wyoming.  In 1954, she married Robert Arie Gideon, Jr. then a Lt. in the U.S. Navy. Charlene separated from the Air Force in 1956 as a 1st Lieutenant upon the birth of their first child. Bob’s military career took their family around the world including Virginia, Rhode Island, Madrid, Spain, Key West, Florida, Washington D.C., Los Alamitos, California, the Philippines, and New Orleans, Louisiana

After Captain Gideon’s retirement, they moved to Longwood, Florida in the Orlando area where Bob later passed away in 1979. Charlene then moved back to Canton.  Charlene had earned a degree in Licensed Practical Nursing which enabled her to help take care of family.

Charlene was a member of Assumption Catholic Church in Canton and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.  She was proud of her Irish heritage, and enjoyed traveling; she had visited all 50 states and had been to many foreign countries throughout Europe, Southeast Asia, and was among the first groups to visit mainland China. Charlene was an avid New York Yankees baseball fan and frequently quoted Vince Lombardi who coached her Green Bay Packers.

Charlene passed away Thursday, April 28, 2016, at her home in Canton, at the age of 90.

Charlene is survived by two children, Michelle (Neal) Bradley of Valdosta, Georgia, and Rob (Kelly) Gideon, III of Saginaw, Texas; five grandchildren Cerise Jeanne Gideon, Price Anthony Gideon, Ross Owen Gideon, Leanne Robin Bradley, and Cole Augustus Bradley; a sister-in-law Jane McCabe; and numerous nieces and nephews and cousins. She was preceded in death by her husband Robert Arie Gideon, Jr. Capt. USN Ret.; and five brothers and sisters Francis, Anita Dwyer, Leo, Leon, and Lawrence McCabe.

A memorial service will be 3:30 p.m. July 1, 2016 at St. Agnes Plymouth Rock Catholic Church with Father Joe Hennen officiating.   In lieu of flowers, a donation may be made to the St. Agnes Cemetery Fund.

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