Charles "Charlie" Lee Doty, 79 of Sonora, Calif. and past resident of So. Mo. County passed away September 11, 2016 in Jamestown, California. He was born, April 1, 1937 in Greenfield, California.

He and his family lived in the town of Greenfield, Calif. It had not always been Greenfield, it was originally Clark Colony (named for the water company that took water out of the Arroyo Seco River.) That day has always had some notoriety as a day pranks and jokes are played on unsuspecting individuals. One historian traces the practice to the 1500's while another noted in the book Canterbury Tales, a connection between a connection between foolishness and April 1,that would have been in 1382.

On April 1, 1937, it was likely sunny, a beautiful spring day. It is also likely that a doctor was summoned to the home of Charles and Gula Doty. After labor, that included sending dad to boil water, the doctor announced, "You have a baby boy." Together, they chose the name Charles Doty, known as Charlie to his friends.
When Charlie was born, the depression and dust bowls were very real, WWII was on the horizon. Little boys probably dreamed of flying fighter planes or bombers. By the time Charlie was 8, the war was over.

Greenfield was not far from the Arroyo Seco River, hills, hunting, fishing and playing with your friends. A little later would come cars and girls and friends. Hanging out, the malt shop, sock hops rock and roll music. Charlie was a good athlete, especially in basketball. Charlie graduated from KCHS in 1955 before attending Hartnell. You can almost imagine a group of guys, under the shade tree, car hood up, music playing. Maybe that was where he decided to became a mechanic.

Before he could do much, he was in the Air Force, serving from 1957-1961. Somewhere along the line he developed a love for jeeping, scuba diving, and flying.4wdriving, boating and he has been known to drink on occasion. Can you imagine him thinking what this barbeque needs is a cold beer. He was a past member of 101 Club, Jaycees and Family Jeepers.

By the time he was 15, we saw the Korean War and then a strange new kind of war – the Cold War. During his military service, there were a couple of things that were significant. The first is his work during his time of service. He was listed as an in-flight refueling specialist. His actual work may have been a little more clandestine. Remember, he served during the time of the cold war – spies, double spies, espionage. His work might have been more of a taxi service – taking a person from here to there without flight plan, we might call covert operations. He might be described as a delivery service picking up and delivering packages. What he delivered, he might not have even known. The second was an accident that occurred in the service, it resulted in a head injury, surgery, implanting a steel plate in his hear resulting in ¼ - 1/3 of his brain being damaged. This injury might have helped reinforce his tendency to isolate himself at times, especially from his family. Married and had the kids. He married again later for a few years. Charlie was a man who could say the words, "I love you," but had a hard time showing it. Something, some excuse seemed to always get in the way.

After military service, he returned and became a mechanic working on county vehicles. Eventually retiring to Sonora. He found that retirement life did not agree with him and he began driving for Kragen Automotive.

One of his favorite quotes: "The impossible just takes a little longer."

On Tuesday, September 20, 2016, family and friends gathered in King City Cemetery for a Graveside service. Charlie's body was laid to rest at 1:00 p.m. A United States Air Force Honor Guard performed Military Honors, playing Taps, folding of the flag and presented it to the family as a tribute to his dedicated service to the United States Air Force.