A Jack of All Trades
By Tara Houston
Charles Herman Queary
June 4, 1894 – April 2, 1973
Charles Herman Queary was born in Manchester Adams, Ohio on June 4, 1894 to James William Queary and Ada Charles. By the time Charles was fifteen, his family had moved to Denver, Colorado, where Charles would remain for most of his life.[1] In 1914, the year that the First World War broke out, Charles started attending college at the University of Denver. He was twenty years old. Charles was an active student in and out of the classroom. He majored in History and English and minored in Journalism, Chemistry, Education and Economics. He was captain of the DU baseball team and played on the basketball team as well. In addition to being Editor-in-Chief of the university newspaper, The Clarion, Charles was involved in the Evans Literary Club, the Scroll and Torch Society (a club devoted to discussing historical factors as they related to modern problems), Beta Theta Pi, and Sigma Delta Chi.[2] His incredible record at the University of Denver speaks highly of a dedicated nature and an inquisitive mind. Queary never limited himself to just one activity or path, as evidenced by his many interests and activities.
Charles Herman Queary graduated in 1918, a year after the United States had entered World War One. Instead of pursuing a career that matched his academic excellence, Queary instead departed from New York on July 6, 1918 on the ship, The Empress of Russia, as a member of the Base Hospital Number Twenty Nine.[3] Because he was a recent university graduate, Queary was given the rank of Sergeant. Base Hospital Twenty Nine was located in London, within the North East Fever Hospital.[4] A majority of the cases within the hospital were surgical in nature and thus, it would not be unreasonable to assume that Queary spent his time working in the surgical department during his time there. Like many Americans at the time, Charles Queary had to put his dreams and goals aside for the duration of the war as his plans changed for service to his country. Queary remained in England until he left Liverpool in February of 1919 on the Olympic; his formal discharge from the military came on March 13, 1919.[5]
Upon returning home from the war, Charles Queary would soon marry Melba M. Meller on July 2, 1920 in Denver. Melba and Charles had their only child, a son named Charles Herman Queary Jr., on March 17, 1921, in Greeley, Colorado.[6] Queary threw himself into a life of service for the State of Colorado after the war. He worked as the Assistant Attorney General in the Colorado Government (1933-36) as well as the Director of State Legislative Reference Bureau (1936-41) and the Area Rent Control Director after 1951.[7] By 1940, Charles and Melba divorced and Queary remarried a woman named Genevieve, moving to Arizona. Charles Herman Queary passed away in Sun City, Arizona at the age of 79 on April 2, 1973. He is buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery alongside his second wife Genevieve Queary.[8]
Footnotes ↓
[1] Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryuicontent/view/38610307:7602
[2] “Kynewisbok, Vol. 20, 1917,” n.d., https://specialcollections.du.edu/object/241c5b8c89b1-44ef-888d%2074b747d098fe#?c=&m=&s=&cv=6&xywh=-255%2C52%2C1480%2C1515.
[3] Ancestry.com, U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917- 1918; Ancestry.com. U.S., Army Transport Service Arriving and Departing Passenger Lists, 1910-1939, Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.
[4] “BASE HOSPITALS of the AEF,” http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/basehosp.htm; “Chapter XXIV Base Hospitals.” U.S. Army Medical Department Office of Medical History, https://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwi/adminamerexp/chapter24.html
[5] Ancestry.com. U.S., Army Transport Service Arriving and Departing Passenger Lists, 1910- 1939; Ancestry.com. U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010 https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/797576:2441
[6] Ancestry.com, Colorado County Marriage Records and State Index, 1862- 2006; Ancestry.com, Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007.
[7] Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995; Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryuicontent/view/871046410:2469.
[8] Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryuicontent/view/39636023:2442; “Charles H Queary (1894-1973) - Find A Grave...,” Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1098465/charles-h-queary.
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