On 31 October 1940, just one year before the U.S. entered WWII, Charlotte June Baird was born in Idaho Falls as the only daughter of Roland Freeman and Edna Hayes Baird. With her two older brothers, Art and Bruce, Charlotte attended school in Clearfield, Utah where the family ran a farm. Years later the family returned to Idaho, first to Iona, then ultimately settling in a little town called Arco where Charlotte attended Butte High School, graduating with the class of 1958. She enrolled at Idaho State College in Pocatello, but soon returned home to help care for her two younger brothers Michael Douglas and Ricky Roger.
Working as a secretary at Butte High, Charlotte met Jay Wheeler, a producer from Hollywood rounding up extras for a film shooting there on location. They were equally smitten with each other and in just two weeks were engaged and soon moving to California. They married in 1960 at an LDS church in San Bernardino and were sealed for time and eternity in the Los Angeles Temple in 1961. In Hollywood she donned the nickname “Chari” which stayed with her the rest of her life. She liked the nickname, though she loved being named for her grandmother Charlotte Alvina Keller and for her Aunt Charlotte Ethel Baird, to whom she was very close.
Charlotte passed her name to her youngest daughter Charlotte Jayelle, and to her youngest granddaughter, Charlotte Valentine Walch. Chari and Jay ran a little theater in California where she wrote stage plays and musicals. They had two children there who enjoyed their many Wheeler cousins, aunts and uncles living in Southern California. They moved to Cedar City, Utah in 1971, raising seven children in all, the family performing at church events, community productions, and eventually Chari wrote and, with Jay, produced the patriotic pageant, “One Nation Under God,” for the U.S. Bicentennial in 1976, and then in 1977 her Mormon-Battalion musical, “March Across Our Land” played first in Salt Lake City then toured cities all along the Battalion’s trek from Council Bluffs, Iowa to San Diego, California. Chari continued creating songs, stories, screenplays, and poems throughout her life.
As more Wheelers moved to Cedar, Jay and Chari’s home kept an open door for family and friends. The infamous “triangle house” on Sunset Drive was filled with joy, laughter, projects, and parties. Family and neighbors still talk of the annual holiday taffy pulls and her all-night basement Breakfast Tacos on New Year’s Eve. She will be missed by all who had the good fortune to be in attendance, movies, games, live band and dancing, endless food, contests, and the never-to-be-forgotten corn starch fights. Chari loved family life in Southern Utah, but could never keep long away from the beauties of Idaho and all her family there, dropping in on cousins, aunts, and in-laws all along the drive up and back to the William DeLacy Baird & Charlotte Alvina Keller family reunion which took place in tiny Mink Creek, Idaho, their pioneer homestead. Her children and grandchildren joined the tradition in turn. Charlotte, with her brothers and her faithful cousins, championed the fight to keep those reunions going right into the new millennium, eventually spanning five, six, and then seven generations each Memorial Day, dressing graves, playing baseball, sharing family stories, genealogy, and their love of country (DAR/DUP).
At home, Charlotte taught her children the gospel of Jesus Christ as restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Through the years Charlotte served the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in many callings including Primary Teacher and Song Leader, she taught special courses as a Relief Society instructor, worked tirelessly as a cub scout leader and den mother, family history worker, created short films, “road shows,” and dramatic vignettes with the youth, hosted the Gold and Green Ball, served as Nursery Leader, and was the anchor soprano in many of her ward choirs. She was a faithful temple patron throughout her life, making her final visits to the newly-constructed Cedar City Temple in 2025.
Charlotte was preceded in death by her parents Roland Freeman & Edna Hayes Baird, her stepmother Erma Workman Boyce, and by her brothers Ronnie Roland and Arthur “Ted” Nile Baird. She is survived by three of her brothers and their wives, Bruce & Harleen Kyle Baird, Mike & Patsy Polson Baird, and Rick & Karen Bertson Baird; and also by her 17 children and grandchildren: Ellen & Shannon Comp – Michael & Aryn Geier, Remington & Brielle Bowden, and Gunner Comp; Chris & Stephanie Alexander – William & Jacob Painter, Wendy, and Trenton Wheeler; Dannielle & Tyson Walch – DeLacy, Lila, Roland, and Charlotte Walch; Justin & Natalie Lynch; Franchasa Rose Anna; Jaymes & Alyson King; Jayelle & Heidi Voelker.
Funeral Services to be held: Saturday, February 21st at the LDS Chapel at 1925 West 320 South, Cedar City, Utah, 84720
Viewing – 10:00 to 10:45 a.m. Family Prayer – 10:45 a.m. Funeral – 11:00 to 12:30 p.m.
and Saturday, February 28th at the LDS Chapel at 7316 North Capitol Hill Road, Mink Creek, Idaho 83263
Friends/Family Greeting – 10:00 to 10:45am Family Prayer – 10:45 a.m. Funeral – 11:00 to 12:00 p.m. (graveside dedication to follow)