Charles "Charlie" R. Goltz

Charles “Charlie” R. Goltz, passed from this life on January 24,2020 at age 89 after a long battle with cancer. He was born in Royal Oak, Michigan in 1930 to Hazel (Olmstead) and Robert Goltz. After the family moved to Danville, Illinois, Charles was active in scouting, in which he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout and was inducted into the Order of the Arrow. He earned his bachelor’s degree in education at Illinois State Normal University and a Master’s at Scarritt College in Tennessee where he also met his wife. He spent 10 years in Singapore and Malaysia as a missionary teaching English.  He then moved with his family to Plainfield, Indiana and taught reading within the state’s corrections system for 26 years. He used individualized instruction as well as other methods such as graphemes. An academic researcher who studied the process found that the students advanced in reading within 1 month what it would normally have taken a year to do. In the early 80s he introduced computers into his classroom as another tool for individualizing instruction. Soon, he was asked to teach a class on computers.  Charlie also tutored many students in the local community during afterschool sessions in his “Reading Clinic.”  He was active in the Plainfield United Methodist Church, including teaching an adult Sunday School class for many years, and his strong baritone was often heard during the Sunday morning service. He assisted in starting summer computer church camps for kids, including supplying the camp with computers. He enjoyed participating and teaching in the camps for many years.  Charlie had many interesting and sometimes harrowing experiences, such as teaching in Tennessee during the first year of desegregation of the Nashville public schools and living in Malaysia during the civil war referred to as the “The Emergency” in the 1950s. He had many stories he liked to tell about his experiences.  Charlie was preceded in death by his parents and sister Charlot. He is survived by his wife, two children, two grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.  He will be interred at the Plainfield United Methodist Church columbarium. At the request of the family there will be no public service.  Arrangements by Hampton-Gentry Funeral Home, Plainfield.