Friday, April 26, 2024
Charles Willard Postlewate (78), of Granbury, Texas passed away unexpectedly on Saturday, July 13, 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas, while peacefully surrounded by his loving family.
Charles was born on January 8, 1941 in San Antonio, Texas to Eugene Daniel "Old Gene"and Eunice Onita Olney Postlewate. Following his 1958 graduation from Edison High School in San Antonio, Charles received a B.S. in mechanical engineering from GMI in Flint, Michigan. During the next ten years, while working at Buick, Charles earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in guitar performance from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
Having a lifelong passion for music and education, Charles spent the next several years teaching music and classical guitar in Flint-Detroit area colleges and universities. He moved back to Texas in 1978 where he became a tenured Associate Professor of Music at The University of Texas at Arlington. He retired from UTA in 2006.
As an accomplished professional classical guitarist, during his career Charles performed concerts throughout Canada, the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America. He published numerous books and recordings and received many awards and accolades for his works. Charles was a 1973 founding member of the Guitar Foundation of America, an American classical guitar organization sponsored by the American String Teachers Association.
In 1983 while at UTA, Charles would meet the love of his life, Marisa Herrera, and they were married in 1989. Charles adopted Marisa's native country of Spain as his own, and in the years following they shared their mutual love of education, travel, and music with a wide circle of family, friends, and colleagues from all over the world. The two retired in Granbury, Texas in 2008, where Charles enjoyed practicing a healthy and active lifestyle, and where he was always delighted to entertain family and friends.
Charles will be lovingly remembered for his many contributions to education and music, for his time and energy spent teaching and performing, for his unique gift of humorous and animated storytelling, for the love and devotion he gave his family, for all the popcorn and campfire sing-a-longs, and for an accomplished life that was truly well-lived.
Preceded in death by his parents and his sister Dorothy Postlewate Hack-worth, Charles is survived by his wife of 30 years, Marisa Herrera Postlewate; children Jackie (Willy) Marlowe, Steve Postlewate, Brad (Shelly) Postlewate; grandchildren Hayden and Gavin Marlowe, Grace and David Postlewate, Gabby and Bailey Postlewate; siblings Eugene "Sonny"(Susan) Postlewate, Morris (Joann) Postlewate, Marie Postlewate, brother-in-law Neil Hackworth, and numerous extended family members.
A memorial for Charles Willard Postlewate will be held at 11:00 a.m., Friday, August 30, 2019. Due to space limitations, please RSVP to mpostlewate@yahoo.com if you plan to attend.
Bob Duncan Center
2800 S. Center Street
Arlington, Texas 76014
817-465-6661
https://naturallyfun.org/bob-duncan
In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Charles may be sent to the following organizations:
Retina Foundation of the Southwest
9600 North Central Expressway, Suite 200
Dallas, TX 75231
214-363-3911
The Bridge Street History Center
PO Box 57
Granbury, TX 76048
469-702-1260
